How to Release a Cover Song Legally on Spotify and Other Stores

Cover songs are a proven way to reach new listeners: people search for songs they already know. Releasing one is legal and common, but it is not the same as releasing your own song. You are using someone else's composition, so the songwriters must be credited and paid.

What counts as a cover

A cover is your own new recording of an existing song, with the original melody and lyrics. You do not use any part of the original recording.

• Cover: you record the song yourself, in your own style.
• Not a cover: using the original recording, its instrumental or its vocals. That is a sample or a remix, and it needs permission from the owner of the recording as well. See how to clear a sample.

Which licence you need

The right to reproduce a composition in a recording is called a mechanical right. How you license it depends on the territory and the type of release:

• United States: the law provides a compulsory mechanical licence for songs that have already been released. For on-demand streaming, US services hold blanket licences through The MLC, but downloads and some uses still need a licence that you obtain, usually through a licensing service or directly from the publisher.
• UK and Europe: mechanical rights are generally managed by collecting societies, which license streaming services directly. Downloads and physical copies may still need a licence.
• Everywhere: keep proof of the licence or permission. Your distributor may ask for it during review.

If you are unsure, contact the song's publisher. You can usually find the publisher in a collecting society's online repertoire search.

How to credit a cover

• Keep the original song title. Do not rename it, and do not add "(Cover)", "Originally by" or the original artist's name to it.
• Enter the original songwriters as composers and lyricists, with their full names.
• List yourself as the performing artist, not as the songwriter.
• Do not list the original artist as an artist on your release. Their name must not appear as primary or featured artist, and your cover art should not suggest it is their release.

Changes that need permission

A compulsory or blanket licence lets you record the song, not rewrite it. You need the publisher's permission before you:

• change the lyrics or add new verses;
• translate the lyrics into another language;
• combine it with another song as a medley or mash-up;
• change the melody so much that it becomes a new work.

Under the US compulsory licence you may arrange the song in your own style, changing tempo, genre or instruments, as long as you do not change its basic melody or fundamental character. Rules elsewhere can be stricter, so ask the publisher if you are unsure.

Covers with a video on YouTube

Putting a cover in a video, including a performance video on your own channel, technically needs a sync licence from the publisher, because the song is combined with pictures. Many publishers allow covers on YouTube and earn from them through Content ID claims instead, but that is their decision, not a right you have.

Tips for covers that actually grow your audience

• Choose songs your listeners would search for, but where your version adds something: a genre change, a stripped-back arrangement or a new perspective.
• Release covers between your original singles, not instead of them.
• Use the cover to point people to your own songs: in your profile, in videos and in your bio.

Ready to release it? Create the release on SpaceMedia with the original songwriters in the credits and your licence on hand.