First 1000 people to sign up get 50% off my latest online course: bit.ly/4aFnwKa You'll find a bonus chapter where I explain the data I've accumulated from 41 cover song videos.
The story of what Prince did to other musicians and songwriters is too long and nasty to go into - yet I do clearly remember having a dream about the world ending, the sky turning colors and everybody running around screaming. I went down to our basement and with my brother on drums and wrote the song 1999. I know the name of the drug dealin' criminal that brought the tape to PRN, in Edina MN, where we lived. Nothing we can do now, but - much more to this story and what was done to me {made a "homeless person" for 10 years} AND to HIM in the 'aftermath'. So... ...would you consider running for president of the USA? You could not win or serve but we need a large dose of your kind of class over here, desperatly!
“What does the money machine eat? It eats youth, spontaneity, life, beauty and above all it eats creativity. It eats quality and shits out quantity.” ― William S. Burroughs
Exactly how I feel. I’ve posted over 400 crappy covers of songs that I love and haven’t ever expected to make a penny from this. I do it because it’s fun. Or at least, it was. A month ago, I got my first copyright strike (for “Boys of Summer”) and I haven’t really wanted to post anymore. I don’t know why it matters if no money is being made one way or another.
Unfortunately, I did a cover of Lyin Eyes back in April of 2020. It was agreed that there would be revenue sharing, but it would be viewed in limited countries. Everything was fine till February of 2024 when I got a copyright strike and they took down the video. Universal was who sent me the email. I repealed the strike, to no reply. They claimed my version matched the original for over 3 minutes and claimed I used their backing track. I responded by saying "Thank you for thinking my version was the original. That was quite a compliment". My version of Sultans is going strong and make a little on it in the revenue sharing. Thank you Dire Straits
The Eagles, specifically Don Henley, is a real prick about copyright. He has no idea how the internet works and that covers and educational videos only helps keep his music alive.
I wonder how it works when artists sing covers during their live shows... Also I would love to hear you narrate an audiobook. Your voice is just so easy to listen to.
Wouldn't you rather hear Mary's cover of "Love to Love You Baby" or perhaps a disco version of "Venus in Furs" by the Velvet Underground than narrate an audiobook?
Honestly no. I admire her musical talents and skills, but don't care for her singing voice. She has a naturally deeper voice that is smooth and melodic when she speaks, but when she sings, she uses falsetto and her natural voice disappears somewhere. So if I had to choose, I prefer narration and video essays over her singing. With that said, I think she's a very talented artist and lots of people like her singing, as they should.
I have a player piano, also called a pianola.. from 1926 made in Sydney Australia at the Beale piano factory . . I also have over 700 rolls to play on it. My grandfather restored them for over 50 years
Dear Mary, I have followed you for years, and without your channel youtube would be less valued to me. This video, as usual , was an entertaining and informative. You provide so much differing content. As you did in this one you share your personal experience, which most others wouldn't, but i find the most useful and informative. I love your covers. Far and away my favorite is basket case - i prefer it to green days original. Scott's guitar is spot on, but what is amazing is that we get to see a very different side of you. You connect to the viewer in a way that is so direct and fun and allive and personal. When I need a lift, it is my goto video - it is guaranteed to make me smile. One more thing - i think you should do a new version of Bobby long dead and done. It would be interesting considering how far you have come and the improved production quality available. Thank for everything you do and share!
Totally agree. That’s a great example of a cover that took an excellent song and added even more texture, emotion. Do I still listen to both? Heck yeah. So in this case, the Cover really adds to the exposure of the song. I hope Paul Simon sees it that way as his rock poetry should get all the exposure possible. Fully acknowledge I’m sure all the royalties were paid accordingly back in the day.
Always on My Mind - I always thought it was written by Willie Nelson instead of Wayne Carson, Johnny Christopher, and Mark James. A hit by Brenda Lee, Elvis Presley, Willie himself and the Pet Shop Boys.
So glad you did the Sultans (Leo) cover. Might have never found your music. I’m better for finding your music and passion for sharing your knowledge. I will never be a musician (cannot keep time), but I love the process.
I performed a Darlene Schzeck(sp) song at a church and the service was streamed. The stream was cut 15 seconds into the song as the almighty algorithm thought we were streaming the original. Nice compliment for me and the vocalist.
