| CD Baby DIY Musician Podcast |
 June 29,
2009
Ep.65 : Matthew Ebel - Stream your concerts to the world
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| CD Baby Music Podcasts |
 Music Discovery
 Hip Hop
 60's Pop
 Rockabilly
 Top Sellers
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| COVER SONGS in Digital Distribution |
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COVER SONGS in Digital Distribution:
It's been almost two years since we launched our Digital Distribution program, to get your music sold on Apple iTunes, Rhapsody, Napster, AOL, BuyMusic, MusicMatch, MSN, Yahoo, etc. (More info at http://cdbaby.net/dd )
Once the sales reports started coming in, I thought it was funny that I didn't recognize the top-selling artists in digital sales. They definitely weren't the top-selling CDs. Some had hardly sold a single CD, yet they were earning $10,000 in digital downloads.
Here's the top-selling albums list: http://cdbaby.org/stories/05/05/14/6650893.html
I was a little stumped why it was so different from CD sales, until I asked my database a different question : "Show me the top-selling SONGS (not albums)" - and got this: http://cdbaby.org/stories/05/05/14/8975448.html
Aha! It's cover songs! The artists who have a cover song on their album are selling the best, all-around. Of course! Most of these programs have a SONG-BASED SEARCH, so people go to iTunes or Rhapsody or Napster and search for their favorite SONG - and in the search results, they probably see their favorite artist on top, but then they see a few below it that they've never seen before! They click into the song, like this new version, and then click into the artist's full album, to see what else this artist has to offer.
EXAMPLE:
Someone using iTunes remembers the song "Wonderwall" by Oasis from 1996. They go to search for it. Oasis comes up as the 1st result, but right below that is a version of the song from an artist named Melissa Rebronja. Who's Melissa Rebronja? They click and listen. Pretty cool! They click her name to find out more about her, and they start to browse around her whole album, like what they hear, and buy the whole album. Now they're a fan of her music. All because she did her own version of a popular song. (To hear for yourself, go to http://cdbaby.com/cd/melissar )
So now, I'm advising musicians to do a creative cover song on their next album. Find something that hasn't been done TOO much. (Example: CD Baby has 762 versions of "Amazing Grace". Really!) Find something that you can add your unique twist to. Then make sure to include it on a full-length album, so that people who discover you by that song can get turned on to your own music, and buy the whole collection.
(Also, make sure to get your permissions and pay your license at Harry Fox, first! Bookmark this: http://www.songfile.com/limited_license_search.html and this: http://cdbaby.net/dd/?f=8 )
Personally, I think cover songs are best when they sound nothing like the original - it's more creative that way. My old music teacher said people are imperfect mirrors. By even trying to imitate, they show their true shape. You can help define who you are as an artist, by how you re-create a well-known song.
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Congratulations to all of the leading artist on CD
Baby. To be a top seller is to be the best. And for those of us that didn't make the cut, your success
truly inspires us and gives us all hope as independent and obscure artists to persist and struggle to be the best we can be. . .the one that
stops trying is the one that's slowly dying!
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Hi Derek!
It is so true that a Cover Song helps sell a CD. My CD entitled, Land of Freedom, is a Patriotic Cover Song that brings together a complete story. One must listen to all the songs to get the full story on the CD.
Land of Freedom sums up the rest of the songs on it. People say they love to listen to it,because it is soothing. Just the other day, I saw the wind blowing a US Flag as I listened to Land of Freedom, Track One. The snare drum and trumpets played carrying out a sensational feeling through me. It was syncronized with the flags movement. It made me increaingly appreciate this song that my Mother wrote nearly 30 years ago. She so lovingly allowed me to perform it and record it in my style. She was caring enough to allow me to name my first Original CD after her song Land of Freedom.
Note: THe rest of the songs on the CD were writen by me.
Currently, I am working on my 3rd CD.
Seems some of us were right on track and didn't know it.
Thank you for the insight and hopefully the word will spread.
I do have a question on the digital side. For 6 months now, my music has been submitted for digital distribution, but why isn't it truely coming up on the searches at the actual sights? Many fans have asked me about this. Especially those out in San Francisco. Could you please answer this question for all of us. We need the music truly available and ready for people to download and buy online.
Please let me know Derek.
Have a great day Awesome Guitarist and #1 CDbaby face ;).
Sincerely, Anndrea
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Hi Anndrea - just email dd@cdbaby.com with the specifics. Make sure you see it with your own eyes, first. Don't just take a friend's word for it.
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Okay Derek,
I think you are doing a great job here BUT one issue I don't see addressed really concerns me.... first of all let me quote your original post for this subject...
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"So now, I'm advising musicians to do a creative cover song on their next album. Find something that hasn't been done TOO much. (Example: CD Baby has 762 versions of "Amazing Grace". Really!) Find something that you can add your unique twist to. Then make sure to include it on a full-length album, so that people who discover you by that song can get turned on to your own music, and buy the whole collection.
