Recording covers

[thefineline]

I have two questions with regard to covers:

What do you have to do to cover your bases legally when recording and distributing a cover?

How old does a song have to be before it becomes public domain and can be recorded freely?

[rlindsey0]

You can record any song that's ever been published (and putting it on a recording for sale counts as publishing) any time you like. You don't have to ask anybody's permission, and no one could refuse you permission.

But what you CAN'T do is record the song without paying the mechanical royalty when you sell copies. That's where the rub comes. No one can say, thefineline, I don't want you to record my song, and make it stick. But if you record it and don't pay, then they can come after you.

[thefineline]

right... so can I record a cover song and distribute it for free without having to pay royalties? I thought any time it was distributed I would have to pay the royalty.

Anybody know about the public domain question?

[thefineline]

well I've found my own answers, so I'll share them in case others were wondering.

1. Any time you distribute somebody else's song for download then you are "copying" it and copyright therefore applies, and you are obligated to pay the royalty

2. Songs published in 1922 or earlier are public domain in the US

The answer... cover old songs

[rlindsey0]

right... so can I record a cover song and distribute it for free without having to pay royalties? I thought any time it was distributed I would have to pay the royalty.

No, that's not what I intended to imply. You can't distribute it for free without paying the royalty. It's not as if the royalty is so much, either. You could look it up, but I think it's around 8 cents, maybe 9, per song per unit sold/distributed.

[PeterTuneCore]

I have two questions with regard to covers:

What do you have to do to cover your bases legally when recording and distributing a cover?

How old does a song have to be before it becomes public domain and can be recorded freely?

Most of what you need to know is here:

http://www.tunecore.com/index/faq#Cover

--Peter
peter@tunecore.com

[elsongs]

2. Songs published in 1922 or earlier are public domain in the US

The answer... cover old songs


hot damn! My next album will be a bunch of Scott Joplin classics done up drum n bass style!!!!

[kano666]

What if you're not making any money from the distribution? That is, what if you have a cover posted on something like myspace?

I had a cover up on such a site, assuming that only a few friends would hear it. Now a friend of a friend wants to use the song for a film school music video project. This is all in Canada, which may have different rules from the US (I understand that artists can refuse to give permission to cover songs here?).

- If the song & video make no money, do I have to pay a royalty?

Thanks for your help.

[PeterTuneCore]

What if you're not making any money from the distribution? That is, what if you have a cover posted on something like myspace?

I had a cover up on such a site, assuming that only a few friends would hear it. Now a friend of a friend wants to use the song for a film school music video project. This is all in Canada, which may have different rules from the US (I understand that artists can refuse to give permission to cover songs here?).

- If the song & video make no money, do I have to pay a royalty?

Thanks for your help.

Just because you're not charging anything doesn't mean you don't have to follow the rules! Get a license. Get permission. Be prepared to pay mechanicals if you use the compulsory license. As always, consult a lawyer!

--Peter
peter@tunecore.com

[kano666]

Thanks for the response, Peter.

I'm honestly not trying to scam anyone, I'm just trying to figure out where the line gets drawn. I'm suddenly being asked as a "huge favour" to let someone film me singing this cover I recorded. I don't want to steal from the artist, but I'm not making any money at this so don't have profits to pay royalties from.

But then - is it illegal to _play_ a cover song? What if you do it at a campfire or in your house for a non-paying audience? What about playing at an open mic? Or singing karaoke songs at a bar? These all seem like clear examples of reasonable uses without royalties.

I guess this means I'll have to get my originals recorded so I don't have to worry about this!

[PeterTuneCore]

Thanks for the response, Peter.

I'm honestly not trying to scam anyone, I'm just trying to figure out where the line gets drawn. I'm suddenly being asked as a "huge favour" to let someone film me singing this cover I recorded. I don't want to steal from the artist, but I'm not making any money at this so don't have profits to pay royalties from.

But then - is it illegal to _play_ a cover song? What if you do it at a campfire or in your house for a non-paying audience? What about playing at an open mic? Or singing karaoke songs at a bar? These all seem like clear examples of reasonable uses without royalties.

I guess this means I'll have to get my originals recorded so I don't have to worry about this!

