FlyingSquid , 5 months ago

Parody is fine. Covers are a legal grey area (in U.S. law anyway). You probably won’t get in trouble if you’re a act performing a cover of I Feel Love at a live event, but if you’re going to sell a recording of the cover without a mechanical license, you could very well face legal trouble- even that is in a grey area because digital platforms like Apple Music automatically pay the publishers if you sell a cover through them and publishers seem satisfied with that arrangement. Even performing on a streaming platform like YouTube technically requires a synchronization license, although, again, YouTube often pays publishers a cut of advertising revenue.

As I said above, performing a cover live generally won’t get you in trouble, but tribute bands are another story. If you want to do a Donna Summer tribute band and you don’t get legal permission, your ass is going to get sued.