(Also, make sure to get your permissions and pay your license at Harry Fox, first! Bookmark this: http://www.songfile.com/limited_license_search.html and this: http://cdbaby.net/dd/?f=8 )"
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If I go ahead and get the license for DPD (digital phonorecord delivery) of my album and follow your instructions for doing so, I am going to be issued a license that is ONLY good for distributing our songs/album to the USA and it's territories. You give no instructions on how to get a license that is good for international distribution..... somehow this just doesn't jive.. You are encouraging us to get licenses that won't cover international distribution and yet you are distributing all the digital stuff internationally...... Who stands to get in trouble over this. Well, if we read the contract with CD Baby it defines "Territory" as the universe -- so we agreed but then we can't get licensing for the universe or at least you aren't helping us do that, you are rather insinuating (by omission) that all we need to do is get a license through Harry Fox or directly through the song publishers which still will not get us a license that is good for international distribution...
What you say about this? Huh....?
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Steve - there is no answer for your questions. The music industry (publishers, labels, PROs, lawyers, organizations, copyright-law, etc) - does not have any of this stuff figured out yet - so that's why everyone is just winging it, until it is figured out.
Don't take my word for it : go ask around. Ask top-level people in all aspects of the industry. Copyright law has not caught up to what's going on yet, so instead companies like Napster are just holding on to some extra money for the time when the industry figures out the new rules, and you should do the same.
In the meantime, you can't halt all distribution of your music and wait 5 years for them to make some new laws. Do the right thing. Pay the people that are owed money. The info we give on the site is the combined advice of 4 top copyright lawyers: http://cdbaby.net/dd
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Okay Derek,
We are going to release our cover songs come 2006 regardless of whether we have all the right answers or not.
The question is should I report all sales to the publishers or only USA sales and hold back money for non-USA sales and streaming payments until the issue is resolved?
For instance, if iTunes-UK (or some other non-USA based digital music service) sells a download should I report the download and pay the royalty to the USA based publisher that I obtained a license from or since they specifically state in the license that the license is for distribution by USA based companies ONLY, should I withhold those royalties (not spending the money myself) until it is resolved as to who gets paid?
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It sounds to me like there should be some sort of reciprocating agreement.
Like for instance I live in Pennsylvania and work in New Jersey. These 2 states have an agreement that you pay your state income tax to the state you live in and not the state you work in. So even though I live in PA and work in NJ, I pay no income tax to NJ. If I worked in NY state that would not be true since NY and PA do not have such an agreement.
It seems like if the countries of the world got together that maybe they could come up with something similar. You know like regardless of where a listener who buys/downloads a song is located the royalties would be paid per whatever applies to the laws where the artist resides regardless of who distributes the music. But that probably wouldn't work, because the whole system of licensing music in other countries might be so totally different from how it is done here in the USA and could make monitoring such difficult to say the least.
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Derek, from what you're describing it sounds like the song just needs to have the same title as a famous song, doesn't even have to be a cover, as long as its first moments grab the listener.
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Igor you are right the search is thing but usually if it's called the same but the 30 second sample doesn't cut it, then you loose.
I just tried to get a mechanical licence on songfile .com but they only issue licenses if you manufacture in the US of America.
does this mean we don't need a license in (old) Europe, :) just askin'
Tim.
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Tim - I'm sure you need *some* kind of license in Europe, too. I just don't know which company handles it in each country.
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I love the idea of including a cover song on my album to
increases visibility. Problem though, after speaking with Harry
Fox Agency...as I am an Australian artist, my cd would be
classed as an import requiring an import license if it includes a
cover song. Catch is an import license has to be applied for by
the party who is doing the importing (i.e. cdbaby) would you be
willing to submit the necessary forms on my behalf if I can
provide them for you?
Regards - Tarun
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I've never heard of such a thing, in our 7 years of doing this. But yes if you fill out most of the forms for us, we'll be glad to sign it & stand behind it.
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cheers...I thought it sounded odd too, thanks for your support,
I'll be in touch.
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hi derek cover songs have been good for me also
I,ve sold close to 400 songs of sounds of silence just short of 20 to make the 400 mark. I like your discription of what makes a musian by doing cover songs never thought of it that way.
again thank you for helping all of us musians at cdbaby walter goulet www.cdbaby.com/all/walt
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Ooop I just posted a reply to this under the May top singles list
after following the e-mail link. Any advice and information on
the COSTS and WORLDWIDE RIGHTS to distribute a cover song
would be appreciated.
I have never personally considered it valid to include a cover as
my 'own work' but I can see that an original version of a cover
will do wonders for any artist facing the brave new world of
digital downloads.
Thanks for the solid advice Derek baby.
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I've had a cover song on my CD since I released it on cdbaby in August 2004. Sadly it's still not on itunes, even though I signed up for digital distribution from the get-go. So I don't know how I'm ever going to take advantage of those sales. It doesn't even show up as cdbaby sending to itunes until February 21st this year, and I'm still supposed to wait 3 months for itunes to get it. By the time it gets there I will probably have moved on to another album. Really sad.
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James, your album was sent to iTunes exactly 3 weeks after it arrived here. We even RE-delivered it on September 8th, 18th, and 23rd, because of some problems they were having importing. Then we found out that they still didn't have it up in February so we sent it AGAIN (a 4th time) on February 21st. If you're saying it's still not there, contact dd@cdbaby.com and tell them the situation, and request that we get the official current status from Apple. We're doing everything we can on this side, but since they don't tell us what is and isn't up, it's up to you to let us know at dd@cdbaby.com - not on some random loosely-related message board post.
