Cover Tunes - Pay to Play?

[kirk]

I play in a cover band. Now I know some of the "real" musicians are probably turning their noses up to cover tunes, but lets face it - there are probably hundreds (maybe thousands!?) of bands who try to make a living (or try to supplement their income from their lousy day job) by playing covers in the local watering holes.

Here is a link to a story about a bar who hired a band to play. The band did original material, but also played three covers. Supposedly, some organizations are seeking compensation for the performancs of the cover tunes.

http://digitalmusic.weblogsinc.com/2...-to-liability/

So, what do you think? Is this a legitimate issue - is it any different than downloading from the P2P site of the day? Should a cover band (or establishments who employ them) have to pay "royalties" for cover tunes?

Last question, could this be an urban legend?

[Jaden]

Like most musicians Ive done my fair share of covers bands - nothing wrong with that....

lets just hope that it is indeed an urban legend otherwise what next? - arrested and fined in the street for whistling Led Zep ?

the whole idea is fookin bananas

[surfdog777]

My band does cover tunes too, so I'm right there with you. Most of the stuff we're doing in 80's metal & hair band stuff...so many of the original artists are either dead, in rehab, or selling pizza in NYC. Let em come and find me.

[Rotti]

I'm doing covers too. Never heard of anyone have to pay royalties to cover a song in a bar. What about all the karaeoke bars?

[damo7v]

i think it'd be fair enough if it applied to recorded versions only.

or perhaps only to interpretations that closely resemble the original work to the extent that they could potentially injure the earning potential of the original artist. i.e i should be able to record as many versions of Sweet Child O' Mine as i like, because at best all i'll ever be doing is reminding people of how good the original was by comparison.

[screamndemon69]

Originally Posted by kirk

So, what do you think? Is this a legitimate issue - is it any different than downloading from the P2P site of the day? Should a cover band (or establishments who employ them) have to pay "royalties" for cover tunes?

Last question, could this be an urban legend?

i think it is completely different. playing a cover song is artistic representation of someone elses song therefore being a band's rendition of that song is why you can play a cover song live and put it on a CD and sell the CD without giving the artist compensation. you need to only give the song's writer credit to sell the CD. someone correct me if i'm wrong on this.

i play in an orginal band that plays a ton of covers almost every weekend and i would be appalled to be told we couldn't play any covers w/out compensation to the original artist. we choose to play covers to have gigs and more $ than just playing originals. our originals are still our best material.

i doubt Aerosmith pays money to Michael Jackson to play old Beatles songs live or on live recordings but i could easily be wrong.

[supermau]

Originally Posted by damo7v

i think it'd be fair enough if it applied to recorded versions only.

I don't know what the real law is but I think this assesement is pretty good. The "cover police" would be pretty busy keeping up with all the cover bands in all the cities in all the world wouldn't they!

[screamndemon69]

i don't think you can put out a studio version without permission from the artist but a live version is ok. now the idea of paying to play the music in bars is just absurd.

[andy7jem]

How many of the successful bands started out playing covers themselves...and many still play the odd cover here and there.It would reek of hypocrisy.
I can understand the argument more for actually recording and releasing material,but gigging songs is just giving the public some entertainment and getting a few pennies for the effort

[Demogorgos]

Well, from a legal perspective you *should* pay the original artists, if you make money playing their stuff. That's the stance for *ANY* copyright work.

In Holland there was a time that BUMA STEMRA (Local copyright agency for music) did go to live places and claimed the copyrighted money from the performing musicians if they played covers. That was end 60's, beginning of the 70's.

Regards,

JP

[OLIE_ROCKS_THE_80'S]

It is rubbish!!! you should be able to play covers freely, specially, if the band is no longer around!!! or not around as often!!!

[eviltwin]

The royalties could be claimed, but I think it is rather counter productive; if the coverband sells CDs with the cover material they are going to pay the original writer/owner, but if they don't it's just free promotion (unless of course the coverband is really bad )

BUMA STEMRA have come a long way since those days went they went out in search of coverbands, now most bars and clubs here use software that automatically registers the artists and songs played on the stereo, but it could easily be extended to include song recognition software in order to "tax" coverbands.

[The Euphor]

In Norway, the locales pay a certain amount of money in order to broadcast CDs and have live bands play covers. I'm not totally sure, but I think the fee is based on the (probable) "crowdness" in each locale. Bands don't have to pay. The locale is responsible to report which songs were played, in order for the right people to get payed.

On the other hand. I play in a cover band, for fun. We don't earn anything on others music. And we don't pay royalties. I think the line should be drawn there. If you earn money on playing other peoples music, then royalties are called for. Still I'm not sure...

[dex]

I'm pretty sure the 2 open mike places I play at pay royalties just like they pay royalties for the music (CDs) they play all the time.
The British Phonographic Industry sends a monthly royalty bill to every pub/restaurant etc in the UK (including places like Burger King and Pizza Hut) and collects a cheque.
I'm pretty sure the covers live bands play are paid for through that as well so here in the UK the pub that lets you play is footing the bill for your covers.
It's been a long time I've seen a BPI invoice but it wasn't that much.
I remember calculating it and it was less than .02p/song.

[kirk]

Originally Posted by Rotti

I'm doing covers too. Never heard of anyone have to pay royalties to cover a song in a bar. What about all the karaeoke bars?

I think royalties are probably paid by the companies that make the backing track cds.