Tribute band Copyrights

Raging Moon

Junior Member
I am becoming involved in a tribute band.. How do these bands get around the copyright issues for songs, Logos and in some cases the look.
 
There is no law against playing another songwriters material.

Technically, you have to do is pay the ASCAP fee for the songs, but is usually covered under a blanket license the bar/venue already has. Not a big deal.

The look, well, most bands didn't design their own clothes (unless you're talking Kiss)

The logo can be tricky, and can be a point where infridgment can become an issue. Just make sure there is some difference in the bands name to make it distinctive enough from the original. There are so many tribute bands around the world these days, I don't think the average band is going to make much of an issue over what you are doing.

If go make a recording, then you have to make sure you have the music properly licensed, but even this isn't all that difficult.
 
in terms of logo/name, just pick something that is relevant to their music without infringing upon their actual name/logo. as long as you aren't quoting directly from a very popular song or their name itself then you should be absolutely fine.
very good idea to get into it, market is huge. if you get good you can even make your own t-shirts with your own logo lol, just try to stay away from recording actual songs (unless you want to go through the legal stuff).
 
Most reasonable sized venues have forms for whoever the main collecting company is in that particular country, here in England it's the P.R.S. (Performing Rights Society) basically you just fill in the artists name and the songs you're covering and the collection company will collect the royalties from a fund that the venue has...either way you don't get charged for it personally.

Hope you're well,

Kev
 
Basically you're not allowed to pass yourself off as the original band (in a law conveniently referred to as 'passing off').

This means that theres some fairly specific laws in regards to band names/logos.

For example, in Australia, if you want start a KISS tribute band called "The Australian KISS Show" the words "The" "Australian" and "Show" all have to be in the same font and size as the word "KISS".

So basically you can't have a massive poster with:

The Australian
KISS Show

Because thats pretty misleading.

Copyright is a different issue, depending on what country you're in, I'd contact your local APRA/AMCOS/PRS equivalent and have a chat to a rep.

Considering it's a tribute show, you'll probably end up doing the same set of tunes in the same order for most of your gigs, so the paperwork will be fairly easy.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. We are proceeding are the right track. Trying with this post to get info and make things are clear. The logo will be an original conception in the spirit of the original. The name is actually anagram based on the actually name that you cant mistake for anything else. I had heard a story regarding a Pink Floyd tribute band that was fined $3000 per song after a show when they we caught by a record company rep who was in the audience. If anyone else has any other suggestions please feel free.
 
do you already have a contract sorted out for venues? have you got insurance? i would speak to a music lawyer if possible.
i would definitely recommend doing what oops said (especially phoning up the royalty collector in your country).
 
Not that far yet for contracts. Have so nibbles from people already but need to sort out our promo ideas etc. Just wanted to make sure our original thinking was on the right track and so far it seems to have been.
 
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