Cover Songs

A cover song is any new recording of a song that was previously written, recorded, and released by someone else. You own the recording (your version), but the original songwriter owns the composition itself (lyrics, melody, and song structure). 

If you want to distribute and sell a cover song with TuneCore, you will need to obtain a mechanical license from the original copyright holder before you release your song digitally.

You can look into purchasing a mechanical license for a cover song in the US from The Harry Fox Agency or our partner company, TuneLicensing. 

Soundalike Covers

Important: iTunes and many other platforms do not accept soundalike cover songs. 

A soundalike cover is a song that sounds almost identical to the original. Stores consider this content deceptive and misleading and do not want customers to purchase it by mistake. If you distribute soundalike covers, they will get hidden by the stores, and we will not be able to reverse this or issue any refunds. 

In addition to these store-level blocks, soundalike covers may also be subject to infringement claims from the copyright holder (i.e., a major label). In the event you receive a claim on a cover song like this, TuneCore will NOT reinstate covers that are subject to this type of claim.

Note: Under Indian copyright law, licenses for cover versions of songs cannot be granted until five years after the original recording was made. To legally create and distribute a cover song of an existing Indian or Bollywood song, you must obtain explicit permission from the copyright owners, typically record labels and music publishers, and not merely rely on obtaining a mechanical license from a third party.

Cover Song Formatting Guidelines

You MUST credit all original songwriters of cover songs with the role “Songwriter.” However, cover songs should NOT include the original performing artist in the Main or Featuring Artist fields, nor should they reference the original artist in your track titles.

INCORRECT:

All Along the Watchtower (Originally Performed by Bob Dylan)

All Along the Watchtower (Cover of Bob Dylan)

All Along the Watchtower (Tribute to Bob Dylan)

CORRECT:

All Along the Watchtower

All Along the Watchtower (Cover)

All Along the Watchtower (Acoustic Version)

Remixes, Mixtapes, Samples, Interpolations, and Mashups

The same rules apply to remixes, mixtapes, samples, interpolations, or mashups. If they include samples or compositions of a recording you did not record yourself or own, you must have a Master Use license from the owner of that original recording to distribute these releases. These CANNOT be issued by a third-party licensor.

You cannot distribute any content through TuneCore if you do not have 100% of the rights to that content. 
 

If you have any concerns that you may not have rights to any audio in a remix, mixtape, sample, interpolation, or mashup you're uploading, please do not upload the song(s) to TuneCore.