Qualification for RAA - Do self-composed coversongs make it?

[Router-Jax]

Say, I'm acknowledged that any game which contains copyrighted materials(musics, images, etc.)wouldn't be listed on the RAA. And as the unpaid game makers we are I do know the feeling of wanting our works to be exposed as much as possible, and being disqualified from the RAA kinda takes away a chunk of the opportunity for that...

To be straight, apparently I find a friend who's willing to compose free musics for me, for the experience he says. Although for the moment he's lacking the needed equipment and so all that he could make for now are midis from the Guitar Pro 5 that I smuggled off of another friend's computer and handed it to him.

And about that, he did said it'd be kinda troublesome to compose with this software. Wherein recording his own guitar play would just be much quicker(which he couldn't for the moment as in the reason stated above). He's working for free and so I thought it'd be a lot simpler if he only does cover songs, which he himself implies. Said something like "If it's about trashing a song into making it sound different, but still nice, seek me."

Question is, would any game containing self-composed coversongs(e.g. a recomposed Message in A Bottle) qualify for archive on the RAA?

[Samu-kun]

This is just based on what I know from copyright law, but I don't think that would qualify because you need to compose the piece yourself to hold the copyrights to it. If you're recording a performance of a song that you didn't make yourself, the composer of that song still holds the copyrights to the particular sequence of musical notes that you're playing, so it would be violating copyright law to publicly broadcast it without the authorization of the composer.

There are some minor exceptions. For example, some songs are in the public domain... I'm just guessing here, but I think the national anthem of the United States would be considered public domain, so I don't think you need to worry about Scott Francis Key's descendants sueing you for copyright infringement if you were to broadcast it.

In addition, copyrights expire 50 years after the holder of that copyright dies, unless it is renewed by somebody else. Most renown pieces are renewed, so I don't think this will be of much use, unless it's a song your great-grandmother used to sing to your father when he was a baby.

So in short, no, it won't be uploaded to the RAA.

[Samu-kun]

If, on the other hand, you were to butcher the song so completely that it's utterly unrecognizable by all of the editors of the RAA, then I don't see how we would be able to stop you from putting the said game there however. ^_^;;;

[Showsni]

What if one obtained permission from the copyright holders, or paid the appropriate licence fee? Would it then qualify?

[Router-Jax]

If, on the other hand, you were to butcher the song so completely that it's utterly unrecognizable by all of the editors of the RAA, then I don't see how we would be able to stop you from putting the said game there however. ^_^;;;

Ooh.. Yeah, pretty much figured it after seeing coversongs legal issues around the net.
Though, as in this latter situation you mentioned, then it'd also mean that it's as if one is making a completely different song but would still prevent one's game from being listed if it sounded so unrecognizable but the bgm filename credits the singer?
So does that mean if one does this.. And wants the game to be in the RAA, the unrecognizable piece must be given a new name at all?

Plagiarism.. Oh man this is so wrong.
Anyways, just as to see how much people recognize sounds, care to take a listen to what I include in the attachment here? Tell me what song is it if you can... By the way this is the mess-up that I come up on my own without having him involved. He ought to be able to do better.

[Showsni]

I love the police!
Every breath you take. Got it from the first few notes...

[Samu-kun]

What if one obtained permission from the copyright holders, or paid the appropriate licence fee? Would it then qualify?

Well, if you did that and nothing else was wrong with it, of course it would qualify. XD

Plagiarism.. Oh man this is so wrong.
Anyways, just as to see how much people recognize sounds, care to take a listen to what I include in the attachment here? Tell me what song is it if you can... By the way this is the mess-up that I come up on my own without having him involved. He ought to be able to do better.

Well, the only songs I know are from moemoe animes, so I'm out. XD I should hire Showsni as my official copyright vetter. :3

[Router-Jax]

I love the police!
Every breath you take. Got it from the first few notes...

Hehe I love them too. XDDD
Haha.. Yeah. Man, you got it on first try. Looks like it's still up for more mess-up.
Mmph this isn't going nowhere. Looks like I got myself some nice sounds.. But wouldn't really get approval for RAA, most likely. XD Oh well.

Oh, and regarding your earlier question.. I'm not sure, but to think that you've to pay for the copyright yet you won't be making any money on the RAA.. That's gotta cost you fortune. X_X Personal preference aside, that'd also mean that only limited copies of your game can be distributed, considering coversongs royalty must be paid on a per unit distribution basis. And with both downloads and physical distribution(aka CDs) on the RAA it may be trouble to them to cope with the limitations.. From what I know so far, I don't think it would...
Well, the directors of RAA knows better.

Well, the only songs I know are from moemoe animes, so I'm out. XD I should hire Showsni as my official copyright vetter. :3

I see a dark future ahead. ..Apparently it may be unrecognizable to one group, but may easily fail to trick the band/singer lovers. I should've known. XD Looks like more mess-up is needed, that, I'd need to rely on him if I'm even going to consider an enlistment there.

