music rights?

Question

i was just reading some info about copy rights and doing covers of songs in bars or other public places, there is alot of places being sued for someone performing music in there place of business. im in a band and we do alot of cover songs. how is it legal for us to perform these songs without getting sued for copyright infringement. ive been doing this for a long time and never thought about it until i was looking into getting copyrights on some songs i have written. how do these places cover bands play in, get away with it. there are millions of cover bands out there and play other peoples music all the time

do places get some kind of entertainment license that protects them from being sued?

Answer 1

Become a member in ASCAP

Answer 2

Yep !

Most record companies and publishers are not conerned with the small cover bands playing their circuit.
In fact this may increase sales of the songs covered.
However no matter how small a public performance is a breach of copyright and could be followed up. This includes a shop playing a CD over its PA system.
I don't think you need to worry to much unless you become very successful (when you will probably play more of your own music anyway)
Many big cover bands do pay the royalties and some venues will insist that this is part of the contract.

Good luck !

Answer 3

It's called a blanket license - a fee that the venue (whether it's a club or a restaurant) pays which covers anything that anyone plays under their roof. I know someone who used to work for ASCAP who's job was to go to places who didn't pay for their license, verify that they were in fact playing music (whether it was live or a jukebox). Then ASCAP would take action against them.

I'm pretty sure as a band you're not going to run into issues unless you decide to record a cover song and sell it.