Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Copyright and recording old blues songs


Rexel Matador
 Share

Recommended Posts

I want to record an album of old blues songs to sell or give away at gigs. I can’t make head nor tail of the information I’m seeing online regarding where I’d stand copyright-wise.

I’ve seen other blues acts selling CDs including mostly covers of old songs. Do people just do it and hope nobody catches them out or are people going through the whole process of looking into licensing songs etc?

It’s mostly pre-1950 country blues type stuff. Does anyone have any experience with this type of thing?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Officially you will need to submit the songs to MCPS for a license. They will ask for the publishing royalty upfront (8.5% of the published dealer price).

If the songs are all traditional then you will be OK. Check for some other versions of them - they will have Trad, arranged by xxxx instead of a writer's credit. Otherwise, if the writer has been dead for over 100 years the song will have become public domain.

I'd guess a lot of acts do ignore the process. MCPS get reports from CD manufacturers, in fact, the manufacturers should not produce the CDs unless a license is in place. If you are running them off yourself or getting CDRs replicated in small quantities then these will not be reported. Chances of MCPS finding out? Probably quite low, but, like HMRC, they are a tenacious bunch.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...