Ray Sowders – Beautiful Music

Ray Sowders is an O`ahu based slack key musician with a sweet and lilting guitar style and a rich baritone voice. His recent album, Ho`omalie just won a first place “Just Plain Folks” Music Award among 2400 album entries. Check out his music. You’ll be glad you did. www.raysowders.com

Mechanical Licenses for Song “Covers”

When a band or musician records and releases a “cover” of someone else’s published song, that band/musician generally falls under the the “Compulsory License” provisions in Section 115 of the Copyright Act. This is often referred to as a mechanical license. The mechanical license requires that the band/musician must pay the copyright owner of the song for each copy of the song that is distributed (e.g. CDs, digital downloads). The current rate is 9.1 cents per song, for each song under 5 minutes long.

Here are the steps for acquiring a mechanical license:

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