aTmAg said:
Rudyjax said:
aTmAg said:
Legal question:
Why do some artists sue others for stealing riffs and stuff, but don't when somebody covers their entire song?
Do the cover guys have to get permission from the original first? Or is there some sort of legal exception?
Because when they steal riffs and stuff, the writer isn't getting paid.
When they cover the whole song, the original artist is being paid.
Now sure how that works on YouTube and Internet tho.
So for example, Don't Dolly Parton made a fortune on I will always love you by Whitney. Probably ,ore tan Whitney did.
That explains it. Thanks.
Yes that's pretty much it - you have to credit the original writer even if you only sample a little bit from a song. then they may only get a small percentage. But if you cover an entire song you better credit the writer and they get all of the royalties that are for writing. Royalties have a split for songwriter vs artist. both get a portion as well as the record company/publisher.
Famously Led Zep was sued for some early songs that failed to credit the writer - in one case (Babe I'm Gonna Leave You") for example they believed it was an old traditional song because they were more or less working from what they had heard which was the Joan Baez version and she had incorrectly failed to credit the song writer - so Zep credited it as "Traditional arrangement" (which means like a song handed down through the years and never credited to anyone). But the writer a folk singer from the early 60s found ot about it in the 80s and they were sued and it is since credited as Anne Bredon/Page and Plant so she has a partial but primary writers cut and they have the remaining portion because it was not a direct cover as they made some significant changes.
In another famous case - Vanilla Ice obviously blatantly lifted the "dum dum dee dee dee dum dum" riff of the infamous bass line from "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie but did not credit them at all. He even argued that he changed one note at the end of the riff - meaning he knew he did steal it which he later admitted. After a lawsuit it was then credited as Vanilla Ice and Queen and David Bowie upon a settlement agreement although VI claim he bought the song as a settlement and now owns the rights. Not sure if that is true.
Anyway... you better credit the writer or you are gonna get sued - even if it is just a riff.
