The Truth Behind Cover Songs on YouTube
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 25. 06. 2024
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You'll find a bonus chapter where I explain the data I've accumulated from 41 cover song videos.
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00:00 - Why Covers Matter
02:33 - Copyright History
04:38 - My Experience with CZcams Covers
07:10 - Who to Avoid
08:24 - Sultans of Swing
09:56 - Shape of You
10:31 - Flowers
11:48 - Final Thoughts - Hudba
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.
Maria, please come to Russia, St. Petersburg. I really like to look at you and listen to you))
You're CZcams rich, let's get married!đ„°đ„°đ„°đ€Łđ
You r awesome and very pretty lol Bless you chick oh yeah he already has amen thank you Jesus amen â€â€â€
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!
Ok, I definitely need a lot of help with songwriting, so Iâve jumped aboard and look forward to what you both have to offerđ
âWhat does the money machine eat? It eats youth, spontaneity, life, beauty and above all it eats creativity. It eats quality and shits out quantity.â
â William S. Burroughs
100%!
insightful !
Yet one more Burroughs bit of brilliance.
Exactly how I feel. Iâve posted over 400 crappy covers of songs that I love and havenât ever expected to make a penny from this. I do it because itâs fun. Or at least, it was. A month ago, I got my first copyright strike (for âBoys of Summerâ) and I havenât really wanted to post anymore. I donât know why it matters if no money is being made one way or another.
Star Wars and college football say hi.
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
I think I'd be flattered if they ever bothered with me too.
Dang! I'd forgotten how much fun that Sultans of Swing cover is.
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.
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.
Indeed. That's about as fair use as fair use gets.
@@rmp5s Don't forget that "fair use" doesn't exist in most parts of the world - and YT is global.
@@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.
@@rmp5s Mary Spender is not an American creator and YT is not only an American platform.
@@Fastvoice Dude. OP and I are talking about Rick Beato.
"Take it easy" -has been- was written by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey - so no Don Henley involved here. đ Maybe that's why your cover video is still online.
Yes Brown plays it in concert and points out he wrote it.
Probably true.
Ahhhh! This makes total sense.
Has been written? It WAS written by them. đ a song is only written once.
@@ViaticalTree Sorry, English is not my 1st language.
This is the clearest and most comprehensive treatment of this topic I've heard! Bravo!
NGL: I found Mary Spender thanks to Leo. I think I was going through his back catalog of videos when I found âSultans of Swing.â
OK. Imagine no YT or Spotify etc etc etc. where would you have âfoundâ Mary?
i replay it a few times a year...
Same. I bought that cover from Leo. Another instance where the cover is better than the original.
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.
That happens to me, too. It's flattering at first, but it gets annoying to counter-claim by the 12th time... :)
It's a computer. Don't flatter yourself too much. It's just hearing note sequences and banning stuff in its millions of references.
@@smhdpt12 Yep. It shows we nailed the intro...
â@@mark.guitar I'd settle for that! đ
Actually, I think thatâs 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.
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
I have my grandmother's "Farrand" player piano with aluminum pipes rather than rubber hoses. I probably have 150 rolls.
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!
Wow!! I had to go watch basket case cover by Mary and I agree a masterpiece all around, vocals and visuals!! Thanks for sharing
The Bangles cover of Hazy Shade of Winter is my favorite
Ooh nice! I'd probably go for Moby's version of New Dawn Fades by Joy Division.
Totally agree. Thatâs 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 Iâm sure all the royalties were paid accordingly back in the day.
extremely fun
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. Iâm 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.
There was that one girl that did an amazing singer/songwriter version of Toxic. My absolute favorite version of that one.
Manfred Mannâs Earth Bandâs biggest hits; âBlinded By The Lightâ, and âSpirit(s) In The Nightâ. Both were written by, Bruce Springsteen.
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.
Useful? No. I'm not a real musician, and have no illusions about producing a CZcams video that anyone would want to watch. For one thing, I loathe performing. This is, however, informative and, frankly, fun. I'm interested in the "behind the scenes" part of an art form that is very, very much a business if you want to try to make a living at it.
I have recorded a few covers and none of them have been blocked. But strangely, I did a cover of Day Tripper, but a karaoke company claimed ownership of it - as if I had used their backing track. I found their backing track and it doesnât sound anything like the recording I made. I donât know how to explain it. But the ad revenue should be going to the real author, not the karaoke company.
Great video - thank you. Very interesting. Also, love listening to you talk. Clear, concise, and lovely accent đđ
Agree that her voice is wonderful. Going to see Mary in Bristol in the Autumn and am really looking forward to seeing her speak live.
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!
Just landed on your channel today. already passed two videos. I am hipnotized by your voice and way you talk.
Bring back guitar stories đ
Thank you, Mary. I'm a subscriber, professor, songwriter and recording engineer. This is your usual high quality great stuff. Keep it up. Fan forever.
As a non musician, I love watching your content and your covers. This video helped me understand the metrics better.
Wow, I had never seen your old videos and itâs crazy to notice that you have not changed at all
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.
Thank you for posting this!!
I love all of your work and the honesty that comes from it all. Thank you for sharing and offering some killer advice. Iâm 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!
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 CZcams. You've not only answered questions for me, but also given me an additional idea with CZcams. Thanks tons! You Rock!
I found that very informative and interesting. I'm not even a music creator, I just enjoy how things work. Thank you
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.
So useful! Thank you! Just posted my first cover and this was gold. Enjoying your content đ
Folks should check Alex out - I clicked through to give him a listen and it's quite good.
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 CZcams. I do try to highly recommend your content to all those folks.
Thank you Mary. We can always depend on you for informative, as well as entertaining content.
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.
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.
i love your educational essays SO much!
