Originally Posted By: MarioD
Originally Posted By: etcjoe

............ You can do a cover version of a song with your own arrangement as far as I know, but I could be wrong. ....................


For your own personal use yes that is true but it is not true if you post or sell your version. Then melody line and lyrics are covered by copyright, but backing tracks or arrangement usually are not: if the backing track or arrangement are a unique part of the song then they could also be copyright covered.

For instance say you take the melody and lyrics of Misty and put them in front of a metal band doing a samba backing track and post it you are breaking copyright laws.

PS - that is why PGM does not allow cover songs to be posted if you do not have a license that allows you to use said cover song.

Note that I am not a lawyer nor have I played one on TV but that is what I have read.


I understand that completely. I was questioning the part of the OP statement that the law says to play a cover song "the original music must be used".

I was not referring to illegal playing and posting a cover song. Let's say you are playing in a band in an establishment, that pays the licensing fees required to have live music playing copyrighted songs. You song does not have to match the original for you to play it. You can do a bluegrass version of stairway to heaven if you want.

My wife asked if I had seen the dog bowl. I told her I didn't even know he could.