Cover Versions

<p>Testing 1 2 3 
Now I always thought that you could do a cover or publicly
perform another artists songs as long as you were not making any money
by doing so. If you were doing it to make money, then you would have to
get permission.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: blue; font-family: Verdana;">If
you are the performer doing cover songs in public i.e bar, regardless
if you were making money or not, someone has to pay out.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>The Bar owner would have to pay yearly royalty fee. <span style="">&nbsp;</span>If
you think about it, bands or performers ARE making money to perform in
the bar. Towards the end of my long message read the part about �<b style="">Performance Rights</b>�.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p>And I thought this for years. </p>
<p>So what about Kareoke (spelling?) Is that classed as a cover
version? and if so, how does the original artists get royalties,
because the songs that can be sung at a Kareoke can be completely
random. Or,.&nbsp; doe the artists get the royalties from the sales of
the kareoke cds', that way covering every eventuality that thier song
may get sung by some pissed up loons in a bar.</p>

<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: blue; font-family: Verdana;">Ok, for starters someone has to pay regardless. <span style="">&nbsp;</span>It is the responsibility of the bar owner to have proper licenses for the music used in his bar. If there is<span style="">&nbsp; </span>Karaoke in a bar or establishment,<span style="">&nbsp; </span>a license is required by the owner of the bar.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>As
for the Karaoke CD�s that are used, they have already been purchased
and an agreement has already been made. The copyright holder/author etc
would be paid through the royalties collected from the purchase of the
CD. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: blue; font-family: Verdana;">Now
if you wanted to use the original recording of a Karaoke tape/CD and
record your vocals and distribute and sell, well that�s a different
story�..<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: blue; font-family: Verdana;">If you are <u>manufacturing and distributing</u>
copies of a song which you did not write, and you have not already
reached an agreement with the song's publisher, you need to obtain a
mechanical license. This is required under U.S. Copyright Law,
regardless of whether or not you are selling the copies that you made.</span></p><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: blue; font-family: Verdana;">
<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: blue; font-family: Verdana;">You
do not need a mechanical license if you are recording and distributing
a song you wrote yourself, or if the song is in the public domain. If
you are not sure if the song you are looking to license is in the
public domain, and therefore does not require license.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: blue; font-family: Verdana;">Understand the <b style="">difference</b> between a <u>song and a master recording</u><span style="">&nbsp; </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: blue; font-family: Verdana;">The song � licensing is required to use the song<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: blue; font-family: Verdana;">Sound Recording � Mechanical recording � licensing is required </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: blue; font-family: Verdana;">For
every song written, any number of artists may have made their own
recording. As an example, "White Christmas" has been recorded by Bing
Crosby, The Partridge Family, Randy Travis, Tiny Tim, John Tesh, Burl
Ives, or even some guy named Herb that you just hired to make a
recording, etc. This means that song rights are separate from recording
rights. </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: blue; font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" ="Msonormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: blue; font-family: Verdana;">And more importantly, understand that - </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: blue; font-family: Verdana;">You
cannot use any master recording without getting permission from the
publisher(s) to use the song. Conversely, if you gain permission from
the publisher, but are denied use of a particular master recording, you
can always use a different master recording or record your own<span style="">&nbsp; </span>master<span style="">&nbsp; </span>with the publisher(s) permission.</span></p>

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" ="Msonormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: blue; font-family: Verdana;"></span>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" ="Msonormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: blue; font-family: Verdana;">NB: <b style=""><u>All DJ�s</u></b> whether they are aware of it or not have to <u>pay a fee yearly</u> to play songs in any establishment. </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" ="Msonormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: blue; font-family: Verdana;"></span>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;" ="Msonormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: blue; font-family: Verdana;">PS�..Just for the record, not too many bands are aware of this but <b style="">if you play</b> <b style="">cover songs</b> in a bar <b style="">you are SUPPOSE TO PAY</b> to royalties to perform the songs.<span style="">&nbsp; </span>It is called, �<b style="">performance right</b>�. <span style="">&nbsp;</span>The
only reason bands are getting away with it is because it is hard to
track but in the event you are caught, you could be sued or issued a
fine. <o:p></o:p></span></p>

<p><o:p></o:p></p></span><p></p>
<p>
</p><p>Steve</p>

There are actually 2 different kinds of licenses we are talking about here, there's the mechanical license and the compulsory license, people think they are the same thing but they are not.

I have a cover of the cure's lovesong that I have secured permission for fort both licenses.  The mechanical license allows me to sell up to 2500 copies of my CD that has the song on it, and I paid the fees upfront, once the 2500 CDs have been sold, I get a license for an additional 2500, or get a compulsory license, but there are different stipulations.

Now, I have also secured a compulsory license for DPD, Digital Phonorecord Distribution, which is basically a fancy name for downloads, I have paid the fees again up front and purchased the right to have so many units of the song downloaded, depending on how many you want to purchase, determines how much they will charge you.

A compulsory license works for a variety of different things, DPDs or a very high number of CD sales that the cover is on.

There is more information here

http://www.harryfox.com

there is also another way of gaining permission to do this, now this part is very long, but I posted thisd yesterday in the General section on this forum, so here's the link to it

http://www.mp3unsigned.com/Forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12138&a; mp;PN=1

Hope this helps

Hi, I think this term 'covers' causes confusion. Let's get down to basics: If you are looking to record something that was composed after around 1921 then it's probably under Copyright. Yep, you can bet your bottom dollar there is someone out there Googling away looking to stitch you up on a 1930s song that you would be doing a favour to re-issue. But THEY don't see it that way. Loads of good music is getting forgotten, loads of composers are getting forgotten, - not because people don't want to perform the stuff - but because they can't!

If I could use Copyright stuff I'd have a Piano Bar with around 200 tracks on it - now! But I can't even play "Over The Rainbow" the 20th Century's most popular piece, why? because it's 1939 and Copyright!

Doing CDs is straightforward as we all know. You just pay a percentage to your Licensing Authority - ASCAP, PRS, GEMA etc. Doing internet performances cost an arm and a leg. The stupid people are stifling the very works they want to protect !

Tony.

http://www.mp3unsigned.com/PianistTonyGayle.ASP 

Favourite cover versions...

China Drum - Wuthering Heights (Kate Bush)
Guns n Roses - Live and Let Die (Paul McCartney)
Detroit Cobra's - Last Nite (The Strokes)
The Hector Collectors - Happy Hour (The Housemartins)

Cover versions are never usually as good as original music and they give all the Cash to the writer and set you up for heavy criticism  from the artists fans as there is always something to be compared to....a heavy load to carry,That won't make you money.We do as artists like to create reggae versions of some of our best liked non reggae artists but tend to keep this for live work.
Many remixes sound better than the originals so can be very original.Being an unsigned artist site though would encourage original material to get to the world ears as they mainly  attract the A&R men who tend to ignore covers.

  Kyle