Got a question for you guys. I'm in a band, and am just wondering what are the laws concerning playing covers live? Do you need any sort of permission, pay royalties or what? If I dont get payed for the show, or atleast, if the patrons get into the show for free, do we need any permission at all? Also, what would be the laws surrounding us having a certain movie playing on a screen behind us?
A lot of these issues depend on how big you guys are, and how big the venue is. I'd say that if you haven't recorded anything, at all, then you should be fine.
you can play covers, as long as you dont claim to have written the song yourself. a lot of the local bands around here start out with covers to get used to playing live and then they play their own stuff.