Actually, I think that’s a different issue. Has your church paid for a CVLI license? There actually is a license fee your church has to pay to stream cover worship songs during your worship service, or else your broadcast could be shut down.
The way guys like Rick Beato get demonetized when they post a clip of a song while having an academic discussion about it is utterly lame tho.. it's too much.
@@Fastvoice Obviously it's global, but what I'm talking about isn't. I'm talking about usually American bands making claims against usually American music on an American platform that affects an American creator.
Before I'd even heard of Bruce Springsteen, I knew two of his songs by other artists, "Blinded By The Light" by Manfred Mann's Earth Band, and "Fire" by the Pointer Sisters. It was only later, when he came out with his "Born in the USA" LP that I knew who he was lol.
"Take it easy" -has been- was written by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey - so no Don Henley involved here. 😉 Maybe that's why your cover video is still online.
This could have not come at a more perfect time for me Mary! I'm about to start doing covers soon to promote originals. Thanks for the vid. This information is gold for me. I will say I had an original bass line I wrote as a teaching point get flagged. I fought that and won. Did a behind the band where we did Cherub Rock...copyright claim. Just did another behind the band and have Just Like Heaven played all the way through with no claims. haha. Will see what happens when I upload behind the band 3 with a little piece of a Weezer song. :) Thanks too for checking out my newsletter too. Keep crushing my friend.
What an incredible voice. Even just listening to her talk. She should be in radio, or doing voiceovers, or an announcer, or even TV or movies. She needs an agent.
Oh man, it was only a video or two ago I was wondering how I originally found your channel, and I couldn't for the life of remember what brought me here, just that I've been subscribed for a while and watch every new video you post. But that clip at 1:10 brought it right back! It was seeing you in Leo's video that brought me here - crazy.
Wow this was a great video Mary! I have tried getting answers on how to be allowed to do covers, and hadn't thought of doing it on RU-vid. You've not only answered questions for me, but also given me an additional idea with RU-vid. Thanks tons! You Rock!
Thanks for another clear informative post! Bravo!!! "Take It Easy" was written by Jackson Browne and covered by the Eagles, tho Glenn Frey did help w the lyrics.
I love all of your work and the honesty that comes from it all. Thank you for sharing and offering some killer advice. I’m waiting for your tour and next original LP. Keep doing what you do best. You!
But your new album is absolutely amazing and hopefully most of the money straight to you! You can really feel how years of hard work and songwriting has gone into the album. Love it!
I'm Brazilian and I'm no "Fluent" in English, but your videos are very simple to understand and learn a lot about music on youtube and social medias! Oh, you are a very good musician too! Congrats and keep on !
Thank you for sharing your experience with us. I'm very impressed with your skills as a musician, song writer and a beautiful person with a lovely voice. And now you have taken it up to another level. Your teaching skills are excellent. I'm sure that is aided by loving the sound of your voice. Oh yeah and the fact that you are quite beautiful. Keep your dreams alive and thriving and know that you are loved
I love the transparency and thoroughly laid out videos you have been doing that demystifies alot of confusion around topics x keep it up. PS When are you coming to New Zealand?
Info presented concisely. Straightforward and entertaining…especially for a video without much or any actual music to hear/enjoy. Really hard to do. Thank you for the explanation!
Thank you so much for answering so many of my questions and alleviating my fears as well. I've wondered at least a million times how people are making lyric videos of someone else's song????? But I think I get it now. Thanks.
Always a inspiration, thank you. I have no musical talent but I do video at events, in particular musical events. Those events include bars and eateries and I would like to persuade the performers to publish on RU-vid. I do try to highly recommend your content to all those folks.
Thanks for posting this. I've been thinking about starting to post videos, and most of them would be covers, so this was informative and encouraging. Now I just need some equipment and a spine. 😁
Thanks for the insight. As cover musicians, it's nice to know that, even though we may interpret the music [original music] differently, we can still get paid for our creative license!
