Monetize YouTube Covers! How to make money from cover music?

How to make money from cover songs? Aspiring artists from anywhere can gain huge online audiences and earn global reach by recording cover songs that spark a reaction. 

However, while recording and uploading cover songs can be a great first step to building a fan base, monetizing those songs on traditional digital music services can be a nightmare if not done correctly. Here are a few things you should consider if you plan to legally record, release & monetize a cover song. 

Obtain the proper licenses to reproduce and distribute the original composition. If you are releasing the cover as a digital download, in physical format or streaming on platforms like Spotify, you will need to acquire a mechanical license from the copyright owner. 

Harry Fox Agency, Loud and Easy Song Licensing are some of the organizations where you can obtain a mechanical license. If you want to upload a video of the cover song on YouTube or other video platforms, you will need an additional license called a synchronization license. This license can be obtained directly from the publisher or songwriter of the song. 

Synch licenses can be expensive and a lot of work to get. YouTube has a system that monitors use of compositions called “Content ID”. If you don’t get the proper licenses, the Content ID system may detect performances of your video and shut it down. 

Check our previous article on Content ID if you want to learn more. The next step is to get a unique code to distinguish your recording from the original and other covers. 

This identifier is called International Standard Recording Code or ISRC. The ISRC code is a unique 12-character alpha numeric code assigned to each version of a recording. 

For example, if you have a live version and a studio version of your cover song, each will need its own ISRC. When you distribute music digitally, almost all digital platforms require an ISRC for each recording. 

Your ISRC code should also be embedded in the metadata of your recording file so that when your recordings are released as a digital download or on physical formats, the ISRC is attached to the recording. 

Although you do not own the composition, you own the Master Sound Recording of the cover song, which can unlock lucrative opportunities and royalties for you, like: Sales Income - You earn income when your recording is sold in physical format or permanent digital downloads, for example on iTunes. Sales are generally passed on to you through your distributor. 

Interactive Streaming Royalties - When your recording is streamed on interactive platforms like Spotify, the service pays a streaming master use royalty to the distributor, who then pays you for the streams. 

Non-Interactive Streaming Royalties - Webcaster sand digital services that broadcast recordings over the internet, cable, and satellite in radio-style programming, where the end users have limited or no control over the selection of music, pay a royalty for the digital performance of sound recordings to Sound Exchange. 

Sound Exchange then pays out 45% of the royalties to the featured performers on the recording, 50% to the copyright owner of the master recording(which will be you), and 5% to a fund for background vocalists and session musicians. 

You will need to register an account with Sound Exchange to receive these royalties. 

Master Use for Sync Fees - If your cover song recording gets used on a TV show, a movie, a commercial or any other audiovisual media, you will need a synchronization license from the publisher of the composition. 

While you own the recording of your cover song, the songwriter and publisher own the composition and still give permission for the composition to be used. 

The producer of the audiovisual content will need to pay the synch license fee for the composition and pay a master use fee for the master use license of the sound recording. 

These negotiations take place directly between the producer of the content and the owners of the copyrights (you, for the master sound recording, and the songwriter or publisher for the composition that you’ve covered). 

Now that you’re an expert on legally recording and selling cover songs, share the knowledge with your musician friends! No artist should be afraid to record and release cover songs. 

Thank you for Reading!!!

Credit to The Modern musician