A question for those who have experience....

[VampiricClown]

....With either the music industry or copyright.

If I wanted to do several cover songs, would I get into a lot of trouble? Would I have to contact every single band/song writer for permission?

[stubbornforgey]

Originally Posted by VampiricClown

....With either the music industry or copyright.

If I wanted to do several cover songs, would I get into a lot of trouble? Would I have to contact every single band/song writer for permission?

well...em not sure on this..
but em sure if you acknowledge the artist etc..surely there shouldn't be a problem as longs as there is no financial gain from it.
be something to look into

[VampiricClown]

Originally Posted by stubbornforgey

well...em not sure on this..
but em sure if you acknowledge the artist etc..surely there shouldn't be a problem as longs as there is no financial gain from it.
be something to look into

I have a list of songs I want to do covers of. Mostly older ones.

[crabapple]

You have to get a license for each one of them.

[VampiricClown]

Originally Posted by crabapple

You have to get a license for each one of them.

Do you happen to know how much that may cost me? :(

[Despare]

I believe you can cover them for free if it's a live performance. Yep, here check out this site.

http://www.beatnikturtle.com/index.php?id=543

[kpropain]

If you are recording them to sell and make a profit then yes you have to get the artist permission...

If you are just gonna play them live then you have no worries..

[Disease]

That's right, anyone can play any song live, but recording something and releaseing something could cause you trouble with publishing, it depends on the owners of the copywright as to how much it may cost, It might be relativley cheap if you are more unknown and not haveing huge distrobution, then if you where to re-release it on a larger scale some time in the future you would have to through it all again.

But if it's just for a demo, you could probably just go for it.

[X¤MurderDoll¤X]

Once a song has been commercially released by an artist, that artist's song may be re-recorded and released by anyone who chooses to do so. You don't need the artist's permission.

First thing you have to do is find the publisher and send them a notice of intention to obtain compulsory license for making and distributing sound recordings. Go to the U.S. Copyright Office web site, they have the form.

After you send that they'll ask for information on what isn't on the form (yeah I know, stupid...) They'll send a written agreement that you need to sign and you'll have to pay the royalties for the amount of cd's you plan to distribute. It's something like 8 cents a cd which you can negotiate if you're feeling jewish...

so let's say you plan to distribute 1000 cds it will cost around 80$. Look up Harry Fox Agency on google, the website can make things a lot easier and can clear up everything for you. They will even get you in touch with the owner's of the copyright you need for a small filing fee. (I would go this route if I were you)

hope that helps

thank my friend, clint. :)

(I take no responsibility for mel gibson style comments)

[X¤MurderDoll¤X]

woops didn't read your post right. You'd have to do that with each song you planned to cover so um 10 songs would be like 800$ :eek:

you can do the math... probably end up not worth it :(

I remember my friend telling me that he was going to have a bunch of covers on his band's cd and that it was only like 50 cents a cover, what a liar.