[Samu-kun]

*marks Router-Jax on his "to watch" list* >:3

[GraMana]

I love the police!
Every breath you take. Got it from the first few notes...

Hehe I love them too. XDDD
Haha.. Yeah. Man, you got it on first try. Looks like it's still up for more mess-up.
Mmph this isn't going nowhere. Looks like I got myself some nice sounds.. But wouldn't really get approval for RAA, most likely. XD Oh well.

Oh, and regarding your earlier question.. I'm not sure, but to think that you've to pay for the copyright yet you won't be making any money on the RAA.. That's gotta cost you fortune. X_X Personal preference aside, that'd also mean that only limited copies of your game can be distributed, considering coversongs royalty must be paid on a per unit distribution basis. And with both downloads and physical distribution(aka CDs) on the RAA it may be trouble to them to cope with the limitations.. From what I know so far, I don't think it would...
Well, the directors of RAA knows better.

Well, the only songs I know are from moemoe animes, so I'm out. XD I should hire Showsni as my official copyright vetter. :3

I see a dark future ahead. ..Apparently it may be unrecognizable to one group, but may easily fail to trick the band/singer lovers. I should've known. XD Looks like more mess-up is needed, that, I'd need to rely on him if I'm even going to consider an enlistment there.

Just to let you know, MIDI files can have "tags" too. Changing the filename doesn't necessarily mask that (shows up as "Every Breath You Take - Alternative Version" to me), so yeah.... .

In terms of changing the song, there may be one possible way to get around this - which is is just delete all (or at least most) of the old melody, and write a new melody on top of the song. Usually, that tends the most recognizable part (especially for pop songs and the link), and you can't really copyright the less definable aspects such as chord progression, and things like rhythms can be copypasta'd pretty freely(*cough*AmenBreak*cough*). For good measure, you probably want to change up some of the instruments and other little things here and there.

[Nicol Armarfi]

If I remember correctly: legally, an arrangement or cover song would be handled as a derivative work. If you're not going to use it for profit then there is not really much of a problem, but you can't pass it off as your own original work even if you do this, you'll still need to provide the appropriate credits for the original artist. Also, asking for their permission--and definitely when trying to license it--involves a lot of money, and we're not talking about a couple hundred bucks either.

Either way, I haven't the slightest idea what the RAA allows <_<.

[Router-Jax]

Just to let you know, MIDI files can have "tags" too. Changing the filename doesn't necessarily mask that (shows up as "Every Breath You Take - Alternative Version" to me), so yeah.... .

In terms of changing the song, there may be one possible way to get around this - which is is just delete all (or at least most) of the old melody, and write a new melody on top of the song. Usually, that tends the most recognizable part (especially for pop songs and the link), and you can't really copyright the less definable aspects such as chord progression, and things like rhythms can be copypasta'd pretty freely(*cough*AmenBreak*cough*). For good measure, you probably want to change up some of the instruments and other little things here and there.

Oh.. Forgotten about that. Anyways, in an evil attempt to mask it all to test if it's even possible.. Mythbuster style. I have the file going through a few filtering processes. Removed the tags and saved a midi version.. If that was all you saw, then I want you to see what this filtered version looks like. Just want to experiment if others can see it. See in the renewed attachment below.

The latter mentioned case sounds rather cheesy to me, from what I understand that's what they call mash ups; copying and pasting certain parts of one song covered with another(or it could even be done on just one covered song), changing how things sound and all.. Old bands like Kool & The Gang were from an era popular for this *ahem* 'healthy' culture.

If I remember correctly: legally, an arrangement or cover song would be handled as a derivative work. If you're not going to use it for profit then there is not really much of a problem, but you can't pass it off as your own original work even if you do this, you'll still need to provide the appropriate credits for the original artist. Also, asking for their permission--and definitely when trying to license it--involves a lot of money, and we're not talking about a couple hundred bucks either.

Either way, I haven't the slightest idea what the RAA allows <_<.

Regarding what Nicol said, yeah I have a dA too and well I'm familiar to this legal guidelines called 'derivative works'. The same applies for visual artworks. Still that doesn't remove the copyright from the original work being distributed even if you remain the original credit intact, and I do recall of being informed; "..Any games that contain copyrighted materials won't be listed on the RAA" and that's what I definitely did in my first try on making a game with Renpy, including along copyrighted musics. And thus it failed to be in the list. So yeah, this definitely sounds like a no go either.

Sigh.
From an honest attempt at including a coversong while still crediting the original artists turned to an attempt of mashing up the tracks and claim them one's own. I don't know how far I'd go with this...

Maybe not going to be so far, Samu-kun's already watching my sinister moves.