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Cover tune questions, YouTube, mechanical license, synchronization etc.

L. L. Elwood

L. L. Elwood

Jan 22, 2004
1,445
1,735
Colorado
www.elwoodhomesdenver.com
#1
My daughter and I just recorded Pretty killer cover tune from an 80s artist and I'm starting to jump through the hoops of paying for mechanical and synchronization licenses so we can stream the cover, put it up on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram etc. etc. Does anyone here have experience doing such a thing and dealing with content being demonetized or blocked? My main question is if you jump through the proper hoops to obtain the proper licensing and pay royalties, can YouTube still shut you down? And can the publisher block you even though you've legitimately paid for licensing? I am completely oblivious to this whole world any and all comments are appreciated thanks!
 
#2
Youtube can still shut you down (incorrectly) on a whim, from what I understand. Could you post most details on how exactly one gets the proper licenses to do covers? I've never bothered, hoping my "strictly amateur" status is some protection, but I should check out what it takes to go legit.
 
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#3
I'm not a lawyer, and there are a couple of TBers who are, but what I understand is this:

The copyright owner on the song controls the right to perform/record it, and to collect royalties on it. If you've actually obtained a license to record and publish your cover, then legally you should be good; I do not know whether and how Youtube actually confirms that you hold such a license, to protect your video from getting taken down.

But, in an earlier incarnation of one of my bands, the drummer posted our vids of covers to Youtube, and the way he said it worked was that, if the algorithms or whatever picked up that it was a cover of something copyrighted, the copyright holders got notified of it. Then they could review it and make the call if they wanted it taken down or would let it stay up. If it stayed up, then THEY got the royalties off any monetization of the video.

Again, I'm not a lawyer or agent or anything and can't claim expertise on this, but that's passing on what I've been told, if it helps.

 
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#6
hrodbert696 said:
I'm not a lawyer, and there are a couple of TBers who are, but what I understand is this:

The copyright owner on the song controls the right to perform/record it, and to collect royalties on it. If you've actually obtained a license to record and publish your cover, then legally you should be good; I do not know whether and how Youtube actually confirms that you hold such a license, to protect your video from getting taken down.

But, in an earlier incarnation of one of my bands, the drummer posted our vids of covers to Youtube, and the way he said it worked was that, if the algorithms or whatever picked up that it was a cover of something copyrighted, the copyright holders got notified of it. Then they could review it and make the call if they wanted it taken down or would let it stay up. If it stayed up, then THEY got the royalties off any monetization of the video.

Again, I'm not a lawyer or agent or anything and can't claim expertise on this, but that's passing on what I've been told, if it helps.

Click to expand...


But, what about someone on TB who posts a cover on TB just to demonstrate their ability to play along with or sing with the original tune? There is no monetizing, just a desire to share their recording skills and get recommendations/criticisms from others. They could publish the original copyright owners.

Can this be permitted on TB?
 
#7
SoulReflection said:
But, what about someone on TB who posts a cover on TB just to demonstrate their ability to play along with or sing with the original tune? There is no monetizing, just a desire to share their recording skills and get recommendations/criticisms from others. They could publish the original copyright owners.

Can this be permitted on TB?
Click to expand...
If not then I'll have to take down almost everything I have ever posted.
 
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#9
LBS-bass said:
If you aren't monetizing it then the most that normally happens is the copyright owner claims it and can monetize your views. For most of us this amounts to very little so it's no big deal.
Click to expand...
A tardigrade would starve to death on my view / listen earnings.
 
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#10
SoulReflection said:
But, what about someone on TB who posts a cover on TB just to demonstrate their ability to play along with or sing with the original tune? There is no monetizing, just a desire to share their recording skills and get recommendations/criticisms from others. They could publish the original copyright owners.

Can this be permitted on TB?
Click to expand...

TB has no direct audio or video media uploads; you embed from another site (like Youtube or Vimeo). So the policy of the site hosting the material still applies. In the Youtube situation (the only one I've heard anything about), I believe the copyright holder can make the decision to monetize the video regardless of what the uploader wished. TB has no policy about it because all we're doing is letting you embed material from elsewhere.

A couple of concepts that would also be in play here: copyright applies no matter whether the person using the material is making money off it or not. The song is still someone's intellectual property and they still have their rights in it (like to collect royalties on recordings and performances of their song) regardless of what a person is recording or performing it FOR.

The other thing is "fair use," which is that a person can make use of a portion of copyrighted material for instructional or review purposes without needing to pay for it or needing the copyright holder's permission. Fair use can be a little murky and gets decided on a case-by-case basis. But in a situation like this, it would depend on how exactly (and how much) you used the copyrighted material in your video. If you recorded a playthrough of an entire song, and shared a video of that complete playthrough, then you have effectively given people a recording of the song and probably couldn't claim fair use. But if you posted a video discussing how to play the song, with demonstrations of a key riff or playing through just one verse, you probably could. I suspect Rick Beato's "What Makes This Song Great?" videos might count as fair use since he breaks the playback of the song up into chunks, but not sure.

Back in the days before digital scanning, a college professor could photocopy a chapter out of a book to give students as a class handout under fair use, but couldn't give out photocopies of the entire book, even though it was for instructional purposes and they weren't making money off it.
 
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#11
hrodbert696 said:
TB has no direct audio or video media uploads; you embed from another site (like Youtube or Vimeo). So the policy of the site hosting the material still applies. In the Youtube situation (the only one I've heard anything about), I believe the copyright holder can make the decision to monetize the video regardless of what the uploader wished. TB has no policy about it because all we're doing is letting you embed material from elsewhere.

A couple of concepts that would also be in play here: copyright applies no matter whether the person using the material is making money off it or not. The song is still someone's intellectual property and they still have their rights in it (like to collect royalties on recordings and performances of their song) regardless of what a person is recording or performing it FOR.

The other thing is "fair use," which is that a person can make use of a portion of copyrighted material for instructional or review purposes without needing to pay for it or needing the copyright holder's permission. Fair use can be a little murky and gets decided on a case-by-case basis. But in a situation like this, it would depend on how exactly (and how much) you used the copyrighted material in your video. If you recorded a playthrough of an entire song, and shared a video of that complete playthrough, then you have effectively given people a recording of the song and probably couldn't claim fair use. But if you posted a video discussing how to play the song, with demonstrations of a key riff or playing through just one verse, you probably could. I suspect Rick Beato's "What Makes This Song Great?" videos might count as fair use since he breaks the playback of the song up into chunks, but not sure.

Back in the days before digital scanning, a college professor could photocopy a chapter out of a book to give students as a class handout under fair use, but couldn't give out photocopies of the entire book, even though it was for instructional purposes and they weren't making money off it.
Click to expand...

Thank you. Probably safer to keep it to oneself!
 
#13
Why Soul Reflection is asking is my wife and I have been enjoying taking songs, pulling out the vocals and/or bass (and in many cases adding to what's not there) using Moises, and then me mixing and rendering a recording of it all. We've had a blast doing it and have been sending them around to friends, like SR, but were wondering if we could post them here on TB without having to go to jail. Though I have dropped a few of them here and have never gotten a notice, I figured it was okay but wanted to make sure because I'd look terrible in an orange jumpsuit...it's just not my color. Thanks to all for the insight!
 

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