Vick
Soooo,can sum one plez give me the rundown?
Is it illegal to cover a song live?
Coz iv seen international and local bands do it often...
Thanx a lot
needleshy
no not that i know of, it is illegal to record and sell it without permission from the labe, a royalty cut is also required from the label. thats how i understand it. it only becomes a legal issue once someone starts making money from that sng.
PeteM
My understanding is that there are a few issues involved.
1. Venues like restaurants, theaters and even places of worship that play recorded or live music have to pay an annual blanket fee to SAMRO for the rights to do so. This revenue is then distributed to publishers, writers and artists. (I never understood how they work out who gets what monies though.)
2. If you want to record published pieces of music with the intent to sell the work, then you need to get permission to do so from the composers through their publishers who establishes the fees.
I would like to hear the legal story though from someone in the know.
[deleted]
Section 15A of the Public Protection Act stipulates that it is illegal to cover Nickelback in a live situation. For most other bands you should be just fine.
DonovanB
Stratisfear wrote:
Section 15A of the Public Protection Act stipulates that it is illegal to cover Nickelback in a live situation. For most other bands you should be just fine.
It is also punishable by a large fine or stoning to death
Jack-Flash-Jr
Interesting... you are effectively making money of a song if the audience is there primarily to hear your cover rather than your originals. And what does it mean for cover bands, or are they taken care of by the venue's blanket fee?
Legal eagles weigh in please...
PeteM
As an addendum to my previous post - If you are charging an entrance fee, like a concert, then you have to negotiate a fee with composers/publishers. Some might not even want you to perform their work.
Eric Clapton you can do any of my work any time - don't call me, just speak to my publisher. ?
aubs1
Why do I think this topic, or very similar, has been covered in-depth before on this forum?
I'm sure Alan will have reference to the threads.
FruitarGeek
Stratisfear wrote:
Section 15A of the Public Protection Act stipulates that it is illegal to cover Nickelback in a live situation. For most other bands you should be just fine.
Hahahaha..
As far as I know, there was the Public Protection Amendment Act which included no Creed as well!
singemonkey
Yeah Aubs. If we could get those links spoonfed to us, it'd be nice ? 'Cos I'm wondering about recorded covers for non-profit distribution. What's the score?
PeteM
singemonkey wrote:
Yeah Aubs. If we could get those links spoonfed to us, it'd be nice ? 'Cos I'm wondering about recorded covers for non-profit distribution. What's the score?
In that case, speak to NORM. Maybe all the info you need is on their site www.norm.co.za/
PeteM
There are these guys as well. www.samro.org.za/
Renesongs
This is an issue that I am also trying to receive clarity on. My understanding is that the the venue pays royalties on the covers you do usually in a blanket fee. If you do original numbers at a venue you notify SAMRO and they pay a portion of the venues blanket royalty fee back to you. Where it gets foggy for me is when you do a cover of a cover say You do SRV's version of Hendrix's Little wing or more to the point if you do Dan Patlansky's version of Robert Johnson's Dead Shrimp. Who get's the royalties and do I have to ask Dan's permission to cover the song in his style. Then we get into the area of lead breaks, we all copy licks from each other, so If I use Dan's lead break verbatim in Dead Shrimp is he owed royalties or is it SRV who Dan borrowed from or Hendrix who SRV borrowed from or Buddy Guy, Albert King, Lightnin Hopkins or eventually Robert Johnson who started this whole guitar twanging mess? ? ???
Keira-WitherKay
well to my understanding............ re covers................. is that as pete said the venue.in fact any venue having live music or even recorded music must pay rights to SAMRO (SOUTH AFRICAN MUSIC RIGHTS ORGANISATION) but this fee is low a few hundred rands a year.......... and in fact artists see a band performing their song live as a compliment and free promotion........... cos lets be honest most cover bands suck and everyone would rush out and buy the original artists cd ...............
as for the monies samro collect ....if you a member of samro when you perform your original music live you need to submit a set list the venue date and get it signed by management ..and as long as that venue is a member you will get "royalties" paid i ,must say up to 3 yr behind. but the cheques do come in . so yes if everyone does it officially the artist can see money from performing original music .and as for radio play goes the radio station will pay samro who will pay the publisher who will pay you ?
so live performances of covers in local bar/club/casino /hotel is fine ..........
HOWEVER the problem comes with recording covers or broadcasting on TV /radio ect ........this is where if the cover band makes a cd and sells it and it has covers on it ..they can be sued if they do so without permission from the publisher of that song NOT THE ARTIST ............. and there is a time limit on royalties of if i recall about 50 or 70 years cos i know at moment if you play jazz standards from 20's /30's / 40's they are now excempt from royalties BUT you must mention the publisher and songwriter on your cd......... you can't claim it's your own.so if i record a version of "summertime" i need on my cd to credit Gershwin and the publishing company but i will pay NO royalties and don't need permission..............
Vick
YEA! Guess who's covering them crooked vulture's new fang next weekend... ?
Thanx a lot guys...(And I think I'll contact those guys about getting sum of those forms two)
