Copyright on music...

Hey dudes, been a while. I have a question that doesn't really deal with fan films, but you guys generally know quite a bit about copyright laws, so here goes.

Let's say a band desired to make an album in a completely legal manner, but wished to include cover songs that they certainly did not have the rights to. Am I correct in thinking that as long as those songs are not used to sell the CD, that it is all right? As in, if all of the cover tracks were not listed on the back, and not advertised in any way, but just a nice surprise when you popped in the CD. Is that legal?

 

If you make an album with completely original music on it you have the right to sell it and make profit.

IF

however


You put music on that disc that you do not own the rights to, you can't make money off the CD (not matter if those tracks are advertised or not). Also, it would probably still be illegal to keep the tracks on the album even if you aren't making money off it since you'd be giving the music to people for free. The only solution that would allow you to put those tracks on there would be to pay for the rights to the songs.

 

Damn. Well, it was worth a shot. Thanks!

 

Well, there's slight differences in that you're not paying for the performance of the existing song, just the ability to perform it and create a new version, which is essentially half of what goes into a music liscensing fee, from what I understand.

 

You can get performance rights, that is, the right to perform someone's else's work for profit. Or you can purchase "synching" rights, and synch in someone's work into your tracks of sound. But for people on TFN making fan films, you probably don't want to spend money on performance rights, or "synching" rights. I'd do something original; get someone to do it for free. Or you can purchase royalty free music, and that may actually be easier.

Just google: "royalty free music".

 

In my experience I usually see indie bands include the cover track as a hidden song on an album. They don't list the song on the liners and don't promote it (as you're saying). I'm not recommending you take that route, but I've seen it done and nobody that I've known to do it has ever gotten sued over it. If you're not thinking you're going to do this as a career, and you only have a small following...you're likely going to be okay. Just like the fan filmers here haven't gotten sued yet. But if you want to do this right, and make music your primary career...don't risk it, get a license to use the music from the publishing company that owns the rights.

 

You should probably get the performance rights for it. Yeah, you may not tell anyone that you've got Song X on your disc, but word-of-mouth is still a powerful force and could end up being your main advertisement, especially if you're an indie band. Half the time I mention Da Vinvi's Notebook to someone, I talk about their covers of Blue Moon or Call Me.