Is it legal to record cover songs on a demo?

[Jim Nazium]

We aren't going to sell the demo CD, but we are going to use it to attempt to get paying gigs. Is that legal?

[bigfatbass]

Yes

[rtslinger]

Give them away! Selling the demo is against the law unless you have permission to use the songs which means you have to pay to use it. You are looking for trouble if you do not.

[Marlat]

Originally Posted by Jim Nazium

We aren't going to sell the demo CD, but we are going to use it to attempt to get paying gigs. Is that legal?

Prudence would say its probably not a legally acceptable use of the copyrighted material without permission. The reason is that you are using the cover song without permission for commercial purposes (ie obtaining work). Its probably a grey area, but if you have any doubt, I would err on the side of caution. You could, of course, take a commercial call and look at the risk of getting sued for doing it, but if would wanted to stay firmly on the side of "legally permitted" without paying for a lawyer, I would say don't do it.

[scottbass]

When we put covers on a demo, we print "Demonstration copy only. Not for resale." right on the CD itself.

bigfatbass and rtslinger are correct. You do not need permission and you do not need to pay royalties if you do not sell the recordings.

[tdub0199]

we had to pay "The Doors" to put a cover we did of theirs on our cd.....

[logicman69]

I think "intent" has alot to do with it. In this case, if the demo is designed for club owners only, and you are not selling them OR posting the music on the net for all to hear and download, I would think you would be ok. The worst that could happen is you would get a cease and desist letter. But really, who is going to rat you out?

[Chris K]

I'm sure there is some kind of copy rights administration board somewhere in the US... we have one over here (Netherlands) and they take care of matters like these.

[scottbass]

Originally Posted by tdub0199

we had to pay "The Doors" to put a cover we did of theirs on our cd.....

Yeah, but your CD was for sale. If it was "demo only", you would not have had to pay for it.

[ChrisB2]

A lot of misinformation here.

No, under U.S. law it's not legal to record and distribute someone else's work without permission, regardless of whether or not you sell it.

This is easily verified by researching valid websites like copyright.gov versus asking a message board.

Of course, I'm sure every cover band does it...

[Dekker]

No, in the strictest sense, it is not legal, unless you pay the licensing fee for the use.

http://www.songclearance.com/

Probably looking at about $85 per cover song, depending on the song/artist/availability.

This applies WHETHER YOU ARE SELLING OR NOT.

Someone (the lyricist, original artist, etc) invested their time into making a song, and they only get paid by people licensing their materials.

[tdub0199]

The licensing fee was around $115.00 to do the "The Doors" song "Not to touch the Earth" regardless if we were selling it or not.... this allowed us to make up to 1,500 copies.... Regardless it's the RIGHT thing to do....

[Babaghanoush]

Is it legal... no.
Is it a real world, the man is at my door problem... probably not.

I agree with logicman. Worst case is getting a nastygram from a publisher but again, very likely not to happen.

Bottom line is if it's just a demo for a small group of prospective clients, I would do it. If your project goals turn out bigger than that, I wouldn't.

[seanm]

I'm not a copyright lawyer, so take this with a grain of salt I believe you can use clips of songs for demo purposes. i.e. If you make a medley of many songs as a demo, you are ok. Although I have no idea how long the clip is allowed to be.

Or that could only be true in Canada.

[Depth_Charge]

Check the songs out on the myspace link below. All covers. One is a medley, the rest are full songs. Excuse the bass heaviness of the recordings
Some recorded years ago. These have been used for band promotion to secure work and to help me get into bands.

I have also cut recordings to CD to give to prospective bands, and cut live CD's for people asking for a copy of a night's performance (which was admittedly rare!). All covers.

I am yet to receive a letter from any legal people representing the artists who wrote the songs represented. I wish I would. It would look good framed and on my jam room wall

[Ric5]

Originally Posted by Jim Nazium

We aren't going to sell the demo CD, but we are going to use it to attempt to get paying gigs. Is that legal?

Everybody does it and I have never heard of anyone getting busted.

Now if you sell a cd at your gigs it better have original songs or songs you have permission to use or songs you paid a royality to use.

[Stick_Player]

Originally Posted by ChrisB2

A lot of misinformation here.

No, under U.S. law it's not legal to record and distribute someone else's work without permission, regardless of whether or not you sell it.

This is easily verified by researching valid websites like copyright.gov versus asking a message board.

Of course, I'm sure every cover band does it...

Exactly correct. Distribute means the same as "give it a way free".

You cannot do this, unless you get Mechanical Licenses from the Harry Fox Agency.

[bottomzone]

According to the information in this publication, it is illegal to do so even if you have no intent of selling the demo. The issue is duplication-not selling.

http://www.discmakers.com/pdf/PlanningYourAlbum.pdf


A Groove is a Terrible Thing to Waste!

[MNAirHead]

I could be wrong...

In our demos, we do a quick montage... 10 second snips.

We were told that if cross-faded and short, we could always make the assertion that we had no intentions of selling the material and it was presented in a format that greatly inhibited it's use.

We've gone as far is to back track a drone... this ties all the mini demos together.

[Downunderwonder]

Nearly every bandmember of every band there ever was started out playing some covers and making coin off them. So morally I don't have a problem with doing a demo. If some bigshot got all bent over it they could legally get you to stop but damages??? pffft.