Answers/Glossary/Compulsory license
Glossary · Copyright
Compulsory license
A compulsory license is a licence the law grants automatically, on set terms, without the copyright owner's consent. In United States music the main one is the Section 115 mechanical licence, which lets anyone record and release a cover of a previously released song.
A compulsory licence removes the owner's right to say no. Congress creates them where case-by-case negotiation would break a market — and in music the most important is Section 115 of the Copyright Act, which makes the mechanical right compulsory once a musical composition has been distributed to the public in the United States with the owner's authority.
The practical meaning for an artist is that you can record and release a cover of any commercially released song without asking the songwriter's permission. Taylor Swift cannot refuse you. What you must do is comply with the licence: pay the statutory rate set by the Copyright Royalty Board, and account properly. For digital releases this is now normally handled through the blanket licence administered by The MLC, and distributors sell cover licensing as an add-on — DistroKid charges an annual fee per cover song. For physical copies, the Harry Fox Agency's Songfile service is the usual route.
The boundaries matter more than the permission. The compulsory licence covers audio-only reproductions of the composition. It does not cover video — a cover on YouTube needs a synchronisation licence, which is not compulsory and which YouTube largely handles through its own agreements and Content ID. It does not cover a first release of an unreleased song. And it does not authorise changing the basic melody or fundamental character of the work.
The misunderstanding: assuming compulsory means free. It means available and priced, not free. Nothing about Section 115 removes the obligation to pay.
I have released covers under this system; still, this is not legal advice.
Related terms
- Section 115Section 115 of the United States Copyright Act creates the compulsory mechanical licence for musical compositions.
- Statutory rateA statutory rate is a royalty rate set by law rather than by negotiation.
- Mechanical royaltyA mechanical royalty is the money owed for reproducing a musical composition — copying the song itself, not the recording of it.
- Derivative workA derivative work is a new work based on one or more pre-existing works — a remix, a translation, an arrangement, a sampled…
Definitions on this site describe the United States system. I am an artist who has been through this, not a lawyer.
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