Compulsory License Rules in the US: What Cover Artists Should Know

The phrase «compulsory license» gets thrown around a lot in cover song communities, but most explanations either oversimplify it or bury it in legal language nobody has time for. Here’s the version that actually matters if you’re an artist trying to release a cover in 2026: what the law says, what it covers, where it stops covering you, and what still requires a human decision on your part.

The Legal Basis: Section 115 of the Copyright Act

The US compulsory mechanical license comes from Section 115 of the Copyright Act, originally written in 1909 and updated several times since, most notably by the Music Modernization Act of 2018. The core idea is simple: once a musical composition has been officially released to the public with the copyright owner’s permission, any other artist has the legal right to record and distribute their own version of it — without asking the original songwriter or publisher for permission first.

This is what makes the entire cover song ecosystem legally possible. Without Section 115, every cover artist would need to track down a publisher, negotiate terms, and wait for a yes or no. Compulsory licensing removes the negotiation step entirely. You don’t need permission. You need to follow the rules and pay the statutory royalty.

What Qualifies for a Compulsory License

The song must already be commercially released. If the original hasn’t been officially put out to the public — no leaks, no unreleased demos — it doesn’t qualify.
It applies to audio-only recordings. Compulsory licensing covers standard audio distribution to streaming platforms and digital stores. Music videos and other visual/sync uses fall outside this license and need separate permission.
You can change the arrangement, but not the fundamental character. You’re allowed to rearrange the melody, tempo, or style to fit your own interpretation, but you can’t alter the basic melody or lyrics enough that it becomes a fundamentally different work. A stripped-down acoustic version is fine. Rewriting the chorus is not.
It doesn’t cover sampling. If you’re using an actual audio sample from the original recording rather than performing your own version, that’s a separate master use license issue, not something a compulsory mechanical license touches.

What the License Actually Pays For

A compulsory mechanical license compensates the songwriter and publisher of the composition — the underlying song itself, not any particular recording of it. This is separate from performance royalties (collected through PROs like ASCAP or BMI) and separate from whatever royalties you earn as the performer on your own recording. Three different royalty streams, three different purposes:

Mechanical royalties — paid to the songwriter/publisher for the right to reproduce and distribute the composition.
Performance royalties — paid to the songwriter/publisher when the song is performed publicly, including many streaming plays.
Master recording royalties — paid to whoever owns your specific recording, which for an independent cover artist is usually you.

How This Used to Work (And Why It Was Painful)

Historically, securing a compulsory mechanical license meant filing a formal Notice of Intention with the copyright owner or the US Copyright Office, then paying royalties according to a statutory rate schedule directly to the publisher, often through an intermediary like the Harry Fox Agency. For an independent artist releasing one cover song, this was a real barrier — paperwork, waiting periods, and the administrative overhead of tracking down who actually owned the publishing rights.

How It Works Now Through a Distributor

This is where digital distribution services changed the practical experience of compulsory licensing, even though the underlying law hasn’t changed. When you submit a cover through Globex Music, the mechanical licensing and royalty administration is handled automatically as part of the distribution process. You’re not filing separate notices or hunting down publisher contact information — the license compliance happens behind the scenes, built into the $1 release price.

That single detail is the real difference between compulsory licensing in theory and compulsory licensing in practice for a bedroom artist in 2026. The law gives you the right; a distributor with automatic licensing built in gives you the practical path to actually use that right without a legal background.

What Compulsory Licensing Doesn’t Give You

It’s worth being precise about the limits, because this is where cover artists most often get confused:

It doesn’t give you ownership of the composition — the original songwriter always retains that.
It doesn’t cover use in videos, ads, films, or games — that’s sync licensing, negotiated separately.
It doesn’t apply to unreleased or private material.
It doesn’t let you claim the song is your own original work in metadata or credits.

A Quick Numbers Check: Cost of Getting This Right

Compare what it costs to release a cover with proper licensing handled automatically versus doing it piecemeal elsewhere:

Distributor	Per-Release Cost	Licensing Handling
Globex Music	$1	Automatic, included
DistroKid	$44.99/yr flat	Manual process, separate steps
TuneCore	$24.99/yr base + per-cover fees	Additional licensing fees per cover
CD Baby	$9.95/single + 9% royalty commission forever	Manual, ongoing commission

Beyond the sticker price, the practical value of automatic licensing is time and risk reduction — no forgotten paperwork, no guessing whether you’ve technically complied with Section 115 before your release goes live.

What Cover Artists Should Actually Do

Understanding the law is useful, but the action items are simple: confirm the original has been commercially released, keep your arrangement recognizably close to the original composition, credit the original songwriter accurately in your metadata, and choose a distributor that folds the mechanical licensing into the submission process rather than leaving it to you to sort out separately. With Globex Music, that last piece is handled automatically, moderation typically moves quickly, and royalty payouts start from $10 — so the legal groundwork of Section 115 translates into an actual release, not a stack of forms.