Copyright Issues in Cover Versions and Version Recordings
Pravin Anand and Prachi Agarwal talk India’s changing musical tastes with consumers open to modern interpretations of old Bollywood numbers.
‘Cover Version’ or ‘Version Recordings’ are fresh renditions of previously published songs made using a new set of musicians, performers and artists in a studio of their own and producing a record which is entirely different from the original recording. Cover versions are often contemporary versions of familiar songs. These artists sing these songs, sometimes as a tribute to their favourite artists in their own style and giving it their personal touch. The question is whether these cover versions of the original songs evoke issues of copyright infringement in original songs?
This chapter was published in Media Law International 2016.