Instrumental Cover of a Song Licensing questions

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JimmiO
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Instrumental Cover of a Song Licensing questions

Post by JimmiO » Sat Nov 13, 2021 5:45 am

There are a couple of songs that I would like to do instrumental covers of that I will release on streaming services . In my understanding I would need a mechanical license to do this. How do I obtain the license and would I need to register the cover with my PRO or with the distributor ex. distrokid or both ?

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RPaul
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Re: Instrumental Cover of a Song Licensing questions

Post by RPaul » Tue Nov 16, 2021 6:41 pm

JimmiO wrote:
Sat Nov 13, 2021 5:45 am
There are a couple of songs that I would like to do instrumental covers of that I will release on streaming services . In my understanding I would need a mechanical license to do this. How do I obtain the license and would I need to register the cover with my PRO or with the distributor ex. distrokid or both ?
Yes, you'd need a mechanical license. CD Baby used to be able to handle the mechanical licensing for streaming/downloads released through them for you, but they stopped doing that earlier this year (or at least sometime prior to the point where I put out my first cover recording this year). There are other sources for mechanical licensing covers (e.g. the Harry Fox Agency in the USA), but, when I was checking the one CD Baby recommended (I'm blanking on the name right now) after discontinuing their service, I found that the complexity of doing that, and potentially the costs, via that service were such that it really didn't fit my needs, which were basically streaming/downloads worldwide.

In inquiring on alternatives with a friend I knew who had released recent cover recordings, he told me about Soundrop.com, which is actually owned by the same parent company as CD Baby, and will do the mechanical licensing for you for any outlets they service. While they don't service as many outlets as CD Baby does (e.g. they don't service Tidal for one), they do cover most of the most popular services, including at least Amazon, Apple, Deezer, Pandora, Spotify, and YouTube Music. I'm sure there are others, but those are the ones I pay attention to in terms of providing links to popular services to let people know where they can listen to my music (e.g. you can find my multi-site listen link for my cover of the Beatles' "We Can Work It Out", which I released through Soundrop, at https://smarturl.it/WeCanWorkItOut).

When I first put a cover out via Soundrop, they were charging something like $10 to arrange the mechanical licensing, and I think putting out original material through them was free. However, they recently changed to charging 99 cents for releasing any track, including the mechanical licensing when the song is a cover. (It may be that the advent of the Mechanical Licensing Collective in the USA -- there were already mechanical licensing societies elsewhere -- for the streaming and download services simplified what they need to do on this front.)

You would not need to register the cover with your PRO as it is not your song, so would be under the original songwriters' and publishers' PRO listings, not yours. However, the mechanical licensing process would likely be informing the relevant parties of your cover, and the information you would need to supply to whatever group is doing the compulsory mechanical licensing processing for you would include the relevant information (e.g. ISWC codes for the songs, which then get matched to IPI numbers for the songwriters and publishers) to tie your cover to the songwriters and publishers.

Whether you need to register the relevant information with your distributor would probably depend on whether they will do the mechanical licensing for you. The distributor would likely at least want to cover themselves by making you certify that you have obtained a mechanical license if they don't do the licensing on your behalf.

Rick

JimmiO
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Re: Instrumental Cover of a Song Licensing questions

Post by JimmiO » Sat Nov 20, 2021 5:48 am

RPaul wrote:
Tue Nov 16, 2021 6:41 pm
JimmiO wrote:
Sat Nov 13, 2021 5:45 am
There are a couple of songs that I would like to do instrumental covers of that I will release on streaming services . In my understanding I would need a mechanical license to do this. How do I obtain the license and would I need to register the cover with my PRO or with the distributor ex. distrokid or both ?
Yes, you'd need a mechanical license. CD Baby used to be able to handle the mechanical licensing for streaming/downloads released through them for you, but they stopped doing that earlier this year (or at least sometime prior to the point where I put out my first cover recording this year). There are other sources for mechanical licensing covers (e.g. the Harry Fox Agency in the USA), but, when I was checking the one CD Baby recommended (I'm blanking on the name right now) after discontinuing their service, I found that the complexity of doing that, and potentially the costs, via that service were such that it really didn't fit my needs, which were basically streaming/downloads worldwide.

In inquiring on alternatives with a friend I knew who had released recent cover recordings, he told me about Soundrop.com, which is actually owned by the same parent company as CD Baby, and will do the mechanical licensing for you for any outlets they service. While they don't service as many outlets as CD Baby does (e.g. they don't service Tidal for one), they do cover most of the most popular services, including at least Amazon, Apple, Deezer, Pandora, Spotify, and YouTube Music. I'm sure there are others, but those are the ones I pay attention to in terms of providing links to popular services to let people know where they can listen to my music (e.g. you can find my multi-site listen link for my cover of the Beatles' "We Can Work It Out", which I released through Soundrop, at https://smarturl.it/WeCanWorkItOut).

When I first put a cover out via Soundrop, they were charging something like $10 to arrange the mechanical licensing, and I think putting out original material through them was free. However, they recently changed to charging 99 cents for releasing any track, including the mechanical licensing when the song is a cover. (It may be that the advent of the Mechanical Licensing Collective in the USA -- there were already mechanical licensing societies elsewhere -- for the streaming and download services simplified what they need to do on this front.)

You would not need to register the cover with your PRO as it is not your song, so would be under the original songwriters' and publishers' PRO listings, not yours. However, the mechanical licensing process would likely be informing the relevant parties of your cover, and the information you would need to supply to whatever group is doing the compulsory mechanical licensing processing for you would include the relevant information (e.g. ISWC codes for the songs, which then get matched to IPI numbers for the songwriters and publishers) to tie your cover to the songwriters and publishers.

Whether you need to register the relevant information with your distributor would probably depend on whether they will do the mechanical licensing for you. The distributor would likely at least want to cover themselves by making you certify that you have obtained a mechanical license if they don't do the licensing on your behalf.

Rick
Thank you for the reply and information it is much appreciated.

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