I was interested in recording some cover songs (songs by other artists, instead of my own compositions) so I did a little research and discovered I would need something called a “mechanical license”. That’s basically a license or permission to record the song. I found that the fee is around 8 or 9 cents per song per CD released and that you have to purchase a license for a minimum of 500 CDs. I also did some research on licensing for digital downloads and found it so confusing that I decided that if I recorded a cover CD I wouldn’t even bother doing a digital download release. I’d just do the CDs.
We played as ClassiCountry (country band) in Chetwynd BC (Canada) last weekend and the response was very warm and welcoming. We were asked repeatedly if the songs were available on a CD so I’m pretty sure there’s a market for a CD of country cover songs. The country music we play is all older (hence ‘ClassiCountry’) so the tunes would be Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash etc… and there’s definately a market for that in Northern British Columbia.
We actually played at two venues in Chetwynd last weekend. We also provided the sound equipment/technical support at the Chetwynd Coffee House and we (Bill and I and Ian) played some songs at the coffeehouse. Because the other performance was the next evening, we decided to stay over night. That gave us some time during the day to do something we’d been promising to do for ages - get a closer look at some of the spectacular chainsaw sculpture that is so prominent in Chetwynd.
- Linda on Eagle Bench
Bill sitting on Wild Rose Bench