Covers and copyright

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ash
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Re: Covers and copyright

Post by ash »

They can only sue you for royalties, so unless someone complains you should be fine.

The tricky part is that the copyright owner can claim that Myspace is making money off it as "content" and thus Myspace could pre-emptively remove it themselves to prevent such an accusation/liability.

Do it... the worst that can happen is that Myspace remove it and ask you not to do it again.
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Re: Covers and copyright

Post by Cabb »

And with the case of Sam's cover that is being "used" by an organisation that already pays the artist for the use of their work, so they have already paid for it regardless of who is performing it.

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Re: Covers and copyright

Post by willow13 »

Cabb wrote:And with the case of Sam's cover that is being "used" by an organisation that already pays the artist for the use of their work, so they have already paid for it regardless of who is performing it.
well that's not true because you have to take into account that it was submitted in some medium like CD or mp3 so the fact that it has been "released" in any form by an artist who isn't the owner means that artist could be up for copyright infringement....the fact that the chance's of BC making any money of it are roughly zero means he should be sweet
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Re: Covers and copyright

Post by Cabb »

Not really sure what you mean, and what I said was quite a bad sentence in the first place. Let me clear it up.

The rock already pay royalties of some sort to the killers in some way. Therefore it is ok for them to use the killers music on their website / part of their broadcast because they have already paid to do so. Essentially Sam is getting a freebee from the rock in the form of exposure (I'm assuming and really from here it's nobody's business).


Technically BC could be making profit of an arguable description by having a cover on his myspace page so it's a little different.

So I think we both agree?

p.s Ash covered the technical part because really myspace are more liable than BC - why I don't know, probably because they have a larger piggy bank.

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Re: Covers and copyright

Post by willow13 »

Cabb wrote:The rock already pay royalties of some sort to the killers in some way. Therefore it is ok for them to use the killers music on their website / part of their broadcast because they have already paid to do so. Essentially Sam is getting a freebee from the rock in the form of exposure (I'm assuming and really from here it's nobody's business).
what your saying is right in regards to the rock being covered because yes they have paid a license, its the same thing with live venues, they can have cover bands etc play because they have paid a fee.....

but as far as sam goes he has reproduced a song and had it play on a public medium without first obtaining a license to do so, so from my understanding he is in breach of copyright. I doubt in the history of music whether a band has even gone after someone in cases like this but technically it is still a breach of copyright

[quote="Cabb"p.s Ash covered the technical part because really myspace are more liable than BC - why I don't know, probably because they have a larger piggy bank.[/quote]

myspace and BC would both be liable of they didn't pull it from the website....if it ended up in court they would both have to pay

again I doubt this would every happen but to the letter of the law its a breach.....
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Re: Covers and copyright

Post by ash »

Cabb wrote:Ash covered the technical part because really myspace are more liable than BC - why I don't know, probably because they have a larger piggy bank.
Because they make money from advertising sold on their website. Content brings punters, punters look at advertising.
willow13 wrote: but as far as sam goes he has reproduced a song and had it play on a public medium without first obtaining a license to do so, so from my understanding he is in breach of copyright.
Sam hasn't reproduced anything. All he did was a live performance and you can cover other people's songs as much as you like in live performance without seeking permission. The Rock recorded it, they broadcast it, they hold the masters, they have all they money that could be associated with it. Plus they pay APRA and will report that song as played by Sam, written by The Killers every time they do so. All ends are tied.
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Re: Covers and copyright

Post by willow13 »

ash wrote:Sam hasn't reproduced anything. All he did was a live performance and you can cover other people's songs as much as you like in live performance without seeking permission. The Rock recorded it, they broadcast it, they hold the masters, they have all they money that could be associated with it. Plus they pay APRA and will report that song as played by Sam, written by The Killers every time they do so. All ends are tied.
oh I didn't realise sam was playing live, I thought he had sent in a copy, my mistake
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Re: Covers and copyright

Post by spasm6 »

ash wrote:Sam hasn't reproduced anything. All he did was a live performance and you can cover other people's songs as much as you like in live performance without seeking permission.
One gig we had last year, all the bands had to send a setlist to APRA and they had people come to the festival to make sure we weren't playing songs by their artists. Pretty anal really :roll:
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Re: Covers and copyright

Post by ash »

What's with the :roll: ?

APRA are the people who make sure that YOU as a musician get paid your share along with all other musicians.
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Re: Covers and copyright

Post by Lawrence »

theres two types of copyright to think about .
The songwiters copyright on the song vs the mechanical copyright on a recording.
Radio Stations pay for mechanical copyright...

If Sam had applied for a licence for the song (songrwiters copyright) then some of the mechanical copyright paid by the radio station would have gone to him as the performer.

and Spasm.....If you had played any originals the you would have received a share of the performance royalties paid by the festival ! (that is if yuu have registered the songs with Apra :wink: )
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Re: Covers and copyright

Post by spasm6 »

Lawrence wrote:and Spasm.....If you had played any originals the you would have received a share of the performance royalties paid by the festival ! (that is if yuu have registered the songs with Apra :wink: )
haha it was all originals and were a member of APRA. I was just surprised at the lengths they go to for smalltime gigs (this was the Little River Fire Festival with about 30 punters).
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Re: Covers and copyright

Post by Capt. Black »

Hehehe, they're never small time gigs until only 30 people turn up.

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