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I need honest critical feedback on my vocal on about 20 seconds of a John Prine cover tune.

Can I post that on youtube without causing issues here?
Can I post it on my own website without causing issues here?
IS there a legal way to sing live on Zoom?

Billy

Last edited by Planobilly; 10/25/21 01:33 PM.
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I would post it on DropBox, in this thread ask for critical feedback, then after a few days take it off DropBox. It should be no problem as it is only a small section of the song.


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Thanks, Mario I will give that a try.

Billy

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Billy:
That sounds like a good plan for a snippet. Still, we see so many reports about the state of the art for cover licensing on You Tube, Spotify, etc., why not find out what is required to sync license it and be done with it?
I've seen quotes as low as 12-15$

Last edited by edshaw; 10/22/21 12:49 PM.

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For a 20 second clip, I would just do it and not worry, especially using a file service like Dropbox. This is a case for Fair Use justification if ever there was.

But you could always contact Prine's team here, lots of email addresses and they even have a phone number!

https://www.johnprine.com/contact

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Thanks, Guys,

I think I will just get legal permission.

That protects me where ever I go on the internet or live.

The fact that a person would need to do this, who is not making and does not want a single dime is evidence of a world I won't be sad to leave.

Under $1000 for forty songs. I hope by some really strange chance one of those covers becomes popular and they have to pay me a bunch of money. I will use it to take out ads in the New York Times describing what a load of crap this system is.

Lawyers and politicians...nothing I can say here and stay out of trouble.

Billy

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You can also post it on Youtube and not make it public, just designate who and how many you want to be able to view it. And then you can easily delete it.

Last edited by Danny C.; 10/22/21 10:27 AM.
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Originally Posted By: Mark Hayes
For a 20 second clip, I would just do it and not worry, especially using a file service like Dropbox. This is a case for Fair Use justification if ever there was.




I agree with the comment above. While I can't speak for John Prine, I do believe he would want his songs to be kept alive by other folks doing covers of them.

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Danny C makes a very good suggestion...they'll still search it for a copyright strike but it's less likely if private and using drop box or a similar file service would mean no one's going to download it without your direction to do so.


Cheers
rayc
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Well...I solved the issue late last night. I went to visit the owner of a music store in Miami Beach that states open till 3 AM. Played guitar with Marty for a couple of hours.

Live, real people, what a concept! Only cost me three hundred fifty dollars for the new resonator guitar I got from him...lol

Fun stuff for me, not so much for my wife...lol

Billy

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Hi guys,

I followed Mark Hayes advice and contacted John's team/record company.

They gave me written permission to perform his music in public.

They are currently deciding if they will allow me to post here.

I have asked for a quoit to do covers of four of his songs and in discussions about a sync license for a video.

They are very present people to do business with.

If all this comes together, I will go to Nashville to a professional studio to record the "Sam Stone" cover. I and a videographer acquaintance will shoot the video here in Miami. It will depict homeless veterans who are known to me and video of the Miami drug scene.

Any proceeds above the production cost will be given to John's estate to do with what they will.

Rest in peace John Prine.

Billy

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Originally Posted By: Planobilly
I followed Mark Hayes advice and contacted John's team/record company

That is great to hear! Glad it's working out.

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Yes, and I forgot to say thanks to you Mr. Hayes.

Please forgive me. Of the things I have lost I miss my mind the most...lol

Billy

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Originally Posted By: Planobilly
Yes, and I forgot to say thanks to you Mr. Hayes


When I was in high school in NYC, we had this idea that we were going to perform the musical play "Hair". We wound up getting shut down for a number of reasons, including that we had no permission to perform that copyrighted work.

Then one Saturday in Central Park, a group of us ran into the authors, James Rado and Gerome Ragni, and they happily signed a waiver, writing it out on a piece of rolling paper or something.

It didn't work. We still didn't have a Faculty Advisor, so we still never got to put it on.

But that aspect of the experience, of going around the management system by contacting the artists directly, stuck in my head for the last 50 years, though never entering my life in any way.

Then the other day, seeing Billy's post and looking at Prine's website, I wrote that post here, which seems to have contributed to a positive outcome.

This particular cosmic laser bullet of cause and effect, arcing across 5 decades, seemed worthy of another post.

PS – I saw Prine somewhere on the East Coast around 1975. Some kind of festival. All I remember is him suddenly recoiling from a bee at the microphone, then saying, as if he were in the audience, "The part I liked best was when John Prine swallowed a bee!" And so for me I guess it was.

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I guess some people would be afraid to ask. Well...that's not me.

Another example of Mark's story goes like this.

A pretty well-known blues piano player and I cut an album in a studio in Houston, Texas. All original songs by Earl and I. We needed a distribution deal from somewhere.

Everyone said I was crazy when I said I was calling up the owner of Alligator Records.
Alligator Records is an American, Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer.

I call and the girl answered the phone and said Bruce was too busy to talk to anyone at the moment. She ask who I was. I said well fine, this is Billy. Tell Bruce to pick up the damn phone and call me when he gets a minute and hung up the phone.

Everyone in the studio laughed until about ten minutes later Bruce called me back. He told me to send him the tape and he would listen.

About a week later Bruce called me back again and said he did not want to sign us but he called someone in Holland who he thought would like to make a deal with us and gave me the info. I sent another tape to the record company in Holland and then took us own. They distributed the recording in Europe and back to the United States.

I signed all my rights over to Earl. He died a few years back and I came to see him a week or two before he died. I don't think any very large amount of money was or is being generated. If it is ten dollars a year his wife Cary most likely smiles and thinks of me.

Well...if you don't ask you will just never know.

We all know the music business is world-famous for taking advantage of people. That is not always the case. There are some wonderful people in this world.

Cheers,

Billy

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This thread has turned into a great story. Can't wait to see how it turns out --- well, I'm sure.


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This thread has got me off my rear end and doing a lot of things I have been putting off for a very long time.

There are a few cover songs I would like to do but more importantly, I have around two hundred finished songs I need to send to ASCAP.

I am not sure what the future is going to be so if there is a chance to sell some stuff to the overhead market, I should do that.

2020 was a remarkable year for my business here. 2021 is causing me big problems with lack of labor and supplies. I may have to close that business move assets to the ranch.

I have enough at the moment but the possibility of another revenue stream is something to seriously think about.

All the different platforms and changing copyright issues most likely will require the advice of a current music business lawyer. Everybody is ready to sue everybody nowadays. That is the last thing I need to have to deal with. I can tell you from experience in the construction business you never know what the outcome will be when you have to go to court.

Music is fun. The music business is not fun at all.

Cheers,

Billy

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