I am not a lawyer, but I would assume whoever paid for the actual recordings, unless you signed a contract to the contrary, owns them, and should be responsible for the license fees like an independent record label (sometimes called a ‘vanity label’). It sounds like your manager is acting as the record label. This is why it’s so important to understand on the front end of recording what the agreements between all parties are. But legally, if the licenses have been processed and paid by someone, there shouldn’t be any legal repercussions from the song publishers/writers to worry about. But the best thing you can do is to meet with an entertainment lawyer to protect your daughter’s interests, and to know what agreements you and the manager need to have between you. Misunderstandings can cause unnecessary business relationship issues; then there is abject fraud to avoid, too. You really need to contact a lawyer.

You are correct in everything you responded. I just would have thought that my daughter, who cut and released the song, would have paid for the license and put the permission to stream in her name (she’s 18 yo), but was not given the option to. Nor will they give us a copy of the license. I guess I’m wondering if it matters if the license is in his name or her name as long as the song name (which is released under my daughter’s name) is on the license? I’m just trying to avoid negative reprocussions in the long run.

OK you said these songs are written by other than your daughter, and I’m going to assume they are not written by her manager/producer either. If this manager ‘obtained the licenses’ on songs for which he is not a writer on, that surely means that the manager PAID the publishers who DO own publishing rights to the songs. If the manager PAID the licensing fees, maybe that’s why their name is on the licenses. If the manager RECEIVED license fee payment for songs not written by them, something is wildly amiss.

Hi Tammy; thanks for the good question. YES, you must license your performance of a cover song you upload online, even if you never intend to make money on it, you credit the writers, etc. If you sing a cover in live performance, that’s a different matter. You don’t have to worry about getting any license for that… it’s the venue’s responsibility and if they offer live entertainment they usually do the legal thing and have a license deal in place with PRO’s such as ASCAP, BMI, SESAC. But if you put it online, the onus is on YOU to obtain the license. Hope that helps!