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Hey there, I want to offer the songs on my album
as digital downloads and some of them are covers. I was informed by Harry
Fox that a mechanical license ( which I already have) does not cover this.
Instead I was sent a mountain of forms in legalese that I needed to decipher
and then do a spreadsheet to send in royalty reports regularly. I then tryed
to contact the publishers directly and was told to deal with Harry Fox. The
whole thing was so overwhelming that I gave up. Do you know how the artists
that are selling their cover songs by download managed it? I feel I'm losing
out on a great opportunity. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much, The Tami Show
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The Harry Fox and N.M.P.A. "mechanical" is
strictly for phonograph records, which may or may
not include CD's depending on which lawyer you
talk to.
In any event, neither Harry Fox, nor any member
of the N.M.P.A. or the R.I.A.A. for that matter,
has negotiated an "Internet Mechanical Rights"
license to date, and therefore, are not
authorized by the songwriter, the original
Author, to either collect or enforce and Internet
Mechanical.
All of you songwriters need to catch up, and
catch on, to what's going on!
please come and ask:
http://www.musics.com/php/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2
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I'm confused on licensing for this digital distribution. I read something on CDBaby that said I have to send a letter of intent to the publisher of every cover and then a monthly statement with payments. Yet, there seems to be this New Media Licensing Form from Harry Fox. They control the mechanical rights for all of my covers. Can I just fill out that form and send the payments to them? I would love some help on what goes on the form. I haven't formed my own company, but there's a lot of questions about Annual Gross Receipts, Legal Representation, etc., and I'm not sure how the form needs to be filled out. I don't even see any place where I indicate which songs I'm covering. This is all very confusing. Any help would be much appreciated.
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Ludicrous Derek is saying this!
If we all musicians done cover songs then the quality of music will suffer and we are out of business !
I rather do original songs with more quality and earn less money than sell my soul to the devil1
Derek your business plan is great but you knowledge about music is zero!
Ron
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Doing your own unique performance of a song that someone else wrote does NOT make music suffer.
Jazz, Folk, Classical, and all traditional music are all based on this same concept!
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Im not taking any offense Derek or Im not against you!
Im saying that a place like CD baby should promote original stuff even you make more cash on covers!
The fact is that if the music industry already does this!
There must be other places like CD baby to do the opposite and promote original stuff!
The other question is that its not fair that the one doing the covers get the cash when its the artist/band who wrote the song even if its the most creative and least close cover ever!
Im still a big fan of yours Derek but you cant promote covers!
I aint healthy!
Best,
Ron
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It used to be not that long ago that the artist/band wouldn't write their own material at all. The label would hire songwriters and it would hire artists and the songwriters wrote the songs and the artists performed them. Did Elvis write any songs? How many songs did Buddy Holly write? The Beatles did tons of covers. In pop music it's really the performance that decides the fate of the song.
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One cover on an album of 11 original songs is not going to kill you.
You may consider it to be compromising your artistic integrity, but that's a different matter. If you're prepared to make sacrifices to get your music heard, then why aren't you prepared to make this particular sacrifice?
From what I see, Derek has noticed a trend and is merely informing us of the facts.
I, for one, am glad there's someone there who's prepared to share this information.
http://sinistrals.stevedix.de/
http://www.cdbaby.com/sinistrals
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"MEDUSA" by Annie Lenox: Great album. Every single song on the album is a cover. Every single freaking one.
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"The other question is that its not fair that the one doing the covers get the cash when its the artist/band who wrote the song even if its the most creative and least close cover ever!"
Huh??! Your outrage is totally misplaced. Just doing a cover doesn't mean it's going to sell. A lousy cover version sucks just as bad as a lousy original song. And the artist who wrote the song does get the cash. It's called royalties.
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A cover song doesn't have to sound anything like the original. Pick a song you like (don't tell me you only like your own songs). And after you pick a song you like make it your own, do it your way for an example consider the song Series of Dreams which was written by Bob Dylan. Norman Lamont covers this song on the CD Compilation called THINKING ABOUT BOB DYLAN available here at CDBaby.
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Ron,
Derek is just the messenger, just letting people know what's worked in the market.
As an artist you can choose whether or not you want cover songs on your CD.
Most artists are suffering from obscurity and don't have the budget to run a promotion campaign
One or several well chosen awesomely performed cover might do wonders for an artist.
Ande
by musicians friend on Sunday May 15 2005 @ 03:46PM PDT [ reply | parent ]
Ludicrous Derek is saying this!
If we all musicians done cover songs then the quality of music will suffer and we are out of business !
I rather do original songs with more quality and earn less money than sell my soul to the devil1
Derek your business plan is great but you knowledge about music is zero!
Ron
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The reality is that people search for what they know. If you want
to see this in action, take a look at http://
inventory.overture.com/ and type in some popular songs or
artist names.
If you're able to cash in on this, I think it's great. Why reinvent
the wheel?
Some of the most popular albums being sold on Amazon are
"tribute albums." In fact, there are labels which have made a
business out of only releasing these records.
A cover give somebody something to hold on to. And done
properly, it can still be just as creative as a song you've written.
