unclehando
Member
what's the process to submit and upload cover songs to sites? i there steps i need to take?
Quick Question Cover Songs?
- Thread starter unclehando
- Start date
LazerBeakShiek
Rad Racing Team
No.
unclehando
Member
like just credit the origanal artist?
LazerBeakShiek
Rad Racing Team
Don't even do that.
I dont know but I thought 'fair use' only allowed you to use a certain time limit of copywrited material (10 seconds)?? before the owner could take royalties or close it down?
Only asking?????
I suppose that could be down to if they are popular and watched say on YouTube? If they get lots of views then the owner might see $$$$$. If nobody watches the vids, then its not worth picking up the phone?
rob aylestone
Moderator
Every site that will submit your music to Spotify and the others has song covers in the faqs. Broadly speaking in many territories you can add your version without licences as streaming works differently to downloading. iTunes lets people buy music so you need a licence everywhere people download it. That’s difficult to do. Harry Fox might do the US and PRS will licence
UK but how about europe or Asia? Aggregators like the dreaded Distrokid will charge you a fee and do the licensing so you get your proportion of the royalties, generally, the recording royalties, not the composition ones. If your unlicensed cover goes on YouTube, they spot it in seconds and simply divert all monetisation to the rights holder.
if you want exposure, then set up an account for your cover music only. Don’t mix the Fred smith covers with Fred smith own music. This is difficult because you become two people, but important because if you fall out with the rights holder, the owner has the right to get your music pulled totally. A cover of a vegan artiste’s song by a band called the meat eaters might do it, and the aggregator gets the take down request and removes ALL the music. This is common, destroying your music presence. Downside is your music had two versions of you. Spotify often finds them and links them, but often gets it wrong. I’m getting Spotify messages for the wrong person this week. Your new release has fifty streams, well done, but sadly I’m not a black well known rapper. He must be really fed up with our classical stuff popping up in his music.
ive just recorded a cover for a project and the client wants it licenced. It’s a real pain going to each countries agency and doing it. It is expensive and time consuming and not remotely instant for some countries who have to do it manually. You need all the data too on the composers and that requires you to be a registered member of your countries agents to find out who wrote the track you are covering. Sometimes it is NOT who you think!
Fair use, parody and education and analysis are legitimate exceptions in lots of countries, but are court tested frequently, and often the original rights holder’s record companies really make it difficult. I just won a dead cert battle with Sony BMG who claimed rights on one of my releases. I was warned about BIG legal fees and costs but I knew and could prove I wrote it and I recorded it, and I won. How much would Sony’s lawyers have cost me if I had lost?
UK but how about europe or Asia? Aggregators like the dreaded Distrokid will charge you a fee and do the licensing so you get your proportion of the royalties, generally, the recording royalties, not the composition ones. If your unlicensed cover goes on YouTube, they spot it in seconds and simply divert all monetisation to the rights holder.
if you want exposure, then set up an account for your cover music only. Don’t mix the Fred smith covers with Fred smith own music. This is difficult because you become two people, but important because if you fall out with the rights holder, the owner has the right to get your music pulled totally. A cover of a vegan artiste’s song by a band called the meat eaters might do it, and the aggregator gets the take down request and removes ALL the music. This is common, destroying your music presence. Downside is your music had two versions of you. Spotify often finds them and links them, but often gets it wrong. I’m getting Spotify messages for the wrong person this week. Your new release has fifty streams, well done, but sadly I’m not a black well known rapper. He must be really fed up with our classical stuff popping up in his music.
ive just recorded a cover for a project and the client wants it licenced. It’s a real pain going to each countries agency and doing it. It is expensive and time consuming and not remotely instant for some countries who have to do it manually. You need all the data too on the composers and that requires you to be a registered member of your countries agents to find out who wrote the track you are covering. Sometimes it is NOT who you think!
Fair use, parody and education and analysis are legitimate exceptions in lots of countries, but are court tested frequently, and often the original rights holder’s record companies really make it difficult. I just won a dead cert battle with Sony BMG who claimed rights on one of my releases. I was warned about BIG legal fees and costs but I knew and could prove I wrote it and I recorded it, and I won. How much would Sony’s lawyers have cost me if I had lost?
unclehando
Member
hmmm thanks for the replies but im still confused ahhaa, i have some covers on soundcloud but guess im not popular enough to get noticed and taken down haha
rob aylestone
Moderator
If you look at the wording on many distributer's sites, they tell you cover songs are fine - for streaming but not for download. They usually also ask you for the original composer's details, so their data generates some revenue for them too. The reality is that you then won't get anything for the composition - which is pretty fair as you didn't write it, but you might get some mechanical royalties for the recording - If, the people who use it follow the system properly.
CoolCat
Well-known member
If I recall a simple cover song can be approved for use through HFA? (US)
Its like $15 or $30....
I dont know the details anymore, but I did it once ...just to learn how to do it and it was easy.
All online these days, fast, swipe a credit card etc... How they keep track of all of it is beyond my brain.
Its like $15 or $30....
I dont know the details anymore, but I did it once ...just to learn how to do it and it was easy.
All online these days, fast, swipe a credit card etc... How they keep track of all of it is beyond my brain.
CoolCat
Well-known member
That sounds like a updated site...Spotify. (remember the big Napster thing?)
I cant imagine rolling the dice on that, their lawyers werent able to discover this before going to court?
Dead cert battle? sounds pretty intense to deal with Sony...wtf?
LazerBeakShiek
Rad Racing Team
It was paradise.. Every movie. Every book. Every peice of music..click...click.click
The system was truly free , the grid had never seen such content.
rob aylestone
Moderator
It was dead cert simply because this was not a cover song - I wrote it, I recorded it and I registered the recording and composition with UK PRS and PPL. Sony misidentified it and claimed it, so it was not too hard to hit the button and put the complaint in. I use Shazam - if it misidentifies a recording, mistakes can happen, but this one comes up with my name and my track title - so no idea how Sony attempted to grab it!
unclehando
Member
hmm still dont know what i should do haha, its on SoundCloud tho haha
Velvetones
Don’t worry, Doug Currie
Copyright owners have right of first refusal prior to publishing, at which point anyone can cover. Typically, royalty rate for cover; (mass) commercial publication by another artist is 75% of full rate, unless they hate your cover (Sinatra probably took full rate when ‘My Way’ was covered by Sid Vicious), then it’s full rate.
I reckon most of us are good to go.