Uploading a Linkin Park cover - Permissions?

Discussion in 'Linkin Park Chat' started by Armada, Sep 26, 2014.

  1. #1
    Armada

    Armada Keyboardist

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    Hi all,

    My name's Tim. I play keyboards in Brisbane-based prog band FreeThought. We've been around for a little while now and are about to put out our second EP.

    We recorded part of this EP (drums+bass) as part of my friend's university assignment for his audio engineering course. Given the requirements of the university, this meant we can't sell the EP. No dramas for us, this is a much smaller release than our last EP so we are fine with just putting it up online for free.

    This gave us the idea to include a cover, and since we are all huge Linkin Park fans, we recorded a cover of Crawling. We progged it up a little, including some extra layers and keyboard parts and adding some sections from the Krwling remix from the Reanimation album.

    I realise that despite the plan to release it for free and give full credit etc., there may still be some copyright issues. I have friends in other bands who have recorded similar covers and released them online for free, who said that the only thing they needed to do was obtain permission from the original artist or label. No money changed hands.

    Anyway, tl;dr, I've come on here wondering if anyone here might know who I should contact in regards to obtaining permission to release this cover. A long shot I know but hopefully someone has some idea!
    Thanks in advance! :)
     
  2. #2
    minuteforce

    minuteforce Danny's not here, Mrs. Torrance. LPA Team

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    Adam and Lorenzo are good places to start as far as getting in touch with the band members, I think. One of them is the more appropriate choice for this particular situation but I don't remember which :lol:
     
  3. #3
    Paree

    Paree I love my scars!

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    I Don't Think u need permission to upload covers.You need permission to upload only if you have used any part of the official materials released by LP
     
  4. #4
    limonpower

    limonpower Well-Known Member

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    Wrong, not only are the original materials copyrighted, but so are the lyrics and music (as in if you played the same song on a different instrument, it would still be infringing)
     
  5. #5
    Paree

    Paree I love my scars!

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    But We have seen many covers in Youtube.Are they copyrighted?
     
  6. #6
    limonpower

    limonpower Well-Known Member

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    They are technically infringing the copyright, yes. Most people don't really care that much on YT, but for an actual EP release, that could get you in some trouble.
     
  7. #7
    Astat

    Astat LPA Super Member LPA Super Member

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    I have never, EVER heard of anyone getting in any legal trouble over a Linkin Park cover that wasn't released for monetary gain. If I can run a Youtube channel that's almost exclusively dedicated to Linkin Park guitar covers (and I actually use the original recordings, mind you), has nearly 200 videos on it, around 1.75 million total views, 3,000 subscribers, and has been around for 7 and a half years...without ever hearing a peep from management, I think you're in the clear for one song.

    Getting permission would of course be the proper thing to do. I doubt it makes a difference whether you do or not, though. Management may even say no, and I still doubt anything would happen if you released it anyway.

    This is Linkin Park we're talking about guys, not Prince.
     
  8. #8
    brady

    brady I am the LPA LPA Super Member

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    I wonder why Alex McMillan's (from Razor Red Noise) original channel got taken down.
     
  9. #9
    Astat

    Astat LPA Super Member LPA Super Member

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    It didn't. That was during the period when WB's old contract with Youtube had expired and they spent almost a year trying to negotiate a new deal. During that period, WB was pulling just about everything people uploaded that used their artists' work. Some of Alex's stuff got blocked and he got a couple copyright strikes, so he voluntarily took all of his other stuff down. I went through the same thing, I only ended up with one copyright strike that was ultimately reversed a while later, but I took down somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-50 videos.
     
  10. #10
    Andreina

    Andreina Proud Venezuelan LP fan. LPA Contributor

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    When was this? My GATS cover went worldwide blocked for a period of time and then came back to normal. Fortunately no copyright strikes to that or any of my other vids.
     
  11. #11
    Astat

    Astat LPA Super Member LPA Super Member

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    It was a few years ago. There's always the possibility of stuff getting blocked right after it comes out, usually if the licensing hasn't been set up with Youtube yet. They have to get everything put into their Content ID system to properly monetize the material they own. That's probably all that happened, especially since GATS was released on streaming platforms for a while before it was actually available for purchase.
     
  12. #12
    Filip

    Filip god break down the door LPA Contributor

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    Lorenzo currently runs the LPU, which used to be Adam's job, but last year Adam switched to a more important position in WBR (his business is still mainly Linkin Park, I think).

    Last year, when LP hit a billion views on their channel, they tweeted they were actually the first ever to hit a billion views (2009, I think?) but that their label had a dispute with YT which caused all their videos to be removed. Is this related to what you're saying?
     
  13. #13
    Astat

    Astat LPA Super Member LPA Super Member

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    Yup. The old WB/Youtube contract expired at the end of 2008 and they didn't negotiate a new one until September of 2009.
     
  14. #14
    brady

    brady I am the LPA LPA Super Member

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    Ah okay. All I heard was that his channel got taken down, I never actually heard what happened. Thanks for clearing that up.
     
  15. #15
    Andreina

    Andreina Proud Venezuelan LP fan. LPA Contributor

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    This makes a lot of sense. Thanks!

    As for the OP. I hope you have some luck with it, and Filip might have just pointed out a nice place to start!
     

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