cover song copyright

[leonid]

If a song is public domain, and you record an arrangement that has been recorded before, do you need to pay mechanical royalties to the arranger? What if the arranger is not listed with Harry Fox Agency? Your feedback would be appreciated.ThanksLeonLMuzik8@aol.comwww.AdventuresOfLeonid.com

[foglyte]

I am not a lawyer.For public domain pieces...As far as I understand, you can copyright a performance (form PA I think) but not an arrangement.Even if it is identical (which is impossible I say), I still think you are okay since it is "you" doing the performance. So the answer would be no... you do not need to pay mechanical royalties to the other arranger.I also believe that the publisher would have to pay directly anyway if applicable, not the artist. Though it may come out of your share of any proceeds.I may be wrong, other's on this forum may be able to clarify.Fog

[devin]

Last time this came up, I think the consesus (among all the non-lawyers) was the library (publisher) took care of it if your song is picked up. I'll have my legal assistant search for the previous findings...[edited: Here it is....]http://taxi.proboards27.com/index.cgi?b ... read=11082