What are the copyright legalities of being a covers band?
Discussion
A colleague of mine is in a band who do covers of famous rock songs. They play gigs, mainly in pubs, in the local area and have built up a substantial following. It looks to be a great deal of fun and something I might want to get into at some point and in some capacity.
My question is ... what liability do you have in terms of recognising the writers of the songs you're performing? Can you just go and do it? What if you're making good money out of it? Does the PRS license of the venue you're performing at take care of the interests of the original writers or do you have to do something too?
I realise you'll need to do tax returns if money is changing hands - that's not my question, so please ignore that side of things.
My question is ... what liability do you have in terms of recognising the writers of the songs you're performing? Can you just go and do it? What if you're making good money out of it? Does the PRS license of the venue you're performing at take care of the interests of the original writers or do you have to do something too?
I realise you'll need to do tax returns if money is changing hands - that's not my question, so please ignore that side of things.
Thanks guys. I've been doing a bit of googling too ...
From what I tell it's correct that the performer doesn't need to do anything to perform covers live as the venue has the PRS license.
If you want to sell recorded covers it's more complicated. It appears that you have to obtain a license from the PRS, the cost of which depends on the materials you are covering - you need to send a track listing for your recording to the PRS and they'll invoice you. You also have to obtain permission from the copyright holder(s) of the original tracks.
The actual songs are the copyright of the original writers, but your specific recordings of those songs are your own copyright!
More replies are welcome as I'd like to hear of any first hand experience.
From what I tell it's correct that the performer doesn't need to do anything to perform covers live as the venue has the PRS license.
If you want to sell recorded covers it's more complicated. It appears that you have to obtain a license from the PRS, the cost of which depends on the materials you are covering - you need to send a track listing for your recording to the PRS and they'll invoice you. You also have to obtain permission from the copyright holder(s) of the original tracks.
The actual songs are the copyright of the original writers, but your specific recordings of those songs are your own copyright!
More replies are welcome as I'd like to hear of any first hand experience.
I was asking on a different forum about the legality of posting up cover versions on the likes of Youtube only yesterday. Seems that there isn't an issue with it, though you can register somehow so that you can actually get payment via adverts (I confess I didn't really follow this). I didn't think there would be an issue performing live doing covers so long as the venue holds a PRS licence, but I'm glad to hear it as like many other musicians I'm in a (fledgling) covers band too.
MitchT said:
From what I tell it's correct that the performer doesn't need to do anything to perform covers live as the venue has the PRS license.
If you want to sell recorded covers it's more complicated. It appears that you have to obtain a license from the PRS, the cost of which depends on the materials you are covering - you need to send a track listing for your recording to the PRS and they'll invoice you. You also have to obtain permission from the copyright holder(s) of the original tracks.
The actual songs are the copyright of the original writers, but your specific recordings of those songs are your own copyright!
.
This is all correct.If you want to sell recorded covers it's more complicated. It appears that you have to obtain a license from the PRS, the cost of which depends on the materials you are covering - you need to send a track listing for your recording to the PRS and they'll invoice you. You also have to obtain permission from the copyright holder(s) of the original tracks.
The actual songs are the copyright of the original writers, but your specific recordings of those songs are your own copyright!
.
When I joined PRS as a composer, I had to have three published works to qualify for membership, but I have a feeling this might have changed. Worth asking them.
Edited by GetCarter on Saturday 6th September 10:05
You don't need permission from copyright holders to record covers of their work, you just pay them a proportion of your takings if you do. Through the PRS presumably; as someone has already pointed out, the composer's copyright remains theirs, but you hold the copyright to your recorded performance.
YouTube can be a problem. They told me that I could only have adverts on my channel if all my music was original. Only half my videos are so I had to turn it down.
(Which reminds me, how much do they pay you per hit? I'm thinking of a certain American violinist who had a HUNDRED MILLION hits on just one video!)
YouTube can be a problem. They told me that I could only have adverts on my channel if all my music was original. Only half my videos are so I had to turn it down.
(Which reminds me, how much do they pay you per hit? I'm thinking of a certain American violinist who had a HUNDRED MILLION hits on just one video!)
hidetheelephants said:
Evangelion said:
YouTube can be a problem. They told me that I could only have adverts on my channel if all my music was original. Only half my videos are so I had to turn it down.
That's a bit harsh; could you not have two channels, original one with ads and one without?Hi, I'm in Knotslip (a tribute to Slipknot) and we looked into this, any venue you play will have a PRS, this covers you, to make it bulletproof you should also supply the venue manager with a list of songs played although this rarely happens.
By the way we start our 02 venue tour this weekend in Liverpool and London!
By the way we start our 02 venue tour this weekend in Liverpool and London!
As this has been bumped, YouTube has picked up that some of our videos are cover versions (but only some of them, must be the ones we get right...). But it is now offering the chance to monetise them anyway with an automatic split with the copyright holder, as long as we acknowledge the copyright claim.
Good luck with the tour, Knotslip.
Good luck with the tour, Knotslip.
Hmmm. You tube has picked up all of my covers & slapped them with matched third party content and blocked them in some countries - Germany usually. I must be a better player than I thought. 
Something I've done a few times is produce demo cd's to give to pubs & clubs to tout for gigs. Does that count as producing work for selling on?
Something I've done a few times is produce demo cd's to give to pubs & clubs to tout for gigs. Does that count as producing work for selling on?
About half of ours have come up matched third party, but I acknowledged the claim and they're all still fully available. Given that on one of them the solo is played in the wrong key, the matching must be pretty wide.
With the demo cd I've just done similar. Should be fine as you're not selling the cd are you? And the subsequent performance if they do book you is under their PRS.
With the demo cd I've just done similar. Should be fine as you're not selling the cd are you? And the subsequent performance if they do book you is under their PRS.
Gassing Station | Music | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff