View Single Post
  #8  
Old 09-27-2021, 05:07 PM
Hotspur Hotspur is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,196
Default

So two issues:

From a copyright standpoint, ASCAP and BMI don't cover the use of the recorded version of the song. Those are songwriting royalties, but there are also performance royalties associated with the use of recorded material. Presumedly the person selling the backing track isn't concerned about that, but I don't know. If you, for example, digitally removed vocals from the actual version of the song, then you would still need to pay for the use of the recording. It's PROBABLY a non-issue, as in nobody's going to notice or case. But technically? Unless the person removing the vocals struck a deal with the owners of the recording, it is a copyright violation.

And it's not what you asked, but: I'd personally be more concerned about something else.

In my experience, a live performer over any but the simplest backing track just sort of tends to ... not work very well for an audience. You often end up in a kind of uncanny valley where the backing track that sounds exactly like the song really highlights how you DON'T sound exactly like the song, but makes it feel like you're trying to - so it doesn't quite work. Furthermore, being a slave to the lack of flexibility of the backing track stops you from really making it your own and removes some of the joy of a live performance, the magic of something being created in front of you.

So you can end up with the worst of both worlds: a cover that fails to deliver some of the pleasures of the original but doesn't replace them with it's own life and energy.

The vast majority of the time, I think performers are much better served by re-imagining and re-arranging the song to work with what they can actually sing and play live. YMMV.
Reply With Quote