How do they get away with this?

[North West Tom]

Lately I've been seeing rip-off versions of songs in the charts, before the official version is released. The latest one being Zedd's Stay The Night. This song (the official one) has been getting a lot of radio time and has 35 million views on Youtube, so obviously it's a pretty big hit, but it's only just been released today.

However, this 'effort' has been in the top 20 in the iTunes chart for the past week, so they must be making some money off it? I'm guessing anyone with decent knowledge of music software can perfectly replicate songs. Does that mean they can release it under a different name, or just put 'tribute to' before it and everything is legal and ok?

I know the idiots actually buying these rip offs aren't helping, but if I was the artist or the record label, I would be absolutely fuming!

Here is the fantastic DJ Stay The Night with their hit, Stay The Night

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/stay-the-night/i...

Another example, Because I'm Happy by that singer, Because I'm Me.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/because-im-happy...

[Tom_C76]

It's a cover version then. Just like hundreds of other covers before, and the PRS money for it will presumably go to the songwriter. The difference these days is that modern tech allows people to get these covers out there more easily.

I have no real objection to covers, but then I play in a rock covers band...

[Mastodon2]

Coldplay shamelessly stole Joe Satrianis "If I could fly" note for note, they had major label backing to try and help them wriggle out of that one though.

[bigandclever]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-release_cover_ver...

[Gaspode]

It all seems very strange to me. If a song is ready for broadcast, then why isn't it ready to be released for download?

If another band records a cover of the song and releases it beforehand to take advantage of the gap, then surely all the record company needs to do is release the original song as soon as its ready?

So long as all appropriate royalties are paid, I see nothing wrong with recording other people's music, it's been happening since the dawn of recorded music.

[StevieBee]

Gaspode said:

It all seems very strange to me. If a song is ready for broadcast, then why isn't it ready to be released for download?

It's a throw back to when most music was purchased as a disc (vinyl or CD). Radio stations would get a promo copy and start playing several weeks before launch. This would create demand and the record companies could then gauge how many they are likely to sell and gear up accordingly.

There's no reason why this needs to be the case these days though.

[Miguel Alvarez]

From memory there was a standard 3 month plan for releasing songs. Songs get released to the press, then radio and then to the shops. I imagine it's just another case of the music industry carrying on a business as normal policy without really addressing the massive changes in the way people listen/buy music.