Members Iamthesky Posted June 29, 2011 Members Share Posted June 29, 2011 I'm walking into a grey area here and trying to see if those squares under my feet are white or black... Background: we play almost all originals, but we do have one particular cover that I think we play very well and shows up our playing well too. We also happen to have a pretty decent live recording of it off the soundboard from one of our shows. Our band is committed to doing licensing right. I know we can't post cover songs on reverbnation because of licensing issues. (I know other bands do, but we want to do it right.) I know if we put a cover song on a CD we sell, we pay 9.1 cents per song per CD. I am (reasonably) sure I can burn a CD from a live recording of our primary cover song and play it to myself in the car to drill it into my head, or to practice with in the absence of the rest of the band. (Can I?) Now the real question: what defines "distribution" that requires licensing? -- Can I put this cover song on a CD, mark it "not for public use" and hand it to the venue booking guy, either personally or as part of a physical press kit? -- Can I put this cover song in an electronic press kit which will not be seen by the public? -- What if someone at one of our shows records us playing the cover and posts it on youtube,? (Assume we do not have any part in the recording or posting process, and did not request it. OK, this isn't a Yes/No question, sorry.) -- If such a video of the cover performance appears on youtube, can we then post a link to it on our reverbnation page (since it does not involve uploading a video, just posting a link)? I'm expecting a mix of Yes and No answers, although all No would not surprise me, and all Yes would delight me. But I don't know the answers myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Surrealistic Posted June 29, 2011 Members Share Posted June 29, 2011 I've been told by music biz people (not lawyers) that the answer to these two is Yes. -- Can I put this cover song on a CD, mark it "not for public use" and hand it to the venue booking guy, either personally or as part of a physical press kit? -- Can I put this cover song in an electronic press kit which will not be seen by the public? I was told that as long as I put "Not for resale" on the CD and no money changes hands I could pretty much distribute it to anyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted June 29, 2011 Moderators Share Posted June 29, 2011 I'm expecting a mix of Yes and No answers, although all No would not surprise me, and all Yes would delight me. But I don't know the answers myself. these are not the definitive 'legal' answers, but I would think they are a reasonable guideline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jameselgringo Posted July 6, 2011 Members Share Posted July 6, 2011 Hi A couple of questions: * I read elsewhere that YouTube pays the rights for cover songs to be performed there. Has anyone confirmed this independently? * Is there any kind of exception for using 15 seconds of something, or OK to do a medley? Thanks in advance for your opinions on this. -james Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnny-Boy Posted July 6, 2011 Members Share Posted July 6, 2011 Why take any chances or limit your options? Mechanical licenses can be obtained easily through the Harry Fox Agency. Best, John:cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted July 6, 2011 Moderators Share Posted July 6, 2011 Hi A couple of questions: * I read elsewhere that YouTube pays the rights for cover songs to be performed there. Has anyone confirmed this independently? * Is there any kind of exception for using 15 seconds of something, or OK to do a medley? Thanks in advance for your opinions on this. -james I don't know youtube's status with the PROs...it should be in their TOU agreement. Even using 1 seconds is actionable...look at it this way: it is someone else's work, pay them for it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Iamthesky Posted July 6, 2011 Author Members Share Posted July 6, 2011 Why take any chances or limit your options? Mechanical licenses can be obtained easily through the Harry Fox Agency. For selling a recording, sure, but not for streaming as I understand it. The mechanical licence fee depends on number of subscribers (not clear what that means on a ReverbNation or Facebook page), number of plays, and all sorts of other stats that can't be determined easily for a third party site. Easy enough to do on your own website, but not on a social networking site. Of course I could be wrong... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Johnny-Boy Posted July 6, 2011 Members Share Posted July 6, 2011 Here you go Iamthesky: http://www.boutell.com/newfaq/creating/licensecovers.html John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Iamthesky Posted July 8, 2011 Author Members Share Posted July 8, 2011 Thanks, great link! Bookmarked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sventvkg Posted July 9, 2011 Members Share Posted July 9, 2011 Harry Fox..Some licenses are affordable, some aren't. Why not just perform the song live and do your own {censored}ing stuff on CD bro? Seriously... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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