Legal Question in Entertainment Law in Florida
what are the legal concerns involved with ''tribute albums''
An individual in florida is putting together a tribute compilation cd. my band (based in tx) is considering playing on it. i was told by the individual that there we're no legal concerns because ''the living members of this band (the band being payed tribute to) will hear this cd and sicne we are paying homage and not taking credit, there are no legal concerns''... however, i do not know this individual personally... so, if my band records our rendition of a song originally written and recorded by another band, and our rendition is included on a so called ''tribute cd'' are there any legal concerns involving royaltys, or copyright laws... or any other legal concerns for that matter...
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: what are the legal concerns involved with ''tribute albums''
Your friend gave you bad advice.
You would probably be commtting copyright infringement. Your "tribute" would admittedly be derived from the band being copied. One of the exclusive rights of an artist under the copyright laws in the USA is to make derivations. You must get permission from the original artist before doing this if you want to avoid legal risk.
You cannot avoid the copyright laws by calling copyright infringement a "tribute". You need to find another source for copyright advice than the "individual" who gave you that bad advice.
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