If you’re based in the UK and want to release a cover song, the process looks a little different from what US-based guides tell you. The underlying idea is the same — you need permission to record and distribute someone else’s composition — but the licensing mechanics, the collecting societies involved, and even the terminology change once you cross the Atlantic. Here’s a step-by-step walkthrough built specifically around the UK situation.

Step 1: Understand who you’re actually licensing from

In the US, mechanical licensing for covers runs through the Harry Fox Agency framework and the MLC. In the UK, the equivalent function is handled differently — publishing rights are typically administered by PRS for Music (performing rights) and MCPS (mechanical rights), often bundled together for UK-repertoire songs. But here’s the useful part: as a UK artist distributing internationally, you don’t need to personally negotiate with any of these bodies. A distributor that includes automatic mechanical licensing, like Globex Music, handles the licensing paperwork behind the scenes regardless of where you’re located, as long as the song is properly identified and cleared for cover release.

Step 2: Confirm the song is actually coverable

Not every song is available for cover licensing. Before you record anything, check that the original hasn’t restricted cover rights (rare, but it happens with certain gospel, holiday, or tightly controlled catalog songs) and that you have the correct songwriter and publisher information. Getting the metadata right — correct title, correct writer credits — is what allows automatic licensing systems to match your cover to the right composition and pay the right people.

Step 3: Record your version

You’re allowed to change the arrangement, tempo, instrumentation, and style of a cover — that’s standard practice and doesn’t require separate permission beyond the standard mechanical license. What you can’t do is alter the lyrics or melody substantially and still call it a straight cover; that shifts into «adaptation» territory, which needs direct publisher approval. For a standard karaoke-to-acoustic-to-full-band cover, you’re fine.

Step 4: Choose a distributor that includes licensing in the price

This is where UK artists often get caught out. Some distributors popular in the UK still expect you to independently sort out mechanical licensing for cover songs, or they charge separately per cover on top of a yearly plan. Globex Music builds licensing into the release price from the start — releases begin at $1, with no annual subscription required, and no separate step where you have to go find a UK-specific licensing service before you’re allowed to upload.

Step 5: Upload, tag correctly, and submit for moderation

Upload your audio and artwork, tag the release clearly as a cover (correct original title and writer credit in the metadata), and submit. Moderation review is typically fast — many releases clear review well within a day or two — which matters if you’re trying to time a release around a specific date, whether that’s a UK chart moment, an anniversary of the original, or a seasonal push.

Step 6: Get live across 200+ platforms at once

One submission distributes to over 200 platforms globally — Spotify, Apple Music, TikTok, Amazon Music, and the rest — so a UK release isn’t limited to UK-only services. Your cover reaches the same international audience an original release would, without you managing separate submissions per territory.

Step 7: Track royalties and understand the $10 payout threshold

Once your cover starts earning streams, royalties accumulate in your account. Globex Music pays out starting from $10 USD, which is a low bar to clear compared to distributors that hold funds until much larger thresholds are hit. For a new cover from a UK artist without an established streaming audience yet, hitting a $10 payout is realistic within a reasonably short stretch of consistent streaming, rather than something you wait months or years for.

What UK artists pay elsewhere, for comparison

If you’re weighing this against other well-known distributors, the annual cost structure adds up fast for anyone releasing covers regularly:

  • DistroKid: $44.99/year subscription, regardless of how many covers you release
  • TuneCore: $24.99/year base plan plus separate per-cover licensing fees, plus a 20% commission specifically on social platform monetization
  • CD Baby: $9.95 per single plus a 9% royalty commission that applies indefinitely on that release
  • Globex Music: $1 per release, no annual fee, mechanical licensing for covers included in that price

For a UK artist releasing four or five covers a year — a common pace for anyone building a cover channel or supplementing original material — the annual fee models cost the same whether you release one song or twenty. A per-release model scales with your actual output instead.

A note on currency and payment

Pricing and payouts are handled in USD, which is standard across most global distribution platforms regardless of where the artist is based. This doesn’t change your rights or your licensing — it’s simply the currency the platform operates in, and standard international transfer or payment processing handles the conversion when funds reach you.

The bottom line for UK-based cover artists

The legal groundwork — mechanical licensing, correct metadata, proper writer credit — matters just as much for a UK artist as a US one, and the good news is that a distributor built around automatic cover licensing removes the need to personally navigate PRS, MCPS, or any other society’s paperwork. What’s left is a straightforward release process: record, upload, get moderated quickly, go live on 200+ platforms, and start collecting royalties with a payout threshold low enough to actually reach.

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