Shinedown trying to cover Bon Jovi acoustically

Thanks for pointing out those covers. I'd heard Chris Ledoux (RIP) but never the others. That Billy Hoffman version … ouch.

Also, I don't know that an artist can "prevent" a cover version being done. They may ask that you not, but a full-on "block"?

My understanding is that if Shinedown paid royalties, Bon Jovi can't actually block the cover even if they don't want Shinedown covering the song. I could be wrong. But either way, I bet there's more to this story than the article would have you believe.

Jovi royalties are a bit on the high end of things, perhaps more than Shinedown's label would be willing to pay. They may have asked Jon to find certain loopholes (as per Drew Barrymore using Prayer for a movie of hers) and Jon did not comply. That's about as far as it could go, but Jon can't prevent them from covering a Jovi song....

I know from other bands that were not allowed to release a cover song because the original artist kept them from doing so.
Nightwish wanted to release their cover of "The heart asks pleasure first" from the movie The Piano by Michael Nyman. Nyman didn't like Nightwishs version at first and blocked the release when it was initially planned. A few years later they obviously came to terms as the song was released as a b-side to a single last year.

But could have been a money issue anyway....

From what I have heard to release a studio album with a cover song
or use in a movie you need original artist permission who has copyright publishing
but if you want to cover it live you dont need permission you just pay
royalty to publisher through BMI or ASPCA But if you want to release
DVD or live CD with cover song you would need publishing artist
permission

As far as I know, you can outright stop a cover version from being released if you alter the song in any way. That's why Weird Al has to ask permission for his parodies. Eminem, for one, didn't grant it.

The Weird Al issue confuses me. He's said he's able to legally parody whatever he wants but he prefers to get the original artist's blessing first, which wasn't the case with Lady Gaga. Eminem's problem was him making a video for his parody of Lose Yourself. I don't get how the law works.

I actually asked Zach Myers about what was said about Bon Jovi and he says it was a misquote, he was kidding as he really doesn't know. And it has really blown up all over the place. Here is his responses.

https://twitter.com/StacyGardell/sta...14982248325120

https://twitter.com/StacyGardell/sta...12766154256385

(Classic Rock) Shinedown frontman Brent Smith and guitarist Zach Myers will release their fan-powered covers ten-track album as a six-track EP after they failed to secure release permission from every artist they'd originally included.

Fans had chosen the list of songs to be recorded acoustically but Myers last month confirmed that Bon Jovi were amongst those unhappy with the project, and wouldn't let them use a cover of Wanted Dead Or Alive.

The plan was for each song to be accompanied by a video and Smith says that's where problems arose. He explains: "Some of the artists were cool with letting us put them up on YouTube and show the video of the song being records. Some weren't cool with the video, and that's totally their decision."

Along with the Bon Jovi song, Phil Collins' In The Air Tonight, Pearl Jam's Black and Adele's Someone Like You won't appear. The pair still hope those covers can be released in audio only over the coming months.

Read more at http://www.antimusic...R6CSoWF8daAI.99

So it wasn't the cover Jovi objected to, and Jovi wasn't the only band that had a problem with what they were doing. Pretty lame of Myers for singling them out last month.

Also, the source link is broken...