In a faithful cover, who earns the song's composition revenues?

In a faithful cover, who earns the song's composition revenues?

• A. The original songwriter.
• B. The cover artist.
• C. Both equally.
• D. The streaming platform.

Answer: (A)

In a faithful cover, the song’s composition revenues go to the songwriter and their publisher. The composition is the musical work—melody and lyrics—owned by the person who wrote it, so when the work is reproduced or performed, royalties flow to the songwriter/publisher, not to the performer of the cover. The cover artist is paid from the master recording rights—the actual sound recording of the performance they released—so they earn master-royalty income from the recording, not the song’s composition royalties. Only if the cover artist also wrote the song would they receive composition royalties for their own writing.

In a faithful cover, the song’s composition revenues go to the songwriter and their publisher. The composition is the musical work—melody and lyrics—owned by the person who wrote it, so when the work is reproduced or performed, royalties flow to the songwriter/publisher, not to the performer of the cover. The cover artist is paid from the master recording rights—the actual sound recording of the performance they released—so they earn master-royalty income from the recording, not the song’s composition royalties. Only if the cover artist also wrote the song would they receive composition royalties for their own writing.