What is the benefit of pitching cover tunes here?

[hoknes]

Why does some of the listings through Taxi want cover tunes of big hits in different genres, clone cover versions, etc.If you didnt write the song you couldnt benefit from songwriting or publishing credits?The taxi listings never seem to say how we benefit from submitting to these listings?Anyone know how this works or how you can make money from doing cover tunes ?

[billg]

Well, you own the "master" of your recording so you get paid that one time fee when it's placed.

[mazz]

You (or probably the publisher if you get a deal) may be able to register it with the PRO as an arrangement, in which case you'd get performance royalties as an arranger. I know this is true with Public Domain material but not sure with music that's currently copyrighted. Does anyone know for sure?Mazz

[stevebarden]

That's a really great question. I'm always amused when I see the listings for cover songs where they split the license fee 60/40 (that's 60% for you!) and YOU KEEP THE PUBLISHING.THERE IS NO PUBLISHING!!! (unless you happen to be the publisher for that particular artist). Is that supposed to be your incentive because another broker is splitting the license fee with you?But as billg points out, there is a master sync license if it gets in a film (or TV) because you do own the master recording.

[sgs4u]

Sounds like a good question for Matto. I asked him about this a long time ago, but I've forgetten what he told me. I have these 2 tribute records I produced, and if there's any way to make some loot with them, I and my colleagues are certainly interested.Jun 5, 2008, 8:54am, mazz wrote:You (or probably the publisher if you get a deal) may be able to register it with the PRO as an arrangement, in which case you'd get performance royalties as an arranger. I know this is true with Public Domain material but not sure with music that's currently copyrighted. Does anyone know for sure?Mazz

[stevebarden]

Jun 5, 2008, 9:02am, sgs4u wrote:Sounds like a good question for Matto. I asked him about this a long time ago, but I've forgetten what he told me. I have these 2 tribute records I produced, and if there's any way to make some loot with them, I and my colleagues are certainly interested.I do know that if you have cover songs on your CD you need to pay a license fee through the Harry Fox Agency in New York. You basically estimate how many units you expect to sell and they have a fee structure based on that. Then (somehow) the artist gets paid from this.

[sgs4u]

Both Cd's were only pressings of 500 units, in Canada. The proper fees were paid out, to the CMARRA, which is the Canadian version of the RIAA in the USA, before pressing. In Canada, we're supposed to pay the fees on how many are pressed, not predicted sales. Jun 5, 2008, 11:04am, stevebarden wrote:Jun 5, 2008, 9:02am, sgs4u wrote:Sounds like a good question for Matto. I asked him about this a long time ago, but I've forgetten what he told me. I have these 2 tribute records I produced, and if there's any way to make some loot with them, I and my colleagues are certainly interested.I do know that if you have cover songs on your CD you need to pay a license fee through the Harry Fox Agency in New York. You basically estimate how many units you expect to sell and they have a fee structure based on that. Then (somehow) the artist gets paid from this.

[stevebarden]

Jun 5, 2008, 11:20am, sgs4u wrote:In Canada, we're supposed to pay the fees on how many are pressed, not predicted sales. I could be wrong. When I looked into it once I thought it was about estimated sales, but pressings sounds right also.

[billg]

I think if you're just a small indie label or just pressing a small run you have to pay by the number of cds pressed.Going back to the cover tunes; I knew some guys who were hooked up with a pretty big ad agency & got a lot of work doing covers that were exact replicas (or as close as they could get) to the original tracks and some of their placments made them A LOT of dough.

[prez]

Mazz pretty much hit it the nail on the head. Also, under the 1976 Copyright act, you can't stop someone from making a cover of a copyrighted song. But the law requires that the license fee be paid. Record contracts state that an artist will grant the right of the record company a free license for copyrighted arrangements in the public domain that are recorded and controlled by the artist. This is stated in just about every record contract because it means more money for the record company. Go figure.PROs (ASCAP mainly) pay based on a variety of factors and will pay anywhere from 2% to 100%. BMI's is slightly different. No clue on SEASAC. So, in a nutshell, you're splitting the money and not getting as big of the piece of the pie if it was an original. HOWEVER, because some cover songs are very popular, you might make more money based on that popularity and how well it's received.