I hear you, Kano. But now, of course, this is a HUGE topic. Deserves its own WEBSITE, let alone forum, let alone thread. :)

I couldn't even give you an answer, since these laws are dependent upon country and other variables. Also, I get in trouble if I try to give legal advice, I'm not an actual lawyer.

Best of luck!

--Peter
peter@tunecore.com

[kano666]

I found this exception in the Canadian Copyright Act, which looks like it would protect a performance so long as it's not-for-profit and performed mainly for students/teachers.


29.5 It is not an infringement of copyright for an educational institution or a person acting under its authority to do the following acts if they are done on the premises of an educational institution for educational or training purposes and not for profit, before an audience consisting primarily of students of the educational institution, instructors acting under the authority of the educational institution or any person who is directly responsible for setting a curriculum for the educational institution:

(a) the live performance in public, primarily by students of the educational institution, of a work;

(b) the performance in public of a sound recording or of a work or performer's performance that is embodied in a sound recording; and

(c) the performance in public of a work or other subject-matter at the time of its communication to the public by telecommunication.

1997, c. 24, s. 18.

[ultranet]

Ok how about Copying Tunes of the songs? Lets say copying an intro or any verse or maybe some tunes from a song. Is it legal that way?

Thanks in advance

[PeterTuneCore]

Ok how about Copying Tunes of the songs? Lets say copying an intro or any verse or maybe some tunes from a song. Is it legal that way?

Thanks in advance

Again, consult a lawyer, but the general rule is: no. It's not legal without permission from the person who created it or owns the rights to it.

--Peter
peter@tunecore.com

[echoshock]

Again, consult a lawyer, but the general rule is: no. It's not legal without permission from the person who created it or owns the rights to it.

--Peter
peter@tunecore.com
How do you go about trying to get permission? I did a remix of an acappella vocal and of course would like to get permission on distributing it. What's the best way to go about this?

[rlindsey0]

You have to obtain a mechanical license from the party holding the publishing rights to the song. I believe the Harry Fox agency can help you with this.

When I said above that you don't have to ask permission, technically that's inaccurate. You do have to ask, in the form of obtaining a mechanical license. But the license is a compulsory one, meaning that you can't be refused one if you ask for it. You are obliged to pay the mechanical royalty for exercising the license, but you can't be refused permission to cover the song.

At least that's how I understood it last time I checked. You should check some legal sources to be sure.

[PeterTuneCore]

You have to obtain a mechanical license from the party holding the publishing rights to the song. I believe the Harry Fox agency can help you with this.

When I said above that you don't have to ask permission, technically that's inaccurate. You do have to ask, in the form of obtaining a mechanical license. But the license is a compulsory one, meaning that you can't be refused one if you ask for it. You are obliged to pay the mechanical royalty for exercising the license, but you can't be refused permission to cover the song.

At least that's how I understood it last time I checked. You should check some legal sources to be sure.

Always talk to a lawyer, yes! But we have a booklet we published FREE to anyone as a PDF download that gets you started:

http://www.tunecore.com/store/product/25

Enjoy!

--Peter
peter@tunecore.com

[Chip Stewart]

But then - is it illegal to _play_ a cover song? What if you do it at a campfire or in your house for a non-paying audience? What about playing at an open mic? Or singing karaoke songs at a bar? These all seem like clear examples of reasonable uses without royalties.



A bar or venue pays an annual fee to ASCAP which allows the performance of ASCAP songs. The performer is not responsible for this fee, the bar/venue is. As far as singing around the campfire goes, that's a lot more complicated. :freak:

[strathound]

As far as singing around the campfire goes, that's a lot more complicated. :freak:

Yes, but I think I can sum it up. If you sing the cover WELL (again, around a campfire and without a worldwide satellite broadcast of said campfire), your friends owe you a beer (and not one of the cheap mass production beers either). If you sing it poorly, you owe them a beer. Failure to pay by either party results in revocation of tent privileges.

**note: in Arizona, there is the western diamondback amendment to the tent clause. But this only applies during certain months of the year.

Hope that helps, :wave:

[masterbuilt]

A song becomes public domain in Europe after 50 years. Copyright duration in America is now 95 years after the death of the copyright holder. Copyright was originally conceived as 7 years and lengthened to 11 years. As "Steamboat Willie" approached public domain, Walt Disney Corporation petitioned congress to extend the copyright protection in American by 20 years.

