once the owner of a recorded work has had a go, anyone is allowed to cover it - but the owner (that's the creative person who had the idea, not someone who can write midi files) is entitled to their share of the proceeds. the record companies don't care if anyone remixes or covers or records/writes a midi file or writes up the dots for one of their hits - but if you make any money at it, you have to pay up. if your reworked version wakes up interest in an old hit, they are laughing too. tribute bands survive on this basis (regrettably?); the record companies just let it happen - it's free advertising for them.
also! if you sit up late in your office working up a midi file on reason with a view to taking over the scene from teenage DJs, Propellerhead (and owners of the samples you downloaded) will come down on you before Sony do
on the other hand, I just did Birdland for banjo, bouzouki and sitar (and acoordion of course) over a few d&b beats - had a ball - and how long would I have to wait for Joe to do that?
have fun, forget the consequences of the unlikely event that you get famous doing it! besides, it's better not to do something you love doing for money - you'll soon get to hate it
Slashdot Mirror
think i only got a score of "informative" cos i used a semicolon
once the owner of a recorded work has had a go, anyone is allowed to cover it - but the owner (that's the creative person who had the idea, not someone who can write midi files) is entitled to their share of the proceeds. the record companies don't care if anyone remixes or covers or records/writes a midi file or writes up the dots for one of their hits - but if you make any money at it, you have to pay up. if your reworked version wakes up interest in an old hit, they are laughing too. tribute bands survive on this basis (regrettably?); the record companies just let it happen - it's free advertising for them. also! if you sit up late in your office working up a midi file on reason with a view to taking over the scene from teenage DJs, Propellerhead (and owners of the samples you downloaded) will come down on you before Sony do on the other hand, I just did Birdland for banjo, bouzouki and sitar (and acoordion of course) over a few d&b beats - had a ball - and how long would I have to wait for Joe to do that? have fun, forget the consequences of the unlikely event that you get famous doing it! besides, it's better not to do something you love doing for money - you'll soon get to hate it