Van Halen released an entire album of covers and I think it was
great...the public did also. They put their signature sound on
things and it was a good break from the norm.
It's obviously not for everybody, but it is an option.
Will be interesting to see how many people actually do this.
If you've researched the market and are planning on releasing
something (or already have), please let me know because I'd love
to interview you and get the story out at http://
www.indiemusician.com/ as well as my weekly newsletter (cir:
60,000).
David
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ron: many people have recorded the same beethoven symphonies & bach sonatas! and all the different "covers" of those time-honored pieces of music sound wonderful... london's brahms 3 sounds nothing like chicago's brahms 3... etc...
the idea of performing a new "rendition" of a song is a tradition that goes back many thousands of years, in most of the western AND eastern musical traditions...
i don't think cover songs will deliver any of us into the fiery pits of hell... !
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OH yeah... Ron! "Derek your business plan is great but you knowledge about music is zero! "
=(
Dude, what a horrible thing to say! Go listen to Derek's stuff, and remember that he made a legitimate full-time income off of his music before he started CD Baby... Derek's a musician and obviously he knows a thing or two about music...
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i am wondering about mechanical royalties vs digital downloads
as well.. like tami, above, i have cover songs on many cds and
have paid the ~$100 for covering mechanicals (per cd pressed)
but they don't cover digital downloads! so who has the rights to
downloaded covers? seems like you're essentially telling us that
if we paid for mechanicals for pressing the cds that you are
selling, then we just collect artistic royalties on digital
downloads? i'm not even sure how the mech vs artistic divide is
set for digital.
plus there are cds i've made in the past that have unlicensed
covers (not so uncommon in the world of indie less-than-1000
pressings, believe me.) but now... hmmm...
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| by
on Monday May 16 2005 @ 06:33AM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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Im not taking any offense Derek or Im not against you!
Im saying that a place like CD baby should promote original stuff even you make more cash on covers!
The fact is that if the music industry already does this!
There must be other places like CD baby to do the opposite and promote original stuff!
The other question is that its not fair that the one doing the covers get the cash when its the artist/band who wrote the song even if its the most creative and least close cover ever!
Im still a big fan of yours Derek but you cant promote covers!
I aint healthy!
Best,
Ron
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WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT ITS SOMETHING SIMILAR OF WHAT ROBERT PLANT TALKS IN THIS INTERVIEW ABOUT COVERS, AND DOWNLOADS BEING THE NEW SINGLES ETC
RATHER INTERESTING
http://www.panartist.com/more%20news.htm
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Let me query this: I have three cover albums (compilations) currently available through CD Baby, and have avoided the digital download stuff only because of what I projected to be a paperwork/logistical nightmare of keeping track of everything. That was when it was all new and confusing to me though. I'm thinking now I could handle it, but I want to make sure I set everything up correctly.
I've looked over Harry Fox Agency's New Media application (http://www.harryfox.com/docs/newMediaApplication.pdf) and it seems a lot more specific and entailed than their regular mechanical licensing application. Since, for most of my stuff, I've paid for 1000 copies, and only duplicated 500, would it be necessary for me to go this extra step and buy yet another license (assuming I sell less than the 500 mp3s I'd be alotted by my current state)?
I am a real stickler for doing everything properly and definitely don't want to cause any complications to myself by skipping a step. But if it's not necessary, I don't see spending more cash when I already have licenses paid for.
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
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Hi all...
I agree with Derek on the suggestion. If I understand this right, Derek is not suggesting selling the soul. simply find a song which you love and do your OWN interpretation and version of it with SINCERE effort. This not only reflects your true artistic interpretation/performance abilities also reflects you as an artist to translate another songwriter's muse/idea and make into something with your 'own spin' or unique signature to it.
From an artistic point of view: the primary objective is not to imitate but to interpret and sincerely deliver an already existing song. From a marketing perspective this adds a dimension where people can find your music because it drives people to your undiscovered music as well
just my 2 cents
musically
Shelva
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Oh..folks..I forgot to mention an almost perfect example of undiscovered artist discovered because of a cover song.....Natalie Imbruglia. How many people heard of her before her massive number 1 hit "TORN"? Guess what..some people didnt even know it was a COVER.....
it put her on the main map...so people now having found her ..get her music....and a previously released song got an amazing interpretation of that beautiful song.."TORN"....everyone wins....i think this is what Derek is talking about....
if major label artists are doing this why shouldn't we? Indie artists got every right to create, deliver and market just like a major label artist..only with an added advantage..we have more freedom....to create. :)
again..just my 2 cents
muscically
Shelva
www.Shelva.com
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ok i've been looking at harry fox's new media distribution forms
(for digital dist - available as pdfs that one must print out and
send in, whereas mechanical licensing can be done digitally.. go
figure.)
anyway there are a few stumbling blocks. one is that want
website, product and service description, including business
plan.. um. who do we put down? cdbaby.com?
they also want copyright protection measures used by the
website. again, cdbaby is using many outlets... ummm?
they want the list of type of media to be licensed. again, which?
they ask finally for a fee proposal!
what the hell do we do?
