Cover copyright is an indispensable tool whenever you’re delving into the intricate world of music promotion, in particular if you’re an emerging artist. This entry is part of our series on copyrights and derivative works, which include sampling, remix, mashup, and interpolation. When writing the cover portion of this series it came to our attention that, even if it’s a very popular practice and that some platforms aren’t as jealous and severe with its rules on covers, it’s still necessary to know the basics to avoid infringing the law. For this reason, here we’ll provide you with three basic steps to do so, especially on platforms such as Youtube and SoundCloud.
Cover Copyright: Step 1
Besides coming up with your own creative idea to refresh a previously released song, you need to watch out for the law. Firstly, secure the proper licenses to reproduce and distribute the original composition from which your new work stems. In technical terms, whenever you make a cover, you’re using someone else’s copyrighted song. For this reason, it’s logical that the owners should get an appropriate compensation. To follow this step properly, initiate by notifying the copyright owner of your intent to use their song. Then, provide reports and statements of usage; in other words, account what you’ll do. Lastly, pay statutory mechanical royalties for each use of the owner’s song.
Cover Copyright. Step 2
This one is also a very technical one. Let’s start with a simple, agreed-on, idea: the chances are that, if you’re covering a popular song, other artists have already done so as well. For this reason, it’s crucial to distinguish your recorded version of the original song from all the others. And you do this by requesting a unique identifier: the International Standard Recording Code (ISRC). It is a 12-character alphanumeric code that the pertinent institution grants. You need one of these every time you come up with a version of the same song. So, if apart from creating a—let’s call it—a traditional cover, you then decide to produce a live version and an acoustic one, and then a remix, those will also need this ISRC.
On almost all digital platforms, you’ll be asked to have one of these. It’ll cost you money, but it’ll be worth it. The reason is it’ll then allow you to produce the economic benefits you rightfully deserve. Just make sure you buy the ISRC from an official ISRC Manager.