Loved the CD Mary. On copyright, I am in a small acapella choir and our director arranges popular songs for us to sing. We sought permission for public performance of the arrangements ( 4 songs) at a future gathering of multiple choirs. Each cost us about US$250 with 100% of any money from the arrangement going to the original composers and nothing to the arranger. We did not get permission from one copyright holder -ABBA- (the score had to go to Sweden) as they stated the arrangement was too far removed from the original song so we won't be singing it.
This video was SO helpful, thank you for taking the time to make this. Also, the execution of your take ( I honestly couldn't tell if it was more than 1) was impeccable! Consider me a fan & subscriber at this point! Thanks again, and I'm looking forward to seeing more (n_n)
I’m always amazed by your transparency. Thank you Mary :) Oh my experience, I get tired of most of the songs and never play them again is that Strange?
You read my mind. Mary is a fantastic musician and songwriter, but I just love hearing her speak. No matter what the subject matter is, her voice is just so relaxing. Maybe a sideline doing audible books perhaps?
Since your „covid-every-day-a-video“ I am an admiring fan. You are such an Inspiration. This video here finally gave me the courage to publish my covers. Even though I‘ ll can‘t reach this level of quality and talent you spread at all, I am so grateful for enjoying your music, your interesting, informative and very entertaining videos. Thank you so, so much 🙏🏼 - keep on 🙏🏼🫶🏼
I proposed to my wife by rewriting the lyrics to Dave Matthews's "crash into me" and posted it to my RU-vid channel to announce her answer ("yes"). I think that video stayed on my channel for half a day before it received a copyright strike even though the words were completely different. Apparently I played well enough to sound like Dave though so I'll take it!
You probably got the strike because of the altered lyrics. The automatic mechanical license rule doesn't apply if you alter the words or melody significantly. In that case, it's considered a "derivative work," not a performance of the original song, and you have to get direct permission from the copyright holder. (Though I don't know if RU-vid has negotiated some kind of special treatment for such cases.) -Tom
@@TLMuse Couldn't he just claim then that it's a parody version of the song? It's been said that Weird Al doesn't have to get permission for his parody versions, but he's such a nice guy, that he does anyway.
AS someone that had a band, cover songs is what teach us almost everything. How to be on the rythm, in sync, having material to present. Basicly cover songs are the fundation to the rest. And also for teaching. And youtube is specially usefull to learn music. But now with this begins to be harder
Mary I Have 2 of your CDs, and have been following you in Music Land about as long as I’ve followed Adam Neely, Aimee Nolte and Rick Beato. Have a great weekend!
Thank you so much for the advice and insight. I have been debating whether or not I should do covers to bring traffic to my channel. I did one so far, Billie Eilish "I love you". Thank you once again. Your videos always help me on my quest. Also your covers and originals are awesome.
My cover band posts occasional videos. We are weekend warriors that want to sound professional but are not in it for money. We post only the covers that do the song justice and celebrate the original artist. It didn’t take Bryan Adam’s people long at all to issue a strike on ‘Summer of 69’ even though it probably had less than 50 views at the time. 😀
This somewhat answers the question I have, which is what about a hobbyist like myself who has but a handful of views and no intention of ever monetizing anything I put on RU-vid? So it would seem that the same advice would apply to us. Not that it matters much. I have two covers on my channel and they have been there for 14 years so I guess that means the artists I covered don't care or that my covers are so bad they are unrecognizable. 😂
@@skiziskin Ha! Same here, we have videos that have been up for years so it comes down to which artists take issue with it, and have teams looking to remove this stuff. But yes, apparently they go after us hobbyists too…at least Bryan Adams does.
Yup, me too! I covered “Run To You” months later I got a strike. Quickly removed it! He’s one to avoid and the Eagles. Shame I love both of their music.
I'm not understanding how anyone can block you from covering and releasing a song. As far as I know Compulsory Mechanical License is still part of copyright law. Mechanical fees set by law. There was not streaming and RU-vid when I ran a label. I know there has been changes but are they a new part of copyright law or is RU-vid just winging it? In copyright you had the song recording and the composition. Two royalties the Mechanical royalties got to the songwriter/publisher. The song recording royalties goes the band performing/ record label. So how are they taking more than half on a cover you perform?
Since these are videos, the issue is sync licensing - for which there is no compulsory license. Publishers can prohibit your video or effectively take any portion of your royalties up to 100%.