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First of all, I won't waste my breath with Mr. No Covers. I will say I think he needs to broaden his horizons..... Anyway, I'll get back to things that really matter. As far as digital download licensing on cover songs, this has been driving me crazy. All I want is to do the right thing by the songwriter and pay royalties due. I personally gave up trying to do digital downloads because my album is half covers and half originals. The paperwork they sent me was unnavigable. And, the guy at Harry Fox basically let me know I was very unimportant in the big scheme of things (i.e. small potatoes. ) Another angle to be presented: Do the songwriters that are supposedly being represented know that I'm trying to give them money and the red tape is so impenetrable that they might not ever see it? Interesting.
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Derek is on the money about the cover tunes leading the general public to your orginals. I created a form for the royalties concerning digital downloads according to guidelines posted at CD baby. e-mail me if you would like it.
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| by
on Thursday May 26 2005 @ 01:51PM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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Hi,
I would be interested in the form you put together for Digital Downloading cover songs.
Thanks,
Eddie (http://www.eddieleealbright.com)
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| by
on Friday May 20 2005 @ 07:09PM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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the one that answered as musicians friend!
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Your discovery and suggestion on cover songs is a great one. However many bands and artists have just forked out a lot of money to make a cd of all original songs and are up to doing a cover that they can sell as a download and will hopefully get the purchaser or listener to check out the whole album.
You are not allowing the artists to do this and I think I can understand your rationale. However could you not make an exception say for the next 6 months for those artists who've placed a CD for sale with you in the last year.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Love.
Paul Ewing.
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Howdy,
I have read heaps of posts and all the recommended reading and I am none the wiser on licenses for Digital Distribution in regards to covers.
I have contacted Australian Performers Rights Australia (APRA) and they have only got "proposed" Digital Download Lisences that should kick in around 2006.
My question is:Because I have cover songs, do I have to deal with Harry Fox etc. if I am from Australia?
Can you help me out on this one.
Cheers,
Brett.
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That Harry Fox form is daunting. It would be great if CD Baby would post an article helping us with filling it out. I sent a notice by certified mail to all the publishers of my cover songs, per instructions by CD Baby, notifying them of my intent to obtain a compulsory license for digital distribution. If I make any money from downloads I guess I'll send them a monthly check for
$.32 or whatever.
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as far as covers, we were doing some stuff with our old LPs, and guess what
Frankie Goes To Hollywood doing Bruce Springsteen, on their famous double LP, this stuff happens all th e time
Very interesting point he brought up!
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I found Harry Fox quite pleasant to deal with (I wrote Derek about my successes a couple of months ago). However, I have two cover songs by a group who does not work with Harry Fox. This is a really major group with their own label. Yet the publishing entity and label does not seem to "get it" about digital distribution.
Furthermore, they're not taking my calls on the matter. I was asked to re-submit my request for licensing in writing two months ago, and I've heard nothing since.
Biggest problem, they want monthly reporting on sales, while the digital services submit information quarterly. Harry Fox seems to understand this and their digital model expects quarterly reporting. (After all, that's when Apple sends it to CDBaby, and then that's when CDBaby sends it to the artist).
So what recourse does an artist have in obtaining such a license when the publisher is being obstinate about communications, about using a middle-man like Harry Fox, and about knowing the current trends in the industry?
Ironically, this band's material is available on iTunes already, so the business office should know what to expect with quarterly reporting.
Ultimately, this is holding up the completion of a special double-album chock-a-block with covers, single edits of my originals and acoustic renditions of both originals and covers. Given that this band is my favorite and the biggest influence on my style, I really want to include these two songs.
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Cover songs are great. So are originals. Look back at The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Elvis Presley, and so many more great artists who started their careers with cover material. Everyone can not be a songwriter. The talent for songwriting is just not in some people. No matter how much they would like for it to be. So I say. Do what you enjoy. After all, that's what it's all about isn't it? At least for us entertainers... Enjoying life as much as possible, having fun, playing music and performing. A guy I once knew who was studying for his master's degree in music once told me, and I quote, "Anyone who can't read music, can't play music" I ask him - "How do you explain Ray Charles, and Stevie Wonder? Everyone has their opinion. Mine is.. Enjoy life, play music, entertain, create in any way that makes you feel good about yourself, do the best you can at what you do and hope that others enjoy what you are doing too. That's what the great ones did, and still do. If it's good enough for them it's good enough for me. How about you?
Sincerly,
E.Z.
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Covers---it depends I think.
If you happen to be an artist who has never done covers, or
wouldn't ever do otherwise, I don't think it would be very
'holistic' to throw one one just for the sake of its commercial
potential on Itunes. In fact, an artist like this might not even
understand how a cover needs to be done effectively, and end
up with a cheap knockoff that doesn't do well anyway, and might
even dissuade a buyer from other, better original material.
Other artists are interpreters and can find amazing and
authentic and ORIGINAL creative expression in cover tunes.
Many cover tunes have become more definitive than the
originals themselves. Joe Cocker's "With a little help from my
friends". Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower", and Clapton's
"Cocaine" and "After Midnight" (I think) to name a few.
I consider myself an arranger at heart, and have always loved
remaking covers so they become new works of art. I just
happened to luck out with the new digital distribution in that I'm
a 'cover' dude, but don't slap a cover on your next album if you
never intended to.
