*Newbie Here* Question about Covers

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trustno1

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I just have a question regarding songs that have been re-made and sold. Like for instance....say an artist plays a concert...and at this concert he/she plays a song written by someone else...and makes it their own rendition of the song.

Now, the whole concert was recorded, mixed, blah blah blah....and there's still the one cover song on the CD...and is included among the tracks. Does this particular artist have to get permission from the original artist and/or record company before selling the CD? And if so, is it up to the record to company to decide on how much royalties to collect from the sales?
 
The artist must pay a mechanical license (Harry Fox Agency) to record/play/perform the cover.

In a bar, it's a different story if a cover band is playing - in that case, the bar has already paid a blanket license fee for allowing bands to play "covers"...
 
Blue Bear's right. You must now buy his duck.

As far as the "permission" part of the question: if you alter the work in any material way, then permission is also required. Usually that means changes to melody or lyrics, but not chords or arrangement-type features: adding turnarounds, interludes, extra choruses, solos, or improvisational treatment of the melody.

Unintentional lyric mess-ups are usually accepted, though I don't know the law on it: witness "The Oooga-Chukka Song" version of BJ Thomas' "Hooked on a Feeing", Ike & Tina Turner's butchering of the Beatles' "Come Together", and the must-be-karma butchering of Ike & Tina's "River Deep Mountain High" by Bob Seger.

However, if a composer is dead set against your use of his work and he's got a good lawyer and a lot of money, he can hound you into dropping your recording. This happened when a gospel group (Take 6? I forget...) tried covering Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down". John's cosmology apparently objects violently to anything churchy, they were forced to rerelease without the song.

Also, if you "cover" a song that's never been in general release, the composer has a right of first refusal - you must have his permission to be the first to release. So if you're covering a song off a bootleg that's never been on an official release, you'll have an additional hoop to jump through.
 
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