So I made a cover of a song and by cover I mean me playing bass over original track. I uploaded it to Soundcloud but they immediately pulled it down due to “copyright infringement”.
Where can I actually upload this kind of material without being molested by billion dollar companies?
They don’t want you getting any monetary gain for it. You can try Google Drive, that’s what I use for all my music files.
Vimeo.
YouRube and Soundcloud both suck
Actually it’s the music labels that suck. SoundCloud and YouTube are just obeying the law.
Many artists on labels that don’t suck will instead make ContentID deals with YouTube, and then all that happens is your video gets a copyright claim and any monetization goes to the artist. It’s a nice compromise, a win/win for you and the artist. All but one of my covers have this.
So blame the labels, not YouTube/SoundCloud.
I have used Vimeo for all my covers and they haven’t flagged any one of them.
Vimeo takes them down too, they just wait for an actual DMCA takedown request. Which do happen.
Then I’ve been lucky I guess.
Yeah. Basically they are all a crapshoot.
At least with YouTube you may be lucky that your artist is on a reasonable label.
Youtube videos of mine in which I play Billie Jean are flagged, but still online and shareable.
Vimeo, most likely, but as said they can be taken down there too. It’s just less likely because someone has to actively complain.
Even if you somehow buy web/cloudspace for yourself. The provider for that webspace is also required to react to DCMA requests.
As you don’t want to make any money with it I don’t think you’ll get problems for posting covers online, but your question boils down to: how can I do something that’s not allowed without repercussions for it?
(I even would argue that deleted/taken down videos are hardly any repercussion…)
It sucks, but it is what it is.
Not only is my YouTube and Vimeo channels not monetized, I always give the original artist lots of credits at the end along with ways to buy their song; so my cover is like an advertisement for them.
The difference with YouTube is they are proactive and take down your video before the artist or label file a DCMA takedown request. Vimeo, on the other hand lets it slide unless they get a complaint.
You can publish a cover on any platform when you have the right licence.
It’s different from what most think: you can humm, play or sing along with any song, without any problem. But as soon as you publish it anyway, anywhere, you just have to follow a few simple rules. If you don’t, your upload can be taken down or blocked. It depends on the copyright-owner if and if so, how fast that is done.
Most basic rule? Get in contact with the copyright owner and ask if you can get the permission to publish your cover.
You can find more info on the net, I’ve used this info before: https://flypaper.soundfly.com/hustle/how-to-legally-cover-a-song/
(Sidenote: I’ve played tinwhistle / sang on recordings of several copyrighted songs. Which are only used within an offline course, so not even published openly)
I see the things the same way, Pam, and the comments I had from the bands proove we’re right. I only had very positive and friendly comments from the members of the bands I covered. and we’re talking about comments on Youtube videos.
the artists understand how it works, how music is shared by musicians and enthusiasts. it brings some audience to the band and helps it to be known and to grow.
this.
Unless you are Don Henley, then you make it your mission to block, take down and copyright claim every piece of your music so younger generations won’t ever know who you are…
I absolutly don’t know who he is.
Keep it that way @terb.
It’s not everybody’s taste… 
don’t know …
Interesting points, and one I can see both sides of. Personally I’d be honored and think it is cool for someone to cover one of my bands songs. I even made a thread encouraging covers of each other’s songs. It’s good exposure and learning! At the same time it isn’t like I have much exposure, so exposure is more useful to me than any monetary gain, and I imagine most of us are in the same boat!
Drummer, song writer, singer and founding member of the Eagles.
My cover of Lyin’ Eyes has not been fussed about…
The Beatles are pretty notorious blockers, as well as Queen.