Check out these two albums of mine that are MOSTLY covers:
FunkeyMonkeys - Featuring the most well-known and loved
children's songs, rearranged in the singular FunkeyMonkey style:
Deep Disco Itsy Bitsy Spider, Hip Hop Hush Little Baby, Reggae
Dancehall Ten Little Indians, and more toddler classics, seriously
funked up behind a wild children's chorus of de-light. http://
phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?
playListId=63011829&originStoreFront=143441&o=a
Fairy Dust - features the softest and slowest possible
performances of the greatest classical melodies of all time. A
Fender Rhodes tuned up a few octaves and awash in reverb to
sound like an enchanted music box. Deeply relaxing for babies
and adults. http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/
MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=46880839
Take care, everybody! :)
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Derek,
As the guitarist of CDBaby Top Selling artist "The Bastards" (cheap plug but use every opportunity to market folks!)I have to say I'm amazed by people’s negative attitudes to covers. On our last album we did a cover of The Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop. We changed it to a version that represents our style of punk and pays tribute to our heroes. Since signing up for DD I have been amazed that 39% of our downloads have been for Bliztz Bop...
Then I got the email from you and the light went off!!
We are now working on an album of all covers, cheesy 80's hits as Bastard's style punk!. This idea has been well received by our agents, managers and college radio pluggers. The end idea is to use the attention of the covers to drive people to The Bastards original album. Principles and artist integrity are nice.. but sales pay for the studio, equipment and rehearsal time.
Great article Derek .. ps: Just add the $50 ass kiss fee to the next payment check!!
Hooligan - The Bastards
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I'm cracking up at reading some of these. Derek, we love you man.
Gov't Mule had no less than 4 covers on their debut CD. Warren Haynes is a friggin' hero to a hell of a lot of guitarheads almost 10 years later. The Deep End albums were nearly full of cover tunes (Deep Purple covers, Tower Of Power, etc). Granted, the players from some of those bands sat in on the sessions, but still. =)
Derek's point of doing a cover in a style all your own really hits home. The Allman Brothers band did two covers that have really stood out over time: Statesboro Blues and One Way Out. Both of these tunes are how the band is usually recognized. One Way Out does not even come close to resembling the original, yet it was a huge thing for them 30 years ago (and continues to be today).
Anyway, it's a good idea. It's fun. You started out playing cover tunes anyway. Why let go of that? =)
-grant
Papa's Hat
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I'm getting ready to do an entire CD of covers. I'm reminded of a good beer drinking buddy and friend I had when I lived on Abbey Road in London right next to EMI studios--David Ball who was one half of Soft Cell. Their hit Tainted Love was on the charts longer than any other song to date (at that time) and did u know it was a cover? Don't criticize the big guys so much that u don't learn from them. I remember a great quote from Metallica: "They call us sellouts. Yeah, we are... every place we play, every time we play."
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this is one of the most contentious debates among "indie" musicians everywhere ...
I do a two hour show .. I wrote nine of the 26 songs I perform ... of the remaining 17 songs, perhaps four or five are songs easily remembered from the past, written and recorded by a real well known artist ... the remaining 12 or so are from songwriters I admire ...
IF we all took the ALL ORIGINAL only path, we'd lose great works by the likes of Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Willie Nelson and others who record songs written and recorded by others ...
Where is is written we have to write our own songs to be considered legit?
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HAITZ just did an awesome remake of the classic
BEATLES tune "HELP"
CHECK IT OUT
www.cdbaby.com/haitz3
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What do people do about getting a certified public accountant (C.P.A.) for an annual statement? I don't expect to make too much $$ on digital downloads. How much have people paid for that?
Dan
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I second Dan's question as well as others' here. The info on CDBaby about how to do the digital rights paperwork (monthly/annually) is very helpful. However I can't corroborate it anywhere. Is this info current?
And do I really need to hire a CPA for the probably-under-one-dollar revenue I will make--each year? Until I die??
The form on Harry Fox is otherworldly for a nobody non-entertainment-attorney artist doing one cover, like me. Nothing on the form is explained and I am in danger of not filling it out properly.
Sorry but I need more info from somewhere. Derek you are a godsend but it's not enough info for me to be confident about what I am doing. Surely by now somebody has a concise guide to doing this properly. What about all of the artists who have posted here and talk about their successes in dd of their covers?
thanks tons, in advance
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Definitely good advice, Derek, and an interesting article. We're
kind of a weird tribute band so it'll be interesting to see
how our tracks sell when the Digital Distribution goes through.
Our music generally ends up being 50% original and 50% the
cover tune.
But we just went through the entire process with Harry Fox,
some publishers directly (when Harry Fox didn't own the rights),
ASCAP and BMI to release both the CD and to allow Digital
Distribution. It's quite the process - especially when you need to
track down and contact the publishers directly. We were at the
mercy of the publishers who owned the theme for 'Rawhide' for
weeks because they were on vacation in the Bahamas or
something. :) But it was a good learning experience to go
through.
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I just want to know, as a non-musician, non song-writer, or even musically inclined person. What's the difference between digital distribution, and regular distribution?
Also, once you give CDbaby the right to digitally distribute your music what if a company comes around and want to do a contract to distribute to stores, would this be breaching the contract with CD baby?
