Cover Songs Legal Issues

  • Thread starter Thread starter Somnium7
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Somnium7

Somnium7

Noise Criminal
I didn't see any part of the forum for legal discussions concerning music. My questions probably really noobish anyway.

We are in the process of recording a cover of an 80s pop tune. Can we get in trouble for putting it in our myspace page?

If so, what is the Kosher way to do this?
 
Yes, you can.

You have to contact the publisher and find out what hoops you have to jump through and how much it's going to cost.
 
Here in Poland it's ok to do covers, as long as you don't take credit for them - You must specify the original artist/ band who wrote the song.
 
In my experience it's not worth it to do covers. The amount of money I was quoted by the Harry Fox Agency was way out of line just for doing one song to publish on the web.
 
Schmange said:
In my experience it's not worth it to do covers. The amount of money I was quoted by the Harry Fox Agency was way out of line just for doing one song to publish on the web.
Click to expand...

How much was "way out of line" ?
 
Just put them on SoundClick.com and give credit to the author. And of course don't charge for a download.
 
Raw-Tracks said:
How much was "way out of line" ?
Click to expand...

Several thousand bucks although this was a few years ago.
I wanted to do an instrumental guitar version of a Police tune and post it online as a free download but apparently that put it into the catagory of an international release or something.
The thing that finally ended it for me though was the rude way they acted... like total contempt as if they were doing me a big favor or something.
They wouldn't give me a firm quote either, cause I couldn't guarantee how many people would hear it.
Basically it wasn't worth the hassle just to post an MP3 on a couple of websites.
We've also had major hassles with the same agency trying to license tunes for online lessons.
Whenever anybody mentions the Harry Fox Agency now, I just get majorly pissed off and vow never to deal with them again.
 
Completely wrong....

You might not get caught, the artist probably won't find out, BUT the original poster was asking about doing this properly (I would think by the use of the word "kosher", they wanted to keep things completely LEGAL)

TelePaul said:
As long as you don't make any money off it it's okay.
Click to expand...
 
This might fall under Webcasting which is a NON-interactive streaming of audio on the Internet. You do have to seek a statutory license for use of master. Sync license is not necessary BUT a public performance license is necessary via PRO: ASCAP, BMI, SESAC.

OR it might fall under INTERACTIVE STREAMING which is real time delivery of music (tethered). No compulsory license required BUT need permission of owners of copyrights in master which is usually the record company. The song in question needs specific permission of music publisher and it is considered a "public performance" requiring permission from PRO's.
If you make the song available for download, a compulsory license is needed and you must pay the statutory rate of 9.1 cents or $1.75 if over 5 minutes. Obtained via Harry Fox and none of the PRO's pursue license for downloading.

Simple english: put your own music up on myspace and a link to the copyright owners of the song in question.
 
I know in my Country after 25 years a song looses it"s Private domain status and becomes public domain so any one can cover the song and record it as long as Proper credits are given on the Cover.....
 
i may be wrong, but i think it now extends to the end of the artists life or x amount of years.

either way its all a bunch of BS. it's like...at first it was to help the artist, now its just to rape them of more money.

f the industry. put your cover up. you're not charging people anything, it won't get radio airplay..who cares.

look at youtube. there's about 8509385320952385092385023958235490234823095 covers on there.

and that's probably an understatement. no one cares about you until you're making big money...and then someone will want that money. its just a bunch of leeches that put their rules and fancy writing around what you're making money off of.
 
Copyright for songs written after 1978 is life of the author plus 70 years. Way too long in my opinion. We can thank Sonny Bono for that one. The only fee you have to pay for covers is the mechanical license. As previously mentioned Harry Fox Agency handles this. The mechanical license is a set fee. They raised it not too long ago. I think its like 9 cents a song, but you have to pay for every copy you distribute. Of course big players in the industry only play 75% of that rate. Average Joe will have to pay all of it. You'll have to contact Harry Fox Agency for more info.
 
There are some standard contracts and processes that you can use for cover songs. Basically you contact the copyright holder, use one of the standard form letters and pay them royalties if it's recorded or broadcast. Look up recording industry associations in your area and they should have some standard forms you can use or have people there that can give you access to the paperwork you need. Also, I think total mechancial royalties are 9.1 cents per song so you should only need to pay a percentage of that to the copyright holder (they shouldn't get the 'performance' royalties from it since you're singing it, unless 9.1 cents is only the copyright holder's share).
 
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