utau cover(s) publishing question

jojoserloi

Momo's Minion
Thread starter
i've recently made some really good utau covers that i'm proud of and want to publish them as an album. i mainly use spotify when listening to music, which made me wonder if i'm able/allowed to publish my covers as an album on spotify. of course, this might not be a possibility but i wanna get some other input on this...

none of the usts i used are mine, but i would still credit them if i'm able to. the utau is all mine though.

idk, pls help ;-;
 

NordGeit

Your stubborn Yotsuba Channel frequenter. Direct.
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
Well, the UTAU issue won't be a problem since it's yours, but...
There's several layers that you will have to encounter, from the top-down...
1. The original song creator. Whoever they were, they were the original creator, and when it comes to copyright in a majority of places, it means they automatically hold copyright. So you will have to ask them for permission, and maybe pay (aka a license) in order to have the basic rights to publish them on spotify and earn money off it in an official capacity. (Since we're talking spotify. Free, unofficial-type releases such as soundcloud and youtube usually goes, though they still actually hold copyright, it's just that most people don't bother enforcing it on their end if you're not making any [KROMER]])
2. The UST creator. Since your work is based off their hard work porting the song over to the UTAU format, you'll also have to ask those people. You can bypass it, however, by re-creating the covers from scratch, which is the best and ultimate way to do anything.
2.5. Instrumental creator, if you used unofficial instrumentals.

Like, okay, I haven't created anything, but let's create a simulation where I did. I, as the original creator of the song, released it because hard work is hard work.
Life's good, maybe I put it on Bandcamp or work with an indie publisher to slam it everywhere (With permission gained from the voicebank holder, naturally.)
Then, all of a sudden, out of my control, some plonker makes a cover and puts it on Spotify, potentially earning money off what is my hard work creating the lyrics, vocals and instrumentals (which I also released, because making covers is part of the culture).
Okay, time to load my copyright shotgun and go to town! Infringing thing has been taken down, and a bunch of fires flame.
... End simulation.
Restarting...
I, as the original creator of the song, re-
Life's good. Put places, got cash, all in order.
I check my email, and someone requests to release a cover of my work to Spotify.
I call their preference for Spotify cringe, but since they had the courtesy to ask, I now have a choice: Deny them entirely, work out a deal that still nets me some monetary gain for my work, or just let them do whatever.
If I choose to work out a deal, then negotiation starts, and there is a chance both parties come out pleased, or if not that, okay with the result. (Say, for example, the cover gets released under my banner and I get the moni, or the classic pay up-front for license or pay royalties as money gets in, or whatever else.)

In the end, it's all up to what you want with your cover. If it's mostly to release for your own enjoyment, slap it on youtube or soundcloud, and find some way to link it up, or more preferrably, download all your music as local files and play them with your devices media player.
If you do want to release it in an official capacity like with Spotify, then you'll have to do a bunch of negotiating.
When it comes to releasing it as an album, good luck with the other alternatives, but you could do some naming to ease the issues should you go the You/Cloud way.

This has been my intro to a little bit about copyright. Personally, I'd rather just create the songs from scratch.
 
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Diongoespew!

eldritch horror
Defender of Defoko
This video might help you!

and this is relavent but not youtube same rules should apply:


Bascially the rules for covers are usually you need the rights! You can go through a service like distrokid but unless you also made the instrumental yourself you're screwed. U__U theirs tons of places you can get custom instrumentals such as fivver, but you need an original instrumental then you'll need to go through a middle man service for the rights and you're good. Also with the ust- you really need to approach those creators.
 

Halo

Icon by Wanpuccino @ DA
Administrator
Defender of Defoko
I'm certain some UST creators would absolutely not enjoy you using their work to make money even if you did technically get copyright permissions from the original artist, somehow. It's one thing if it was for, like, a limited physical album-- it's another when it's Spotify. I doubt it'll make a tonne but even so I feel like it'll upset some folks-- ask permission from *everyone* I guess?
 

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