Just Curious
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Digital distribution is VERY similar to regular distribution, except with Digital Distribution, instead of sending your CD to physical record stores in shopping malls, we are sending your digitized CD to Apple iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody, Yahoo Music, MSN Music, and places like that.
CD Baby does NOT interfere with any distribution deal sending your CD to stores, no. Occasionally a distributor might say, "We'd like you to stop selling it at CD Baby to sell it with us only." - and if that's what they ask, and that's what you want to do, just let us know, and we'll remove you from CD Baby - no problem.
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Hey Derek, or anyone else who knows-
I am doing an EP of IWW labor songs that are all public domain- do I still need to get permission from anyone to record and distribute them?
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If you are SURE that they are public domain, then no - you don't need permission, don't need to pay royalties. They are no longer owned by anyone.
Check http://www.pdinfo.com to see if it's listed there.
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Thanks for the website info- I checked it out, but not all of the songs are there. However, all of the songs have been recorded by other artist (mostly Utah Phillips) who have cited them as public domain, but not all of them are up on that website you linked. They are IWW labor songs (labor lyrics to old church hymns), so are a bit obscure. Anywhere else I might check?
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hmmm... Sounds good but....
Jack tannehill has had an album on digital distribution for over 7 months. There is one song on the album that is titled "Hard Rain" Some one searching for Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall" you would think might stumble on this song. It's not Dylan's song. It's an original. And of course folks don't have to listen long to realize that.
Anyway. Jack's "Hard Rain" had only one download in 7 months. Another song that Jack wrote had 74 downloads. That song is called "Pooped Your Pants"
So I guess outrageous titles and lyrics don't hurt either.
Who knows maybe they came looking for Hard Rain and then they found Pooped Your Pants??
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I'm still confused about the Harry Fox thing, and it doesn't seem
that Derek has answered a few people's questions. I have one
cover on my CD, "Ballet For A Rainy Day" by XTC, and I want to
sign my CD up for Digital Distribution AND I already have the
mechanical license, but was also told by Harry Fox that it's not
enough.
So Derek, WHAT ELSE do we need to do to cover our butts so we
can take advantage of the great Digital Distrubution offer?
If you can't answer, Derek, then can someone else help out?
Thanks!
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Dane - http://cdbaby.net/dd?f=8 tells you EVERYTHING you need. Ignore Harry Fox for this. Watch how easy it is:
#1 - go to http://www.bmi.com/
#2 - type Ballet For A Rainy Day in the bottom-left search box
#3 - it tells you that EMI VIRGIN SONGS INC is the publisher, when clicked shows their address as:
EMI MUSIC PUB
810 SEVENTH AVENUE
NEW YORK, NY 10019-5818
#4 - copy the letter from http://cdbaby.net/dd?f=8 - filling in your own info, and mail it to them
Done!
Pay them when it sells.
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Serek,
This Monthly Accounting Statement has me a little bit concerned.
You say the report MUST include "the number of DPDs made, i.e. how many times your recording was downloaded" -- what I don't understand is this: How do I report digital downloads for the previous month when sometimes it takes a couple of months before the downloads show up on the report from CD Baby? For instance a song was downloaded on 01/15/05 through MusicNet but it did not appear on the report from CD Baby until 2 months later on 03/15/05. Are the Music publishers required to accept reports with this delayed reporting in them or could they hold one liable for violating the terms of the license?
Also the reports from CDBaby don't always come in on the same date. Sometimes they are dated the 3rd, 8th, 15th 23rd, 28th, 31st of the month. What exactly is it that I am suppose to report to the publishers by the 20th of the next month???
Am I suppose to total the reports received from CD Baby during February and report only their results to the Publishers by the 20th of the next month or am I suppose to include reports received before the 20th of that next month. And if that's the case and I go on vacation and the report doesn't get sent in on time then what???? Man, I ain't lookin' for no problems!
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1st time post for new member. Excellent site and plan on doing much more in the future. One note regarding cover songs. Ten of the 13 songs on our CD are originals. Being Blues based (traditional) the cover songs we have are pretty obscure and although I agree that a cool version of a cover can do wonders, I'm not sure in our case.
Since the few that we have will probably almost NEVER get "searched for", I'm not sure how likely they are to kick sales.
I guess if we consider a cover on the next CD....better do a cool arrangement of a TOTALLY mainstream named song, huh?
Kerry
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Let me add a little twist to this thread. I'm doing a remake of a cover, in a completely different genre, but, I'm also changing a line or 2 of the lyrics, and a couple other words here and there. Would this call for some different type of agreement? Would I need permission to do this? Would I be liable for some of the royalties, being as some of the lyrics are now mine?
Harry
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Derek - when there is more than one publisher - do you have to send a letter to all the publishers for a song? Some songs have five publishers. Thanks so much
Rosanne
http://www.timminsyouthsingers.com
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>> do you have to send a letter to all the publishers for a song?
Yep. Of course. It's the law.
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This part is the part that probably gets our attention " yet they were earning $10,000 in digital downloads."
I was wondering is that $10,000 a month or a year? for 1 cover song or for a whole albums worth of cover songs or multiple albums? Or is that $10,000 lifetime up until the time this thread was started?
