Comments on: Cover Music on the Podsafe Music Network

By: Muzica Noua

Muzica Noua — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 12:39:00 +0000

My guess is aprox. 20% will do what you said, the rest wont even care ..

By: Brian Ibbott

Brian Ibbott — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:33:28 +0000

From the most recent “Podsafe Music Network” newsletter, promoting their latest podsafe artists:

“Ann Wilson has sold millions of records as a founding member of the legendary rock group Heart. Her first ever solo album is set for release September 11 on Zoe/Rounder Records. Get her duet with Elton John, “Where to Now St. Peter” and a fantastic authorized cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song”now on the Podsafe Music Network!”

The link takes you to the Ann Wilson page, where there’s no mention of needing an appropriate license to air the tracks. Does the fact that the “Where To Now, St. Peter” track is a cover of Elton’s original allow this, and is Podshow somehow footing the bill to ASCAP/BMI/SESAC based on how many plays of the “Immigrant Song” appear on its member podcasts?

By: Brian Ibbott

Brian Ibbott — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:33:00 +0000

From the most recent “Podsafe Music Network” newsletter, promoting their latest podsafe artists:

By: noebie

noebie — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 18:49:13 +0000

Has anybody every actually been sued or sent “cease and desist” communications for playing a song on a Podcast?

By: noebie

noebie — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 18:49:00 +0000

Has anybody every actually been sued or sent “cease and desist” communications for playing a song on a Podcast?

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 12:29:55 +0000

If the PMN uploading process for artists had a check box next to the song info, indicating the song is a cover, it could also ask the artist to verify they have the authority to grant PMN license to podcasters for using the track. Not perfect, but perhaps a bit more straight forward.

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 12:29:00 +0000

By: Brian Ibbott

Brian Ibbott — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 14:42:44 +0000

There has to be some way for the PMN users to be able to identify them as cover songs. A podcaster symbling upon a song titled “Total Eclispe of the Heart” will have a pretty good idea that it’s a cover. But a less known track may not be as readily identifiable, and if the podcaster plays it without the appropriate ASCAP/BMI/SESAC license, they could be in trouble.

That said, I’d love to see more covers on the PMN, with identification. Ironically, it’s a way for a new band to demonstrate what makes them unique. You just strip out what you know and recognize from the cover, and what you should be left with is that band’s unique sound.

By: Brian Ibbott

Brian Ibbott — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 14:42:00 +0000

By: Matt Searles

Matt Searles — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 02:20:00 +0000

I think the problem is mostly educational.. both for the artists putting stuff into the PMN and for the podcasters who use it. It might be good if this was explained when you sign up? The fact that you often do hear cover songs on podcasts can lead to the impression of this being something like a gray area.. particularly with the feeling that playing covers somehow promotes the original version, and in a way that seems one more step away from playing of the original version. On Youtube it’s it seems to be a growing feeling that if user’s create material with your content, this somehow promotes your content and so the powers that be are less likely to send a pull down notice.. Which is basically the same thing as someone playing a cover of your composition. And so it is that the zeitgeist of social media pushes back at our inherited system of copyrights. And to the extent to which copyright has a purpose to serve a common good.. and that common good is conceptualized inside of a mass market centric world view.. it seems sorta inevitable that these sort of infringements are, at least in a kind of Hegelian dialectical sense.. forcing an evolution…