Releasing a cover song with LANDR: Licensing, fees and your options

If you’re releasing a cover song through LANDR, you have a few options. You can bring your own license, release to supported streaming services only where licensing allows, or pay LANDR a one-time $15 fee to handle the licensing process for you.

If you choose the $15 option, here’s what actually happens.

One important eligibility note: LANDR doesn’t distribute AI-generated cover songs. The licensing process below applies to cover songs that are eligible for distribution through LANDR.

When you mark a track as a cover, we need information about the original composition, including:

• the original song title
• the original performing artist
• at least one original songwriter

Getting this information right matters because it connects your recording to the original composition and the people who own the rights to it.

Our team checks what you’ve entered against the song information in the Harry Fox Agency (HFA) database before we send the licensing request.

If something doesn’t match, for example if the song title or songwriter information is incorrect, we’ll ask you to update it first. This helps us avoid sending a request that HFA can’t approve and keeps the licensing process moving as quickly as possible.

Once everything matches, we submit the licensing request to HFA.

If you want a step-by-step look at how to submit a cover through LANDR, see How do I release a cover song with LANDR?

‍

What does the $15 pay for?

The $15 is a one-time fee for each cover song, not a recurring charge.

LANDR works with the Harry Fox Agency (HFA) to handle cover song licensing. We pay for access to HFA’s licensing service and database, which allows our team to check the composition information you’ve provided and submit the licensing request on your behalf.

There’s also work happening on our side to get the request from submission to approval. Our team:

• checks your song information against HFA’s database
• catches incorrect or missing information before submitting the request
• submits the licensing request to HFA
• manages the licensing results and communication with HFA
• processes and maintains the records connected to your request

In other words, you don’t need to navigate HFA’s licensing process yourself. You give us the correct information about the song you’re covering, and we handle the licensing admin from there.

When everything is entered correctly, securing the license normally takes around 1–3 business days.

‍

What does the license let you do?

A LANDR-secured license allows us to distribute your cover through LANDR to the platforms and territories covered by our service.

Cover songs released through LANDR can currently be distributed worldwide except in India, Pakistan, Brazil and Mexico.

The license we arrange is tied specifically to distribution through LANDR. It isn’t an individual license document that you can take with you and use through another distributor.

If you later decide to distribute the cover somewhere else, you’ll need to follow the licensing requirements of your new distributor and may need to secure a new license.

The same applies if you want to use your cover outside LANDR distribution. For example, using the recording in a film would require the appropriate additional rights.

‍

Do you always need to pay the $15?

Nope.

When you submit a cover song through LANDR, you have three options.

‍

1. LANDR secures the license for you

You pay the one-time $15 fee and we handle the licensing process with HFA.

This gives you broader distribution options than choosing streaming-only distribution.

2. You provide your own license

If you’ve already secured a valid license yourself, you don’t need to apply for a license with LANDR.

Choose “I already have a license” when building your release and upload your proof of rights under the Licensed content section.

Before we can approve it, your documentation needs to clearly show:

• which song is being licensed
• who is granting the rights
• who the rights are being granted to
• what rights you’ve been given to use and distribute the song

The agreement doesn’t have to include an expiry date. If it does, it should give you at least one year to use and distribute the release. We can’t accept an agreement that only grants the rights for a very short period, such as one month.

If you secured the license through an established licensing service, you can provide that documentation directly.

If you have a direct agreement with the rights holder, that works too, as long as the agreement clearly identifies the song, the people or companies involved and the rights you’ve been given.

For songs controlled by a major artist, label or publisher, we’ll need more formal documentation showing that the permission comes from the label, publisher or another authorized source.

3. You release to streaming services only

You can also choose to release your cover to supported streaming services without securing a separate license.

Streaming platforms such as Spotify and Deezer have their own agreements in place that allow cover songs to be streamed without you obtaining a separate license yourself.

There are some limitations.

A license is always required for digital download stores.

Streaming-only covers can’t be delivered to:

• Apple Music
• iTunes
• Shazam
• Pandora
• YouTube Music
• Amazon Music

Streaming-only releases also come with some regional restrictions. You would need a cover song license if you want your cover song to be available for streaming in Canada.

If you want the broadest possible distribution for your cover, securing a license gives you more options.

You can find more detail about the differences between licensed and streaming-only cover releases in Can I release a cover song with LANDR?

‍

What happens after we get the license?

Once the licensing step is complete, your release continues through LANDR’s normal review and delivery process.

As a rough guide:

• 1–3 business days to obtain the cover song license
• 1–3 business days for release review and store submission
• 24 hours to 5 business days for the release to appear in stores after delivery

Getting the original composition information right when you submit is one of the easiest ways to keep that process moving.

What about royalties?

Yes, you still earn royalties from your cover song.

Once you’ve paid the one-time licensing fee, you collect royalties through LANDR in the same way as you would for another release.

Because you’re performing a composition written by someone else, the original songwriters and rights holders are still entitled to the mechanical royalties generated by U.S. digital download sales.

For songs 5 minutes or less, 13.1¢ USD per download is paid to the original rights holders.

For songs over 5 minutes, 2.52¢ USD per minute, rounded up to the next full minute, is paid to the original rights holders.

The rest of the royalties are yours to keep, just like with any other track you release.

For more detail on how royalties and mechanical payments work for cover songs, see Can I release a cover song with LANDR?