What does anyone know about "lengthening " a cover song?

[El Diablo]

Hi,

I was thinking of lengthening a cover song by adding a instrumental break using the same melody as the song where there is no instrumental break.  The song sits around 2 minutes and 19 seconds.  I want to lengthen it to about 3 to 3.5 minutes by adding a instrumental break before the last chorus ending and also I plan to slow the tempo down of the song.

I wonder if this would be legally okay or not?

All suggestions welcome!

[John Bradley]

I do this all the time.

Depends what you mean by “legal”. It’s still the same song, so you can’t sell it without licensing it first.

You can typically post it on YouTube and SoundCloud without issue. YouTube will identify that there’s a copyright claim on the song (sometimes erroneously, such as songs that are in the public domain), but nearly everyone not named Don Henley has figured out it’s in their interest to allow covers on YouTube - sans monetization, of course.

[John Bradley]

It should be noted that licensing the rights to do a cover is a mechanical process, and surprisingly inexpensive. On the order of $250 per song. Of course for that to make sense you have to think you can sell $250 worth of downloads, which is pretty unlikely for most of us.

So personally, I don’t even try to make money with my tracks. It’s easier that way!

[El Diablo]

3 hours ago, John Bradley said:

It should be noted that licensing the rights to do a cover is a mechanical process, and surprisingly inexpensive. On the order of $250 per song. Of course for that to make sense you have to think you can sell $250 worth of downloads, which is pretty unlikely for most of us.

So personally, I don’t even try to make money with my tracks. It’s easier that way!

I don't know about $250..

That's allot compared to $12 for Distrokid.

RouteNote says it's handled by several streaming services and won't cost anything unless I wanted to play it in the USA, and a few other locations where there's a copyright law, then I'd have to get a mechanical license.

 

Swipe said "several stabbing services" LOL... I almost forgot to edit that out!  Yes, stabbing services is what streaming services should be called!

 

 

Other than licensing, just curious how far I can change the song, before it comes too far.

I've read, tempo, style, key can be changed.  I've even heard you can change the gender of the song.  From HIM to HER.  I thought though, you'd need special permission to change those lyrics?

There's so much to think about.