I was wondering wether you need some sort of license to cover someone else song, for a small gig or demo, and how you would go about obtaining one.

TIA

-V

No for live shows of any kind. Now if want to make a live/studio recording and release it, than you would get into copyright issues. Depending on the song and the musician/group involved you can end up paying a great percentage to them.


Whatever you do, don't do what Richard Ashcroft of the Verve did. Trying to negotiate after the fact led to his ending having to give 100% of the royalties for the song Bittersweet Symphony.

That sucks. I love covers and remixes. One of the best things about the modern music idustry is the sharing of work.

top three covers of all time:

1. Smells Like Teen Spirit-Tori Amos
2. Come Together-Aerosmith
3. Smooth Criminal-Alien Ant Farm

thanks for your help.

for the recording i meant just something small to be given out to friends and possibly producers, nothing actually published.