Releasing a Cover Without Exclusive Rights to the Original Song

One of the most common questions new artists ask before releasing a cover is some version of: ‘Do I need to get permission from the original artist or their label first?’ The short answer is no — and understanding why clears up a lot of confusion about how cover songs actually work under copyright law.

Exclusive rights to a song belong to the songwriter and publisher, not to whoever performs it best-known version. But music law has a built-in system that lets any artist record and release their own version of an already-published song, without ever negotiating with that rights holder directly. That system is called a mechanical license, and it’s the entire reason cover songs are legal to release in the first place.

What ‘exclusive rights’ actually means

When a songwriter writes an original composition, they (or their publisher) hold the exclusive rights to that composition — the melody, lyrics, and structure. Nobody else can reproduce or distribute that composition without permission… in theory. In practice, this exclusivity has a built-in exception: once a song has been officially released to the public, it becomes available for compulsory mechanical licensing. This means any artist can record and distribute their own version, as long as royalties are paid to the original songwriter for every stream or sale.

This is different from sampling, remixing someone’s master recording, or using a song in a film or ad — those situations do require direct permission because they involve either the original recording itself or a different kind of license (sync licensing). A cover, by contrast, is your own new recording of someone else’s composition, and that’s exactly the scenario mechanical licensing was built for.

So what do you actually need?

A mechanical license — this covers the royalties owed to the songwriter for reproducing their composition
Your own original recording — you can’t distribute someone else’s master, only a new performance you recorded yourself
No changes to the lyrics or melody without separate permission — arrangements, tempo, instrumentation, and genre can all be reinterpreted, but the core composition needs to stay recognizably intact
Confirmation the song has been officially released before — unreleased songs aren’t eligible for compulsory mechanical licensing since the songwriter hasn’t chosen to make them publicly available yet

That’s it. You never need to email a label, track down a publisher, or wait for a reply that might never come. The license is compulsory by design — meaning eligible songs are automatically licensable once the required royalty is paid.

Where Globex Music fits into this

Globex Music handles the mechanical licensing step automatically as part of every cover song release. When you submit a cover, the licensing is built into the process — no separate paperwork, no waiting on a third-party licensing agency, and no negotiating with anyone who holds exclusive rights to the composition. You just submit your recording, and moderation typically moves quickly since the licensing question is already resolved on the back end.

What this costs in practice

Because the legal pathway is standardized, the real variable for most artists isn’t legality — it’s price and speed. Here’s how a single cover release stacks up across distributors:

Globex Music: $1 per release, with mechanical licensing included, and royalty payouts starting from $10
DistroKid: $44.99/year subscription, with separate cover licensing steps to sort out
TuneCore: $24.99/year base subscription, plus per-cover licensing fees, plus a 20% commission specifically on social platform revenue
CD Baby: $9.95 per single, plus a 9% royalty commission that applies forever on that release

Over three years of releasing, say, one cover every couple of months, the subscription-based models rack up renewal costs whether you release five songs or fifty. A pay-per-release model means you only pay for what you actually put out — which matters a lot if your release schedule is irregular or seasonal.

Common misconceptions worth clearing up

«I need the original artist to say yes.» Not for streaming distribution. The compulsory license exists precisely so you don’t need their direct approval.

«If I change the arrangement enough, I don’t need a license.» Arrangement changes are fine and expected — that’s what makes a cover interesting — but they don’t remove the licensing requirement. The requirement is tied to using the composition at all, not to how closely your version resembles the original recording.

«Exclusive rights means covers are off-limits.» Exclusive rights control the original composition’s ownership, not the ability of other artists to create licensed derivative recordings. These are two different legal concepts that often get conflated.

The bottom line

You don’t need exclusive rights, a signed agreement, or a reply from a publisher’s legal team to release a cover song. You need the song to be eligible for mechanical licensing, a recording that’s genuinely your own performance, and a distributor that handles the licensing step for you. With that in place, a cover can go from recording to live on 200+ platforms without ever running into a rights-holder standoff — and without an annual fee eating into a catalog you’re trying to keep stable for years to come.