Licensing fee for song covers of popular songs

[fundogmo]

I had a very specific question that google makes very complicated, and wondered if anyone has any experience figuring out - I'm looking into shooting for the moon and exploring the financial viability of including a cover of a pop song.

Let's say I've already negotiated a flat fee with the cover artist to use their work, beyond that step though, is where I'm hitting a research hurdle.

Google gets into mechanical licenses and gets into licensing original songs but not covers. Before exploring how to go about even starting that process of obtaining the license, does anyone know what kind of REALLY ROUGH ballpark figures we might be talking about for an indefinite use in a single videogame? I'm sure if it was very easy and cheap, you'd see it all the time, so I'm wondering how expensive we're talking about.

Thank you!

[fundogmo]

Oof, well... if anyone stumbles on this topic with the same question, here's a pretty discouraging answer in regards to just using one for your trailer, much less the final product.

http://www.untoldentertainment.com/blog ... e-trailer/

In short - people don't do it for the very obvious reason.

[LeetMusic]

Oof, well... if anyone stumbles on this topic with the same question, here's a pretty discouraging answer in regards to just using one for your trailer, much less the final product.

http://www.untoldentertainment.com/blog ... e-trailer/

In short - people don't do it for the very obvious reason.

I read the article and the tone seems a bit disrespectful toward artists and copyright holders. They spent a million dollars recording and promoting a pop song so that you hear it and want it in your game. Why should they then license it to an indie dev for $30 bucks when a bank commercial is gonna pay much, much more than that?