Releasing a cover song legally: the mechanical licence, what you can't change, and who gets paid

A cover is the one kind of release built on someone else's music that you can put out without asking anyone first. In the US, the Copyright Act's § 115 makes the licence compulsory: the songwriter can't refuse, as long as you stay inside the rules and pay the rate. Most of the trouble artists get into comes from not knowing where those rules stop.

What the compulsory licence actually covers

The licence covers the composition (the melody and lyrics, owned by the writers and their publishers), not anyone's recording. Three conditions do most of the work:

• The song must already be out in the US. Under § 115(a)(1), the licence is only available once recordings of the song have been distributed to the public in the US with the copyright owner's authority. CD Baby notes that a song nobody has released yet needs a "first use" licence, negotiated directly with the owner.
• It must be your own new recording. Samples are out. DistroKid also bars any audio you don't own, from TV, films, games or other songs.
• You can rearrange, but not rewrite. The statute lets you adapt the song to your style. The arrangement "shall not change the basic melody or fundamental character of the work", and you get no copyright in it as a derivative work without the owner's consent (§ 115(a)(2)).

In practice, a genre flip is fine: a punk song as a piano ballad, or an instrumental version. New verses, a rewritten chorus or a translated lyric are not. DistroKid says language changes are "probably not okay", and Interspace says translations need the original lyricist's authorisation. DistroKid also tells you to keep the title. Remixes, mashups, medleys and interpolations (re-recording part of a melody inside a new song) all sit outside the cover licence. As Interspace puts it, there is no compulsory licence for a remix.

Who gets paid, and how much

On a cover, you own your recording and the writers own the song. Every sale or stream earns money on both sides, and the song side goes to them.

For CDs, vinyl and downloads, the Copyright Royalty Board sets the rate. For 2026 it is 13.1 cents per song per copy, or 2.52 cents per minute of playing time (counting any part of a minute as a full one), whichever is larger. The 2025 rate was 12.7 cents.

Worked examples, at the 2026 rate:

• A 3:40 cover sells 200 US downloads. The writers are owed 200 × 13.1¢ = $26.20.
• A 5:30 cover pressed on 300 vinyl copies. That counts as six minutes, and 6 × 2.52¢ = 15.12¢ beats 13.1¢, so the writers are owed 300 × 15.12¢ = $45.36. The per-minute rate only takes over once a track runs past five minutes.

Streaming works differently. Since the Music Modernization Act, interactive streaming services license songs through a single blanket licence administered by The MLC. CD Baby says platforms like Spotify and Apple Music pay the publishers themselves, so you don't need your own mechanical licence for streaming. Interspace likewise only requires one for download stores. Oddly, the Copyright Office lists downloads among the deliveries the blanket licence can cover. Even so, both distributors treat download licensing as your job, and the statute leaves works under individual download licences outside the blanket.

So a Spotify-only release isn't special. Every interactive streaming service works the same way. Your distributor may still ask for a licence: CD Baby's policy requires at least a download licence for any cover, whatever stores you pick.

How the main distributors handle it

• DistroKid gets the licence for you through the Harry Fox Agency. It costs $12 a year per cover, and DistroKid deducts the writers' share from your US sales. Its help pages still quote 12.7¢ per song, which was the 2025 rate. You must buy its licence for every upload of a cover, even if you already hold one from elsewhere. Licensing can take up to 14 business days. Releases with covers won't be sold (though they will stream) in India, Pakistan, Mexico or Canada.
• CD Baby has you get the licence yourself, for example from a service like Easy Song or from the publisher. You then enter the licence ID and the original writers and publisher, and limit distribution to the territories your licence covers. CD Baby notes that a standard compulsory licence covers the US only, and that a physical licence doesn't cover digital sales.
• Interspace asks for a download licence in most countries. It requires a licence for all uses in Mexico, India and Pakistan. It also says a premium music video needs separate sync rights.
• HFA's Songfile sells cover licences directly, for formats including CDs and downloads. It is useful if you press or sell copies yourself.

What we think

The compulsory licence is one of the fairest deals in music. Any artist can cover any released song, with no gatekeeper, and the writer is paid at a public rate. That is worth defending. The weak points are elsewhere.

First, the money flows one way and the rate barely moves. A writer earns 13.1 cents per download, but the singer whose cover goes viral captures the audience. The writer has no say in a cover they might hate, and a fixed rate that rises only with inflation is the price of that bargain. It suits covering artists more than it suits writers.

Second, distributors are adding their own rules on top of the law. When a fee is charged for every upload, including songs you have already licensed, or a cover is blocked in countries where the law differs, that may be sensible risk management. But it is not the law, and it costs most where margins are thinnest: the bedroom artist releasing a few covers that sell almost nothing. The out-of-date 12.7¢ figure on DistroKid's own help pages shows how little scrutiny this plumbing gets. Ask your distributor which rate it actually deducts.

Third, credits are where writers lose. A cover with the wrong writer names or a missing publisher can send streaming mechanicals to the wrong place, or nowhere. The writers bear that loss, not the covering artist. Crediting correctly is the decent thing to do, and it is the part of the law you control.

The winners are covering artists who stay in their lane and writers whose catalogue keeps getting recorded. The losers are anyone who treats "cover" as a loophole for remixes, translations or interpolations. A takedown or a claim after release costs far more than clearing first.

Pre-release checklist

1. Check that the song has had an authorised US release. If not, you need a first-use licence from the owner.
2. Record everything yourself, with no samples and no audio you don't own.
3. Keep the melody, lyrics and title. Translations, new verses and medleys need permission.
4. Look up every writer and publisher and enter them exactly. Never put the original artist in your artist or title fields unless they perform on your track.
5. Mark the track as a cover (CD Baby's composition type, DistroKid's "another artist wrote it", Interspace's Track Origin).
6. Get the licence your distributor requires, and check which territories it covers.
7. For a music video beyond plain audio, clear sync rights separately.
8. Keep your licence ID and confirmation with the release files.

This is general information about US law and distributor policies as of October 2026, not legal advice.