How much does a musical artist get paid when someone else records a cover of their song?

Often, it can be very little to nothing. Getting to illustrate an album cover is a great portfolio piece.

@PandoraBoxx, by ‘cover’ he means a rerecording of the song, possibly with artistic interpretation, by another artist.

Oh, duh. Thanks, Jayne. Laughing at myself :-p

I assume it depends more on who owns the rights to the song rather than who sang it first.

The royalties go to the songwriters. It is a formula:

“Upon selecting the “mechanical license” option, I was asked the following multiple-choice questions (my answers appear in parentheses):

1) How many recordings will you make? [2500 COPIES OR LESS (LICENSE FEE MINIMUM IS 500 UNITS)]
2) Manufactured in what country? (WITHIN U.S.)
3) Distributed in what country? (WITHIN U.S.)
4) Which type of Organization do you represent? (INDIVIDUAL)

Based on the length of each song and the number of units you plan to sell, songfile.com then computes a fee based upon the statutory mechanical royalty rate—the money collected for each sale of your cover version that goes directly to the song’s writer and publisher (often split 50/50). Currently (January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2005), the “statutory mechanical royalty rate” is:

8.50 Cents for songs 5 minutes or less
1.65 Cents per minute or fraction thereof over 5 minutes.”

From HFA selecting the “mechanical license” option, I was asked the following multiple-choice questions (my answers appear in parentheses):

1) How many recordings will you make? [2500 COPIES OR LESS (LICENSE FEE MINIMUM IS 500 UNITS)]
2) Manufactured in what country? (WITHIN U.S.)
3) Distributed in what country? (WITHIN U.S.)
4) Which type of Organization do you represent? (INDIVIDUAL)

Based on the length of each song and the number of units you plan to sell, songfile.com then computes a fee based upon the statutory mechanical royalty rate—the money collected for each sale of your cover version that goes directly to the song’s writer and publisher (often split 50/50). Currently (January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2005), the “statutory mechanical royalty rate” is:

8.50 Cents for songs 5 minutes or less
1.65 Cents per minute or fraction thereof over 5 minutes.

Edit: Sorry about the double posting.

Great answer, it’s more or less how it works in the rest of the world too. The only notable difference is “public domain” songs, eg traditional songs or songs whose authors have died long ago. The copyrights can often be inherited, and some countries have different rules than others about when a song is considered “public domain” (usually it’s around 50 years after the writer’s death).

To give you a specific example, in my 7th album I included “Song of Sixpence” (a well-known English nursery rhyme) as well as “House of the Rising Sun” (a big hit in the 60s for Eric Burton and the Animals). Even though people think the latter is a song by Eric Burton, it is in fact a traditional American folk tune, and I did not have to pay any royalties for it.

Also something that may not have been clear in Marina’s post above: There are three types of rights: first rights (the rights of the composer), mechanical rights (the rights of the producer) and performing rights (the rights of the singer). What this means is that if Marina sings one of my songs on the Fluther label, and then this song is played on the radio, I get some money for writing the song, she gets some money for singing it, and Fluther gets some money for going into the trouble of recording and paying for the album. If someone else decides to record the song again 10 years later, I will still get a cut, but Marina and Fluther won’t. However, often performers waive their rights, and sometimes composers “sell” their songs, meaning they still get credited for them, but not paid (all the money goes to the company that bought it).

Sometimes the copyright holder also needs to enforce his copyright. For example, some want you to pay royalties for singing Happy Birthday.