General Question

windex's avatar

Do Cover Bands rip off artists without buying the rights to the songs?

Asked by windex (2932points) September 8th, 2008

Does being in a cover band mean that you get to redo other people’s hit songs without paying them anything (royalties, buy the rights etc.) If so, can I use that version in my animation without getting in trouble?

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3 Answers

allengreen's avatar

I don’t think so.

allengreen (1631points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
marinelife's avatar

Why are you making the assumption that the cover bands do not pay for the right to use the song? They do. Here is an article on how it is done (excerpt follows):

”. . .three primary paths you can take to obtain a mechanical license [a.k.a. Circular 73—Compulsory License For Making and Distributing Phonorecords (PDF)] to legally release your version of another artist’s song.”

No, you cannot use a song in your animation without acquiring the legal right to do so.

marinelife (62485points)“Great Answer” (1points) Flag as…
EmpressPixie's avatar

Cover bands must pay for the rights to the music they use. One of the acapella groups at my college got into HUGE trouble for this once. They forgot to buy permission for one of the songs on their CD.

However, you would have to get permission of the cover band to use their work – not the original band.

EmpressPixie (14767points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…

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