How do I license a cover?

Get the right with the following site…

You can distribute covers through RouteNote to Spotify, Deezer, Pandora, Tidal, iHeartRadio, Nuuday, Anghami, KKBOX and JioSaavn without needing a mechanical license.

If you want to distribute your content to more stores than this, you will need to either purchase a mechanical license for the cover track(s), or to exclude certain territories from your release.

Where do I get a mechanical license?

We’d recommend using Affordable Song Licensing to obtain a mechanical license.

If you don’t obtain the licenses, you can instead exclude the following territories from your release:

USA, Canada, Mexico, India and Pakistan

You can do this within the Manage Stores section of your release. Check out our Support Hub guide on this for help on this:

Please note! RouteNote is unable to distribute any covers to Korean service providers (Melon, Bugs!, Flo, Vibe, and Genie) without written permission from the original artist.

If you can obtain written permission from the original artist for your cover, please contact moderation@routenote.com with any evidence, including your username and the UPC of the release.

When releasing a cover version, you’ll need to ensure that you list the composition owner(s) or publisher(s) in the ‘C Line’ of your release metadata – if you need to credit multiple entities, please ensure that these are separated by a comma (for example: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison).

Check out the full RouteNote Style Guide here!

More on cover releases:
How do I credit the original artist if my release is a cover?
What is a cover song?
Can I cover a song and use audio from the original track?
How do I format stores and territories for a cover release without a mechanical license?
Can I upload cover songs with RouteNote?
Which stores and territories can I send a cover track to?
What should I put in the C line if my release is a cover?
What should I put in the P line if my release is a cover?
Can I choose ‘soundtrack’ as my genre if the release is a cover?

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