My first copyright was acquired in 1980 or so. At that time, duration was 75 years, but, the "Mickey Mouse" law was extended a few years ago to add another 20 to that duration.

As for the answer regarding mechanical royalties, check the Fox Agency. For performance royalties, check ASCAP and BMI.

You cannot copyright a guitar lead, a riff, or lyrics by themselves. There are two copyright forms used for music, PA (performance art) form and SR (sound recording). Most songs are copyright protected under the Form-SR.

You can download the new forms and the copyright booklet from Library of Congress, Register of Copyrights (changed from Registrar of Copyrights some time ago).

I hope this helps clear things up a bit.

[mstreck]

Always talk to a lawyer, yes! But we have a booklet we published FREE to anyone as a PDF download that gets you started:

http://www.tunecore.com/store/product/25

Enjoy!

--Peter
peter@tunecore.com

Great info! :thu:

(I caught the sketch on the last page - hilarious!!!!!)

[inu]

For what I know, in continental Europe, the copyright system is quite different than the in UK/US.

A song becomes public domain after 50 or 70 years after the author's death (that's nothing very specific compared to UK/US).
The main difference is that, in most European countries, an author cannot sell its author's rights (like in UK/US copyright where Michael Jackson can be the owner of Beatles songs), it's always bond to the author. He can sell the "right of using" it to a publisher for instance, but he always keeps the "moral" right on it's work, which means that he can always say no to someone wanting to use it. Practicaly, the author will generally let its publisher manage it but, anyway, it means that, yes, you can be refused permission to cover a (continental european) song.

[efgh136]

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[masterbuilt]

You can record any song that's ever been published (and putting it on a recording for sale counts as publishing) any time you like. You don't have to ask anybody's permission, and no one could refuse you permission.

But what you CAN'T do is record the song without paying the mechanical royalty when you sell copies. That's where the rub comes. No one can say, thefineline, I don't want you to record my song, and make it stick. But if you record it and don't pay, then they can come after you.

The "mechanical royalties" are paid based on the number of records pressed, not the number sold. The royalty is based on 90 percent of the number manufactured. The writers get 9.1 cents per track.

[rlindsey0]

The "mechanical royalties" are paid based on the number of records pressed, not the number sold. The royalty is based on 90 percent of the number manufactured. The writers get 9.1 cents per track.

Thank you for the correction. Useful to know.

[jimosity]

My band has recorded a cover song and included one on each of our last two CDs...we did "Tush" by ZZ Top and "100,000 Years" by Kiss.

I started out by going to www.harryfox.com and searching for the song, making sure that I could purchase the rights to record and release it. They have an awesome service there to allow you to do everything online and CYA as easily as possible.

Make sure you check the differences between recording and releasing a song on CD and selling it online - they are different licenses. You basically tell them the number of copies of physical CDs or downloads you plan on selling and pay accordingly... all of the details are on their site.

It's not very expensive and it gives you a good piece of mind.
The right covers can really help you out in terms of breaking thru into new audiences, our version of Tush has been played many times on local radio and it's given us a lot of great feedback and requests. Lots of artists break thru based on their version of a cover, don't avoid them totally, but make sure you do the right ones.

We knew that "100,000 Years" wasn't going to put us into top 40, but we were all HUGE Kiss fans, so it was more of a tribute than anything...plus our singer on that disc sounded very much like Paul Stanley, which helped.

To hear our versions of the covers we did, check 'em out here:
Sample "100,000 Years" (http://www.cincinnatimusic.com/ddsample/American%20Hardcore%20-%20No%20Apologies/American%20Hardcore%20-%20No%20Apologies%20-%2009%20-%20100,000%20Years%20(Sample).m3u)
Sample "Tush" (http://www.cincinnatimusic.com/ddsample/American%20Hardcore%20-%20Swinging%20Back%20At%20You%20EP/American%20Hardcore%20-%20Swinging%20Back%20At%20You%20EP%20-%2004%20-%20Tush%20(Sample).m3u)


buy (http://www.americanhc.us/store/)