Image credit: Nick Karvounis

Turn your cover songs into profit and get heard the world over on the world’s biggest music platforms with RouteNote.

Do you dream of turning your passion for cover songs into profit? Look no further! Platforms like Spotify and YouTube are an amazing place to reach a global audience and with distribution services like RouteNote you can monetise your music legally and effectively.

In this guide, we’ll cover how you can get your cover songs on streaming services and other platforms to make money from them and what you need to know to legally distribute covers.

Understanding cover song licensing

When you release your recording of a song that has been written by someone else, the original creator owns a portion of the copyright to your recording. The composition copyright goes to the original creator of a song. For example, if you recorded a cover of ‘Yesterday’ by The Beatles, the composition copyright belongs to John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

Protect your music: A guide for artists on copyright

This generally means that those rightsholders are owed compensation when you earn money from your cover songs. Some digital music platforms and many territories around the world collect these royalties automatically. However, it’s not always that simple. Read on to find out all you need to know about licensing and releasing your cover songs (it’s easier than you might think!)

Everywhere that you can release and monetise cover songs

You don’t always need to go through the effort of acquiring a license or paying for the rights to release a cover song. There are some services that you can release your cover songs to and earn streaming revenues from them without any extra baggage.

These are the services that RouteNote is partnered with, which you can distribute covers to with no extra steps:

Spotify, Deezer, Pandora, iHeartRadio, Nuuday, Anghami, KKBOX, and JioSaavn.

You can release your cover songs on other music platforms if you exclude the following territories from your release:

USA, Canada, Mexico, India, and Pakistan.

To distribute to our other partner stores, you will need to obtain a mechanical license for cover songs. We recommend Affordable Song Licensing if you want to release cover songs to any of the territories listed above.

If you’d like to distribute cover songs to Korean music services (Melon, Bugs!, Flo, Vibe, and Genie) then you will need written permission from the original artist.

Unlock global music distribution for your tracks with RouteNote

To release your cover songs – as well as any other music you’ve recorded – simply sign up for free at www.routenote.com. RouteNote empowers artists all over the world with the tools they need to upload music to the biggest global music platforms.

As a RouteNote user, you can distribute your cover songs for free. What’s more, you can distribute unlimited releases including your original music to all of the world’s top music services including Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Amazon Music, and beyond.

Here’s how to upload your cover songs:

  1. Create a free account at www.routenote.com and log in
  2. Click ‘Distribution’ and then ‘Create new release’
  3. Upload your audio, artwork, and format your release
  4. Follow the metadata rules for cover songs
  5. Send it to our team for review
  6. Your music is sent to platforms for the world to hear!

Remember to follow the store and territory exclusions that we mentioned in the previous section.

How Spotify and YouTube monetise cover songs

Not all platforms are the same. When it comes to how they generate the royalties that each song earns when it is played, the method is slightly different for different platforms.

Spotify

As with most streaming services like Apple Music and Amazon Music, Spotify generates royalties with a pro-rata pay-out system. This means that the money generated from paying subscribers and adverts played on the platform goes into a large pool.

Artists and rightsholders are then paid out based on how many plays their music has received amongst all the streams. While the pay-out per stream can be small, the sheer volume of listeners on Spotify can lead to significant earnings over time.

YouTube

Despite being a video platform instead of a music streaming service, YouTube works very similarly. Royalties on YouTube are generated either from adverts played before, during, and after videos, or from YouTube Premium and YouTube Music subscriptions.

Based on how many views or plays content gets on YouTube and YouTube Music, they will pay out to creators, artists, and rightsholders. The payment will depend on where the viewers have come from and whether their viewers are Premium subscribers or ad-supported users.

How to optimise your cover songs (and success!)

It’s all well and good knowing how to release your cover songs, but how can you make sure that your recording is the best it can be and that it reaches keen ears around the world? Here are some tips to enhance your cover songs and your music career at large:

Be Original

Do something different with your cover than simply recreating the original. This will help to set it apart and make it intriguing to fans of the original. This is a good chance for you to imbue your own musical personality onto a song and artist that has influenced you.

High-Quality Audio

Invest in good recording equipment and ensure your covers are professionally mixed and mastered. This will attract more listeners and enhance your professionalism.

Eye-Catching Cover Art

Create visually appealing cover art that reflects the original song while showcasing your unique style.

Engaging Descriptions & Titles

Use clear titles that include the original artist’s name and keywords relevant to the song. Write engaging descriptions that highlight your take on the cover and encourage viewers to subscribe for more.

Promote Your Music

Don’t be shy! Share your covers on social media, music blogs, and online communities. Collaborate with other cover artists and leverage their audience to gain exposure.

Remember, it takes time and dedication to create a good recording and a great cover song. By creating a high quality cover and empowering your release with RouteNote’s services, you can grow your audience and monetise your songs around the world.