DistroKid makes it easy to distribute your cover songs! We'll handle everything on your behalf, including sending payments to songwriters and taking care of all the extra legal requirements.

With this cover licensing solution, DistroKid will secure a license on your behalf via third-party vendor. DistroKid compulsory mechanical licenses are secured by the Harry Fox Agency ("HFA"). Per U.S. copyright law, cover song licenses only provide legal coverage if the original song has already been released in the US, and the main elements of the original song (original lyrics, melody and title) remain fundamentally unaltered within the new sound recording.

We are not lawyers and can't help with legal advice. Please note that U.S. copyright law does not permit derivative works such as original-language translations of copyrighted lyrics. Under U.S. copyright law, cover (aka "compulsory") licenses only provide coverage if the main elements of the song (the original lyrics and melody) remain fundamentally unaltered within the new sound recording. This is a copyright thing and affects all distributors, not just DistroKid.

It is your responsibility to ensure that your song would be covered under the compulsory mechanical license.

Securing cover song licenses can take up to 14 business days. Releases with cover songs will be submitted as soon as the license is approved by our third-party licensing service.

For more information about purchasing cover song licenses through DistroKid, please see this article.

Cover Song Requirements

The song you're covering must meet these copyright requirements (this is a legal thing, not a DistroKid thing):

• The song you're covering has already been released in the United States 
• Your song does not contain samples and is not a remix 
• Your song can’t contain audio you don’t own (from TV, movies, social media, video games, other songs, etc).  
• Your song does not fundamentally alter the original lyrics, melody, or title. 

Genre changes and embellishments for cover songs are totally okay and encouraged. Language changes are probably not okay. If you're not sure if your cover is allowed or not, please see the Harry Fox Agency's FAQ (here) and make sure to only upload covers that can be covered by compulsory mechanical licenses. These rules are a copyright thing, not a DistroKid thing (or HFA thing) and affect all distributors and licensors.

What Can be Licensed

• A song that was released at one point on iTunes and/or Amazon MP3.
• A song that appeared on a limited pressing of vinyl, which you can purchase at a record store in the United States
• A song that was made available as a promotional music download on the artist's website

What Cannot be Licensed

Songs that use samples should not have a cover license requested. Sampling is when you use the actual recording of another artist's performance. For example, if you use the 1971 recording of Led Zeppelin's "When The Levee Breaks" as your drum track. That's generally not allowed, unless you have permission from the original artist.

Cover licenses should not be requested for remixes of an original song. A remix of another artist's music is not the same thing as a cover. A cover is if you played the song yourself. A remix requires the permission of the original artist, and that is a different process than cover song licensing.

In addition, songs in the public domain do not require a cover license. For information about uploading arrangements of works in the public domain, please check out the FAQ article here.

Here are other examples of songs that can't be licensed:

• A song that was used in a film score, but itself was never released separately from the soundtrack
• A song that appeared in a video game, but itself was never released separately from the game soundtrack
• A song that was released as part of a CD compilation, but only in some country that was not the United States
• An old traditional song that is now in the public domain
• Medleys, mashups, etc.

Cover License Charges

DistroKid charges a fee of $1 per month ($12 billed to your credit card on file) to manage this cover song for you. Once charged, DistroKid will:

• Obtain license(s)
• Pay the original songwriter(s) every month
• Do the things described here and here

Automated Payments to Songwriters

DistroKid will automatically deduct the legally-mandated fee of 12.7¢ per song sold in the U.S. from your earnings and send it to HFA, who sends it to the original songwriter. You'll get 100% of the rest.