Is VR free to play any cover songs they want?

[sandman]

Primarily, are they legally allowed to play any gnr tune they wish?

i got into an argument with my cousin (who is a writer in the industry). we were discussing what VR will play at their live shows. and he believes that when bands play cover songs at their concerts, they technically need to get permission and could be required to pay a small fee.

Does anyone know if this is true?

Any insights would be appreciated.

[pilferk]

I believe tha law is that you can PLAY any piece of music you wish, in concert.  However, you can't  publish it or record it with the intent to distribute it(without permission from the original artist).  You also can't use it to sell something, or imply endorsement of something, even if you're playing it live.

[sandman]

thanks, Pilferk. that's what i was thinking. but i can't say i've ever heard anything concrete one way or the other.

BUT, with so many bands playing cover songs at their live shows, somewhere along the line we would have heard of a lawsuit or something.

[ClintroN]

If it's played on the air it'll be different, thats when royaltes will start wanting money.
Idont think VR should play many GNR tunes anyway, if the're confident about the music then why bother, for fun i guess but Weilend wont mix to good with GNR tunes.
IMfuckin'O!!

[matt88]

I hope they play a few GN'R songs,

Hopefully
It's So Easy
Mr Brownstone
Rocket Queen
Bad Obsession

[sandman]

hopefully their music will be great, but i think it's cool for them to play gnr tunes cause it gives die-hard fans like us the opportunity to hear slash's leads actually played by slash live. in fact, i'd be disappointed if they didn't play at least two gnr songs.

[jarmo]

Check out the thread in this section about the setlist.....



/jarmo

[starchild_666]

yeah sandman... I've never heard of such a lawsuits too...

[Pinball Wizard]

to play the covers on shows they don't need any permission...but, to record the covers, then they need...

[Hung Well]

As Pilferk stated, they can play anything they want.

They can play Madagascar if they want.

[ClintroN]

Matt88, those songs would go down good with Weilend, Rocket would sound weird at the end with him singing, pretty funny i reckon

[matt88]

Matt88, those songs would go down good with Weilend, Rocket would sound weird at the end with him singing, pretty funny i reckon

Hahaha i guess ur right

[chineseilusions]

I would like to hear them play My Michelle

[tomass74]

Matt88, those songs would go down good with Weilend, Rocket would sound weird at the end with him singing, pretty funny i reckon

Rocket Queen is the song that I want to see them do the most!!! I think Scott could do a greta job actually. He could just sing the end his way.. He doesn't need to sing it like Axl....

[axl_rose_700]

Why shouldn't Slash and Duff play GnR tunes, seen as they were in the original line up, they have more right to play these songs than Axl in my book!  

[pasnow]

Actually VR, and any band for that matter is not "free" to play anything they want. Songwriters, or owners of the copywright, have complete ownership of the song. And no one can legally reprint or recreate the song without the owners consent regardless if they are "making money" off it. The owner can still request $$. So I'm not sure if Axl owns the rights to the songs or not but if he did, yes he could stop them or charge them. Also, since tickets are being sold for these concerts, Yes, the band is also somewhat making money off playing these songs. Normally, artists don't care about being covered or find it flattering  plus free pub, however in this case I can TOTALLY see Axl throwing a hissy fit. Will he... ? I don't think so, but in theory he could.

[loretian]

I'm pretty sure any band is free to perform any song in a live setting.  I mean, hell, half the time when you go to any sort of smaller show, a band will perform several covers, especially if they're not well known.

Recording and selling them is different, but pasnow, where did you get the idea that it was otherwise?

[pasnow]

A Comm Law class.  Again, most bands don't care about that stuff. A kid in a cover band tried to argue with the Professor saying he never pays ASCAP but it turned out the Prof was correct. They "could" potentially charge him, they just choose not to.

[jbenzz]

From what I understand, in Canada at least, if a band is playing a show with covers, they have to fill out their setlist and report it to their union, which reports the songs that they played to a collection agency which then collects and distributes money to the songwriters.  The amount per song is like 7 cents for a 5 minute song or something like that.  They do not need to get permission from the author to perform the song.  So if VR were to play 3 gnr songs and 3 STP songs a night, that's approx 45 cents, depending on length and stuff.  I'm not exactly sure if the 7 cents is right, but it's something like that.  Even though most small cover bands don't fill out the papers and pay the artists, no one really cares cause it's virtually no money at all.  However, big bands get the paperwork done by lawyers and it's pretty basic.  I'm 99% sure that this is true cause I read it in a book about the music buisness and my memory is normally pretty good, and I assume it's virtually the same in the US.

[DarthFALCO]

APRA is the organisation that deals with paying royalties for copyrights down here in New Zealand & Australia.  So when I started up a covers band myself I was naturally interested to know if we would have to pay royalties.  What I found out is that APRA collects an annual, or quarterly, royalty payment fee from venues that feature live bands.  The amounts paid are calculated from stats like the venue location, town or city population, the frequency of live bands (ie. one every week or one every month), etc.

So, if this is the case in the USA or Europe where VR will be, and are, playing then I would expect that they would be fine playing the odd GNR and STP covers.  This would also be a benefit to them as well until they have more VR songs to play during live sets as they would be paid royalties for playing their old songs when they claim at the end of the year.