Cover Song Guideline Changes
Posted 19 Mar 2015, 2:30:10
I just though I should make a post here to let everyone know that the guidelines have been changed in regards to cover songs. Here's the new rules:
Songs are credited to the group or performing artist who originally wrote the song. E.g. John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote “A Day in the Life”, while in The Beatles. So the song would be credited as A Day in the Life @Cover[The Beatles]. Songs performed by an orchestra should be credited to the composer who wrote the song and not to the orchestra. Songs written before the invention of commercial sound recording (1877) should always be attributed to the original artist. If the original artist is unknown the song should be listed as @Cover[traditional].
Exception 1
If a songwriter writes a song for another artist or group which they were not a part of, and never records their own version of the song, then the song should be credited to the artist who released it first. If the songwriter does finally release their own version of the song, regardless of how many years have gone by, then the song should be credited back to the songwriter. E.g. “Bright Eyes” was written by Mike Batt and first released by Art Garfunkel in 1979. Mike Batt released his own version in 2009, so the song is credited back to him.
Exception 2
In cases where more than one artist who are not in the same group, are credited with writing the song, then the artist who released the song first is given credit. E.g. Because the Night was written by both Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen, but first released on the album Easter by Patti Smith Group. Therefore the song is credited as Because the Night @Cover[Patti Smith Group]
Exception 3
Songs written for musicals or musical films should be credited only to the songwriter(s) of the song. Various combinations of composers and lyricists should be avoided. E.g. use @Cover[Andrew Lloyd Webber] instead of @Cover[Andrew Lloyd Webber & David Zippel] or @Cover[Andrew Lloyd Webber & Don Black & Christopher Hampton]. If none of the original songwriter(s) are available then credit should be given to the artist with the first commercial release of the song, and please report it to the forum.
It looks like a lot, but it's actually quite simple. Previously we were crediting songs to the first person to commercially release a song. That's no longer the case. Song credit can usually be determined with only a couple simple questions:
1. Who wrote the song?
2. At any point in time did they release their own version of the song?
Here's a quick example:
Who wrote the song?
Joni Mitchell.
Did she ever release the song?
Yes, on Clouds.
Who get's credit?
Joni Mitchell.
Pretty straight-forward, right? There are exceptions though. If a song is co-written by more than one artist then that is when we give credit to the artist who released the song first. Here's an example:
Who wrote the song?
Bob Dylan and Rick Danko.
Did either of them ever release their own version of the song.
Yes. They both released it.
Who released it first?
Rick Danko on Music from Big Pink.
Who get's credit?
The Band (exception 2).
If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask. Requests for cover song batch edits should be made here .
Posted 19 Mar 2015, 4:07:27
Are all the songs still going to be grouped together? This ought to create a lot of songs with several different entries.
And also sometimes, artists quit the music business or change label.
Several songs that they had written for someone else and maybe recorded a demo of will be issued on a compilation of leftovers just for his former label to cash-in on his fame even if these were songs that he had never intended to release and that he would never have released if he had the rights over it. Of course, the label own the songs and they do as they please.
I think you ought to call that exception the Philippe Landry exception. The two examples you provided are corrections i asked for.
There are so many corrections i asked for that have been done that will have to be undone.
Elvis recorded most of the songs he would perform at his concert… yet he has never written any one of them. He hasn't even contributed a word to any of the countless songs that he ever performed.
Last edited 19 Mar 2015, 4:18:53
Posted 19 Mar 2015, 4:12:20
And about artist who never released a song they played, we credit to which of those who did release the song?
This is a song that will be credited to Led Zeppelin, it was released on their first album.
http://www.setlist.fm/stats/songs/jake-holmes-23d7ac1b.html?song=Dazed+and+Confused
Everybody who played the song thought they were covering a song by Led Zeppelin. Well we know better than that, we know that Led Zeppelin are the worst plagiarism of all time..
To who will we credit the song for most of the 61 bands that covered the song but never released it?
Last edited 19 Mar 2015, 4:15:24
Posted 19 Mar 2015, 4:26:25
You do as you please. I'll follow the guidelines.
Those two simple questions could land to several different answers.
When you cover a song, you can modify the song a lot, sometimes, there's barely anything left of the original release and it's a whole new song…
But as i always said, the song remains the same.
Led Zeppelin, for all the songs that they plagiarized, (sic.) it never remained the same enough for them, so they could call them songs of their own.
