A now-locked thread brought up an interesting subject:  mechanical royalties for cover songs.
 
I'm not against paying for these rights (nor would i be against getting paid for someone else covering my stuff, if I was that lucky/talented), but it's probably quite cost-prohibitive to buy the permission to record a fun cover version of your favourite song.
 
How exactly would one go about obtaining permission from a publisher/ owner to record a cover version, with the assumption that no money would ever directly be made from it?  I've only done it once, and the writer was directly involved so we just had her manager give us paperwork.  
 
I'd assume that Mick Jagger wouldn't respond to an emailed inquiry for my acapella version of Brown Sugar...
 
 
Dead Admins:  I hope I'm not breaching protocol by discussing something that was shut down (for a reason i don't know).

Go here, it's actually really easy.  
 
https://www.harryfox.com/

The answer is "it depends". The good news is you probably don't need to contact composers/performers/publishers directly because their are "clearing houses" that deal with most royalty collection and distribution and licence things like cover versions, use of samples and so on.
 
In the UK the licensing body is PRS\MCPS. In the US I believe it's Harry Fox's agency.
 
How much a license costs mostly depends on what you intend to do with a cover version. CD recordings, film use, download use and other distribution methods have differing licenses and fees. Even if the material is entirely your own you may still need a license to publish and distribute it, though in return you get the royalties.

Slugbaby
A now-locked thread brought up an interesting subject:  mechanical royalties for cover songs.
 
...
 
Dead Admins:  I hope I'm not breaching protocol by discussing something that was shut down (for a reason i don't know).

Don't worry about that.  The prior thread wasn't really about discussing royalties, but rather was a character attack on other members (a TOS violation).
 
I look at it like this:  If you make a cover and intend to make money from it, then the original artists are due a portion of that.  If you do it for fun and make zero, zip, zilch, nada, well, I guess the original artists can still have a percentage (but it's going to be nothing). 

Thanks guys.
At a quick glance, it looks surprisingly cheap to include a cover on my next project (considering I'm not expecting many sales).

The fact is you are steeling from the artist and at the least to promote yourself...
Ever time a song is heard or played "the owner of the rights" is entitled to compensation...
Every time...
end of story... ;)
 
If you put up a cover song and you get 500 plays you owe the artist x cents for each play...
But if you don't pay and sneak around with fake names of songs and/or you don't have permission you can get sued..
 
Unless the artist gives up his royalty right by posting someplace like sound cloud.. this is a separate issue that is an agreement between the artist and Sound Cloud or where ever posted... here as well...
 
Bars and venues are required to fill out forms to submit to all the writer collection reps... like BMI, Ascap and many others... because different artists use different reps... these lists needs to go to all of them... and the Bars and venues are required to pay these royalties... for each and every song played... x cents for each person in the bar or venue... most never do...
 
TV, same thing but .x cent and millions watching can make you a nice hunk of cash...
 
Get your song on a show and money come flowing in... plus re-runs...
 
The only real fact I know about "how much" you get is Spotify, you get .01 cent per 4 hits/plays...
The laws are out of date and many artist's agents and reps are trying to get the laws changed...
I know Asccap is on board with this and pushing...
 
 
 
just an edit note: there are many sub deals like performance vs writers rights.. you songwriters need to learn this stuff before you get into a bad deal and owe more then you make off a song... 

Dave000
The fact is you are steeling from the artist and at the least to promote yourself...
Ever time a song is heard or played "the owner of the rights" is entitled to compensation!
Every time! 
END OF STORY!
 
If you put up a cover song and you get 500 plays you owe the artist x cents for each play...
But if you don't pay and sneak around with fake names of songs and/or you don't have permission you can get sued..
 
Unless the artist gives up his royalty right by posting someplace like sound cloud.. this is a separate issue that is an agreement between the artist and Sound Cloud or where ever posted... here as well...
 
Bars and venues are required to fill out forms to submit to all the writer collection reps... like BMI, Ascap and many others... because different artists use different reps... these lists needs to go to all of them... and the Bars and venues are required to pay these royalties... for each and every song played... x cents for each person in the bar or venue... most never do...
 
TV, same thing but .x cent and millions watching can make you a nice hunk of cash...
 
Get your song on a show and money come flowing in... plus re-runs...
 
The only real fact I know about "how much" you get is Spotify, you get .01 cent per 4 hits/plays...
The laws are out of date and many artist's agents and reps are trying to get the laws changed...
I know Asccap is on board with this and pushing...
 
 
 

God Bless You Dave!

The legalities are obvious, and the choice on whether or not to pay the royalties is an ethical one with possible ramifications (much like other lawbreaking pursuits).
 
I was inquiring as to how one goes about following the law.  Was that "END OF STORY" rant really worth the space it took?  None of us think music is free, we're musicians.

I use HFA for cover songs.

wow! thanks eph, I feel over... lol..
 
one thing that is related... I put up a song on Reverb  Nation... and for 19.99 or something like that they get your song out into the world... this was all done as a test for me to learn about how things work... after a few months I could google my song/band name and the song came up here and there... even for sales on the Micro soft store...
Hey! I had to do it... lol  I bought a copy of my song.. 1.07 with tax... that was many months ago and still I haven't seen any of my cash come back... though they say it takes a long time to get paid... On my Reverb account it says 9 sales. but I only see .01....  hey! I'm a pro songwriter now! I made .01 ! whoo whoo...
 
But like I said it's a test... so I'm just going to relax and wait.... but after a time... man.. well I have too be me... lol
 
peace!