Laws governing covers bands in UK

[Devo]

Hey folks,

does anyone know anything about the laws governing covers bands in the UK. I would imagine there are copywright issues etc. when using other peoples material. This must be particularly the case with tribute acts.

But is there any liscencing required to play a few covers from different bands, in say a pub, club or at events (wedding etc)?

Any help from legal buffs would be much appreciated.

Steve

[jono]

I don't know for sure, Steve, but I was under the impression that for live gigs the fee is incorporated into the licence that the venue has to have for playing live music.

The issue os revenues earned from recorded media is something else entirely though I believe.

[Algiman]

Jono, that's what I thought too.

[DEADTUNES666]

That is the law here too. Live performance is essentially a free area.

If that live performance is then recorded to audio or video, and given away as a demo, in order to procure paid gigs there is probably not a concern, as monetarily it wouldn't be enough to warrant a lawsuit. If however you recorded the performance to package and sell, that may be enough on principle alone, for an artist to get involved legally. You would of course have to sell more copies than just to your Mother!

[rmp0012002]

Not the band but the bars have to have a license to play recorded music or the covered material live bands play at the bar. Every song has a copyright and you need a license from that group. If I was a bar owner I would not want to be caught without a license.