Quote:
Originally Posted by George
Not so sure about that permission bit, at least at the recording artist level.
I find it hard to believe that performing artists who've had a recording of theirs "covered" by a more popular artist gave their permission to be knocked off the charts, and that happens all the time.
Little Richard had trouble early in his career with that very thing. He'd come out with a song, and suddenly there was Pat Boone and other more conservative singers with a toned down release of the same song.
Got so bad Little Richard finally came out with songs that were so way out there that Boone and the others didn't dare touch them for fear of looking foolish.
This all came out on an interview I saw a year or two back.
You wouldn't think the artists publishers would have agreed to it either. Wind up with an empty stable pretty fast. I think it's a very ambiguous area.
|
From the FAQ at Harryfoxagency:
Quote:
What is a Compulsory Mechanical License and the Statutory Rate?
If a composition has already been commercially recorded, and you wish to record and distribute that composition yourself (and you are not the original songwriter), you can obtain a compulsory mechanical license. This is outlined in section 115 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act. The Harry Fox Agency mechanical license is a written variation of the compulsory license. The royalty rate (what gets paid to the music publisher) is set by law, and is known as the "statutory rate." Effective January 1, 2006 the statutory mechanical rate is $.091 for songs 5 minutes or less, or $.0175 per minute or fraction thereof per copy for songs over 5 minutes.
|
If you can't negotiate a deal with the rights holder to record and distribute a song you can force them with this license. Unfortunately you can't do this with karaoke since there is no compulsory license dealing with the reproduction of written lyrics.
In a small atempt at thumbing there nose at Henley and Frye (who reportedly hate karaoke), SC put out a CDG of Eagles songs they titled "Read between the lines" - There were no lyrics, just the music and Henley/Frye couldn't stop them. The singer either had to know the lyrics or have KKHPro
.
Even when I SEE old clips of Pat Boone singing Tutti Frutti, I can't picture it - LOL
Sam