I started wondering about cover tunes. I know (or at least I believe) that playing a cover tune is technically illegal if you charge admission for a show, though lots of people do it. I also think it’s legal to play it as much as you want, as long as you haven’t charged the audience to listen. Of course it’s illegal to record a cover tune and sell it without permission, but what about recording if you don’t sell it? Can you distribute it (say put it up on a website) if you don’t charge for it? I’m not even sure how I’d feel about this ethically, but if anyone knows the legal aspects I’d be interested.

To be perfectly legal, you'd have to license the songs from ASCAP, BMI, or whoever owned the rights. As far as performing bands go, though, it's really the proprietor's responsibility to cover those costs, as it is he who is making the music available for public consumption. If you were distributing a recording, I'd imagine that the distributor would be the one that would have to deal with such costs.

Found this.

Yup, good link Rev. Cover tunes require the payment of the mechanical royalty to be legal.

In practice, this is rarely enforced. But I've heard of horror stories of ASCAP reps going by the name of "Guido" showing up at nightclubs and making the club owner pay under threat of concrete overshoes.

And as a friend of mine recently found out, the details of actually getting the mechanical royalties licensed and paid for is rather tricky. There are some clearing houses for this which will cover several labels, but not everyone is covered by the clearing houses. For instance, it takes some working finding the right people to pay to cover an Eagles tune because each member retains their own rights.

Edit: Rev's link didn't seem to work the second time I tried it...

Another question would be, How much do you actually have to change a song before it becomes something else? Does Weird Al pay mechanical or other royalities? If not what about more mildly altered versions? key differences, slight verse rewrites, and so on.

Wierd Al pays royalties, but I don’t know how much something needs to be changed to be considered different.

My question with these mechanical licenses would be, what if you record a song but don’t press any CDs and instead just post it on the Internet? I already knew you had to pay royalties when you press CDs, but I am curious how that would carry over to mp3’s.

Does Weird Al pay mechanical or other royalities?

He does a lot more than that. He gets specific permission from the artists, and does pay royalties. I'm not sure if the royalties are just the mechanical ones or if he pays more because he's got specific contracts with the original artists. It's not answered clearly in the FAQ on his site.

Incidentally, the friends I was mentioning who needed to get the mechanical rights... that was for a parody album, very much in the Weird Al vein.

And that site didn't say anything about live performances either...

what if you record a song but don’t press any CDs and instead just post it on the Internet?

That's a question I'm conveniently ignoring for my own case. My feeling is a one-off personal recording of me banging on an acoustic guitar is far enough under their radar that it doesn't matter.

One I was trying to find the answer to (but never did) is this scenario. A friend and I were looking at starting a little side business to take music for dancers, and chop it, basically remix it, put it on a tape, and sell our services. These tapes would be for public performances. Now there are people who do this out there, but do you have to pay the artists anything for it?

A friend and I were looking at starting a little side business

At this point, I think your best bet is to talk to a music/entertainment lawyer.

Wierd Al pays royalties, but I don't know how much something needs to be changed to be considered different.

Technically, he doesn't need to pay royalties for the lyrics, because the lyrics are an original work. IIRC, parodies fall under the fair use exemption. However, he would still have to pay royalties for the music.