Posted 19 Mar 2015, 4:27:18
Are all the songs still going to be grouped together?
Yes. All songs should be connected to one artist. This is just to get more songs attributed to the artist that actually wrote the song.
Several songs that they had written for someone else and maybe recorded a demo of will be issued on a compilation of leftovers just for the label to cash-in on his fame even if these were songs that he had never intended to release and that he would never have released if he had gained the rights over it.
That's fine. Giving credit to the person who actually wrote the song is always preferable regardless of when their version of the song was released.
This is a song that will be credited to Led Zeppelin, it was released on their first album.
http://www.setlist.fm/stats/songs/jake-holmes-23d7ac1b.html?song=Dazed+and+Confused
Everybody who played the song thought they were covering a song by Led Zeppelin. Well we know better than that, we know that Led Zeppelin are the worst plagiarism of all time..
To who will we credit the song for most of the 61 bands that covered the song but never released it?
Who wrote the song?
Jake Holmes.
Did he ever release the song?
Yes, on “The Above Ground Sound” of Jake Holmes.
Who gets credit?
Jake Holmes.
Posted 19 Mar 2015, 4:27:52
I don't understand anything at all.
Last edited 19 Mar 2015, 4:29:58
Posted 19 Mar 2015, 8:12:38
We changed the guidelines because the old ones produced some questions or problems:
- Composers of classical music
- Traditional songs
- Songwriters “covering” their own song (Like “Bird on a Wire”)
- Songs written for musicals or musical films (eg some of the George Gerswhin songs)
so these all have to be rechecked if the existing cover tags are complying with the new guidelines
What I ask you for is to not to bring up all the complicated songs at first, where we can't decide at a first glance. Please only report songs where there is nothing to discuss with the new guidelines. And please be aware we have some difficulties with batch edits at the moment and it will take weeks / months to get most songs redirected.
Posted 19 Mar 2015, 18:40:01
I'm okay with the new guidelines but not that part:
songwriter does finally release their own version of the song, regardless of how many years have gone by, then the song should be credited back to the songwriter
I hate these compilations of crappy-left-overs-forgotten-songs issued by former labels just to cash-in on an artist fame. Bob Marley wouldn't sign his songs cause he didn't wanted Trojan to control his songs.
I found several of these cases but i won't report them.
Posted 19 Mar 2015, 21:54:33
I found several of these cases but i won't report them
why not ?
Maybe you could collect them in an excel-file and report them later on when we're done with the big ones
Posted 20 Mar 2015, 18:51:10
I won't report them because
I hate these compilations of crappy-left-overs-forgotten-songs issued by former labels just to cash-in on an artist fame.
A songwriter who issues songs twenty-five years following the original release. The song was written in the first place for someone else. Sometimes, several decades later, this songwriter will issue one album himself of songs that had great success by the original performer. For all these, i think the song should remain with the original performer. Assign the original songwriter within five years, i don't mind, assign to the original songwriter who had issued the song 35 years following the original release? I don't think so.
Leonard Cohen had issued Bird On the Wire less than a year following Judy Collins's release. Leonard Cohen wrote the song for him to perform, not for Judy Collins to perform.
Posted 12 May 2015, 16:15:52
If they play Hello Hooray, well, it's a Judy Collins cover.
Posted 6 Jul 2015, 1:28:32
I often put in cover information for songs after taking the time to make sure I have the correct title and cover information and then have it automatically changed to the artist's song. Then it won't allow me to 'Revert' to the correct version. And these are not obscure songs. I just put in a setlist for Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity at the Boston Tea Party Apr 3, 1969. It included Light My Fire, A Day in a Life and three other covers and it rejected all of them. What's up with that? Sometimes I will change to an @ Info tag but that enters the song as belonging to the setlist artist. Any ideas on how to get around this?
Posted 6 Jul 2015, 6:48:25
You're not leaving a space between @ and cover are you? I know when i use my phone it automatically puts a space there.
Posted 6 Jul 2015, 16:41:52
I don't think so. But you never know with some of these devices. They seem to have a mind of their own sometimes. I will have to try some of these again. The problem is that now these songs are probably locked in as belonging to the artist who performed them.
Posted 6 Jul 2015, 17:11:04
The manual revert should work. Try unchecking the “Use setlist.fm's autocorrection to resolve typos, missing covers etc. (recommended)” box when you make the edit. If it still changes it then there must be a mistake somewhere.