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I've3 produced a dance/club version of a 1970s ballad (no samples at all) - I was told by HFA that this might qualify as a 'derivitive work' and therefore I would need to apply direct to the publisher for 'derivitive works' permission - not just to 'notify' them but to actually ask for permission to realease the cover. Sounded to me like they were saying that the 'notify' approach, as described here at CDBaby, only applies if your rendition of the song sounds reasonably close to the original. If your version 'significantly alters the character of the original' then you need to apply for permission to do a 'derivitive work'. MPCS in the UK told me the same thing. Has anyone else heard of this or gained such permission, or know any differently?
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After reading this article I put together a Digital Download-only double album and packed it chock-full of cover tunes and original B-sides and after all the licensing hoops were taken care of, I sent it to CD Baby for distribution. I set it up way back in November, but it hasn't even been sent to iTunes yet, let alone made available for download there. When can I expect to see this up? I keep receiving assurances that it will be done, but we're well outside the time period stated in the FAQ. Meanwhile, I'm chomping at the bit to announce the availability of this collection. I am holding off for iTunes availability to do so, since they are by far the biggest download service.
According to CD Baby's Digital Download FAQ:
How long does it take for you to send it to all the companies?
2-5 weeks, once you've given us ALL the info we need, and we've received your CD. We have to encode it into 17 different formats for 40 different companies, so that's why it takes a while. Plus we have to verify all your songwriter and publisher info is correct before we send it out into the world. Read the next question, though...
How long does it take to show up on the music services once you deliver it?
Each company is different, but in general it takes from 3 weeks minimum, to 4 months maximum. (Usually 2-3 months.) Once we send it to them, it's out of our hands and they do what they can to get it imported and active in their service. We push them to get it added as soon as possible, and they always do it as soon as they can.
I appreciate your speed in submitting this title to iTunes to join my others releases.
Thank you,
--Clator
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hi Clator. It seems one of your songs had a glitch in the AAC-128 encoding, which was preventing it from being delivered to iTunes. Sorry for the delay. I fixed it and sent it to iTunes today and asked them to put a rush on its activation.
That being said, when something's wrong, please email customer service (cdbaby@cdbaby.com) instead of posting a reply to a bulletin board posting from May 2005.
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For those Australian artists out there I am a Melbourne electronic artist who has just released a CD containing 2 covers. The first being a cover of Neil Young’s “Don’t Let it Bring You Down” and the second is George Harrison’s / The Beatles “Long Long Long”. You can hear samples of the tracks on my website here.
http://www.apellmusic.com/electronic-music-releases/index.php/reconstituted-neil-young-song-cover/
http://www.apellmusic.com/electronic-music-releases/index.php/reconstituted-george-harrison-tribute/
The process of getting the permissions for me involved contacting APRA / AMCOS and sending them a Audio Manufacture Licence Application (AMLA) which you can find on their website here - http://www.apra.com.au/music-users/making_records/audio_manufacture_licence-application.asp The license fee is based on the number of CDs you are manufacturing and these is an example of how to calculate this at the bottom of the page.
According to APRA / AMCOS you only need the licence to distribute the CDs but the duplicator I used insisted on getting the AMLA completed and paid before they duplicated my CD. I presume they do this to prevent problems occurring if there are errors with the application and the artist / label gets stuck with a whole lot of CDs they can’t legally distribute!
According to APRA you don’t need to go through the Harry Fox Agency and any iTunes / digital distribution licensing fees are covered through CD Baby and the actual digital stores themselves.
I also applied for a streaming licence (?) to stream samples of the cover tunes on my website which I hope will increase the sales of these tracks. This fee was quite low and enables me to stream the tracks from my website http://ww.apellmusic.com forever ?
The entire process wasn’t too painful however I had to chase APRA in the case of both licences (AMLA and Streaming) to make sure things were moving along. It takes 3-6 weeks to process the AMLA and when I rang APRA after 4 weeks to see what was going on it appeared to me that my approved application was gathering dust on someone’s desk and it could have been returned to me earlier. The same happened with the streaming licence so it is important to follow them up after a few weeks otherwise it could’ve been a few months ! ;-) Apart from that they were very helpful.
Also when I submitted the tracks for digitla distribution through CD Baby, they didn't apccept the publishers as stated on my AMLA but after doing further research to the US publishers at www.songfile.com everything was OK.
It’s the first time that I’ve released covers so I am keen to see how they sell…
Anthony Pell. (APELL)
"Wild & Completely Unbridled Electronica" - inthemix.com.au
www.apellmusic.com
www.cdbaby.com/cd/apell2
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Im just wondering, 4 years later, are cover songs still selling hot on
Itunes? I have a cover of a current top 40 track coming out in Feb
and I can't wait to see how sales do.
My only fear is that Itunes has changed the way in which they list a
track that is searched for. If my song is unknown will it still be
places next to the more famous version of the song? or will it be
found pages and pages in burried in t.v. shows, songs,
applications, and whatever else Itunes sells?
A lot has changed since 2005, or has it?
m
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Do you know the legal implications of covering another artist's interpretation of a cover song? i.e. I have just recorded a very similar version of an Eva Cassidy song which is a cover of the original.
Regards, Lisa
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| NOTE: If you need a reply you should email CD Baby directly instead of posting here. We don't often read old message board postings, and have no way of replying to them!
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