http://www.partyideasforyou.com/we-sell-fun-nt/
Question about covering a song (copyright)?
I’m in a punk band and I was thinking of doing a cover of a song by the band Anal C*nt just for fun on like a demo EP we could hand out at shows, is there any copyright crap involved here if we’re not making money out of it? And what if we were to sell them ourselves (we’re not signed to any label yet) for a few papers at shows? Thanks.
I’m involved in the studio business and recording industry so I deal with this all the time.
You can record a demo of the song (intended for promotional purposes such as giving it to record company A & R in an attempt to land a deal) without the original band or songwriter’s permission. Nor do you need a license to do this.
If you start doing things with the demo not intended purely as promo- handing it out to friends for their listening pleasure – you’re crossing into a grey area that could possibly lead to a lawsuit unless you have a mechanical license. You might successfully argue that you were “promoting” your band with the free copies. But maybe not.
And if you sell even a single copy then you definitely need a mechanical license to cover your butt. And it’s true that once a song is released, it’s open season for anyone who wants tro record it, the original songwriter or band must grant the license, it’s not optional. The copyright office does not issue the licenses. That’s done either through the Harry Fox agency or through the original songwriter’s publishing company(s). Sometimes that’s easy cheesy but usually it’s a huge pain in the a$$ to track down the publisher that way. I’ve gone to using http://www.listenagainmusic.com/ scroll to the bottom, click and type in the info requested to get your license.
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