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.
It was also recorded first by Jackson Browne I believe.
Your videos are great Mary, You always describe in a clear distinctive way. Looking forward to hearing more soon. Thanks again.
Brilliant job, as always, of walking us through something with absolute clarity
Superb in-depth video. Well done.
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.
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
Still watching this video but, thank you Mary for your takes, music and inspiration!
Brilliant and super useful video, thanks Mary! And it prompted me to sign up to your and Rachels course too, please keep up your awesome work! đ
Subscribed because I saw another video you did earlier. Your voice is amazing and you're a good teacher. Thanks happy to help you get to one million.
Excellent post. Thanks!
Very insightful. Thanks, Mary!
I came by you because of your cover with Paul David of Under the Bridge. Itâs because of that cover and your amazing voice that Iâm now subscribed to your channel and following your music
I love some many cover versions you have done! I love a lot of your own songs too!
Your videos are always useful and informative. You are a inspiration.
You helped clear up alot of uncertainty of my strategy that includes cover songs. Thanks!
I proposed to my wife by rewriting the lyrics to Dave Matthews's "crash into me" and posted it to my CZcams 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 CZcams has negotiated some kind of special treatment for such cases.) -Tom
Like it đ. I take it nobody from CZcams wasn't invited to your wedding âŒïžđ€Łđ
@@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.
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?
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
Excellent video, Mary. Thanks for all your research and knowledge. Many need this information.
Thanks. This clears a lot of questions up for me
Great video! Thanks Mary!
I will get back to this one.
Very informative. Thank you so much for this video!
Thank you for educating us,.
Loved this transparency and education! So I smashed the like and subscribe.
This is excellent! Thank you for creating this video.
Wonderful explanation! Thank you!
very interesting insight into 'how it all works'. Thanks for the schooling!
Useful ! Keep it up, Mary! GOD bless you!
I appreciate your talent oh so very much. Hopefully the compensation and the satisfaction make it worthwhile. Thanks again.
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. đ
I am glad you got paid enough by CZcams to cover (no pun intended) your expenses for the Sultans of Swing video performance. That was outstanding.
Thanks! Great Info. Its fun to see you with other You Tube artists... Small World!
Great video always! Taking a peek at your Ableton course too - sounds fantastic!
Very informative - thanks Mary :)
Thanks Mary, verry helpfull vid...
Great info- thank you
Interesting! Thanks for sharing. I had been very curious! :)
I remember when John Mayer covered your Last Train Home. I like both equally
You've such a lovely voice.
Perfect Beeb documentary voice-over stuff.
They will be ready when you come to town. Good informative vid for those thinking about it
Thanks Mary!
Thanks for a very useful reference video!
Very interesting. Thank you!
very good video, might be worth supporting on patreon or wherever!
Tks Mary!
Needed this
Very informative danke schoen
Great info.
I've posted many covers throughout my youth, and I've found that as long as I include a note in the description stating that the artist, it's label, and all affiliates have the right to the music, then I'm fine! I've seen other people cover the same song, and their videos were removed. Perhaps I'm lucky? But I doubt that. My biggest cover is Invincible by Muse, everyone loved that one for some reason, and CZcams REALLY let that one go around!
Thanks for another informative and well done video, Mary!
A quick question: how do you identify all of those parties easily? When I use Wikipedia, for example, I donât always see a clear declaration as to copyright ownership/affiliates. Just curious if you know a trick I havenât stumbled upon. Thx!
@@k2thepeak Hey! That's an excellent question! Personally, when I cover a song, 95% of the time, its' from a band that I consider to be a top favorite. I own all of their CD's. So I'll pull the info from the CD credits itself. It's the label and publisher that you want to get the names of.
Great - makes sense. These days Iâm reaching less for CDs and accessing through AppleMusic or similar. Iâll check to see how complete of credits are available when streaming or downloading.
@@k2thepeak Yea its great to still have them around! Keep doing you thing dude!
Thank you for this, you've inspired me to start posting videos again.
I recently released a cover version of The Cars' "Double Life." Have had no problem with them taking down the video as, I believe, my clearance of the song initially for streaming platforms was recognized when the CZcams video went live.
First time I saw this channel was a cover version .... I've watched dozens of videos since then
yOUR COVER OF sultans OD SWING made me love that song and I had never liked it before
That grammophone stock video had me in shock. Not only do they use a replica, instead of an original machine. They drop the needle in a 90degree angle, instead of the usual 75-80% effectively scratching the underlying shellac record way more than neccessary...
Yeah, I'm a shellac nerd :D
Just a couple comments here on this video. 1) Thank you, great info clearly communicated. 2) Subscribed!. 3) De-Esser :)
Someone tried to claim ownership on a cover I made of Silent Night. I contested it and the claim was taken away. The algorithm is not always right.
How in the world could someone claim to own Silent Night? That's insane.
You can't make a "cover" of Silent Night; only a "performance" or "recital". Silent Night is not a work of recording art. It's for similar reasons why we don't say you're playing "Bach covers" when performing baroque music, LOL.
@@kazkylheku1221 You are correct. Thanks for the clarification. Hal
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 didnât take Bryan Adamâs people long at all to issue a strike on âSummer of 69â even though it probably had less than 50 views at the time. đ
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 CZcams? 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. đ
@@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 tooâŠat least Bryan Adams does.
Mary is a great talent (and has the best eyebrows on CZcams!). Looking forward to seeing her on tour later in the year!
âKiss meâ on the beach was so nice, l play it quite often along with many others â€đ
Take It Easy was written by Jackson Browne.
Take It Easy was written by Jackson Browne so Don Henley doesn't have much to say about it.
I must say I started to follow you after Leo cover of Sultans of Swing.