Permission to Play Covers

Does anyone know the process to obtain permission to play covers.
The reason I ask is a club that my friends son band plays at was sited for the band covering some ones song. The show was shot by a fan and uploaded to internet. Only club was sited. Now they must sign a release with the club so the club is not responsible for what they play.
So Bands beware.. I hope the results of this quirry keeps a few guitarist out of trouble..

Normally the venue hosting the cover band will have a license that would cover that. This license would also cover music played from a jukebox, radio, etc. These would be BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC licenses.

The problem comes in where video is handled by a completely separate and different type of license.

You can record a cover and sell it with a "mechanical" license. This doesn't cover public performance or video as I recall.

Here are links that Christopher Schlagel had in another thread on the topic:
http://www.easysonglicensing.com/
https://www.harryfox.com/public/songfile.jsp

You are right...this is something you have to be aware of as a cover band.

I don't know how the venue could be held responsible for somebody that recorded video in the audience and posted it on the Internet. I would think the individual should be held liable...but the venue probably has deeper pockets. Wow!

Thanks Rich.. Hopefully they won't have that problem again.

I think the venue assumes royalty risk when it charges for admission for the music show...perhaps even if its a freebie with no cover charge.

When the licensing/royalty agencies choose to enforce their rights it can really cut down on the live music scene. See this sad Missoula-region story from two and a half years ago; http://ravallirepublic.com/news/local/article_cac3fb30-8104-11e1-b252-0019bb2963f4.html . Venues end up shutting down the music, local (small) musicians don't get royalties, and the agencies don't seem to care...

The unwritten rule is that cover bands and clubs would never have an issue doing cover songs. I mean, the cover band thing is pretty much at every club ever....

I alway get a little surprised when an artist, publishing company etc do this kinda thing. It's pretty dumb. A band playing a cover song is fee advertising for that song.

I agree, it seems to be a dumb move. I wonder how the song writers and musicians being covered feel about it. From what little I've read there seems to be a split in those groups' opinions.

As the above article points out, the forgiveness of royalties may be not so much an 'unwritten rule' as it is conscious (or not) non-enforcement by the licensing agencies.