| CD Baby DIY Musician Podcast |
 Nov. 13,
2008
Ep.38 : Pandora Radio
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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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