Releasing covers, samples and remixes: the rights you need

To release a cover, a track with a sample or a remix, you need permission from whoever owns the rights in the original. For a cover, that means a licence for the song itself (the composition), usually called a mechanical licence. You don't need the original recording owner's permission, because you're making your own recording. Change the lyrics or the melody, though, and it becomes an adaptation, which also needs the permission of the songwriters or their publisher.

Samples, remixes and edits are different: they use the original recording. That means two permissions — one from the owner of the recording (the master, often a record label) and one from the songwriters or their publisher. Below you'll find what each situation requires and what Crystal Distribution asks for per track. This guide explains the general principles; for your own case, check with the rights holders or an adviser.

Quick overview: which permission do you need?

Two sets of rights: composition and recording

Every recorded song has two layers, each with its own owners:

• The composition: the music and the lyrics. It belongs to the composers and lyricists, and often to their music publisher. Collecting societies license it on behalf of their members; in the Netherlands that is BumaStemra.
• The recording, or master: the recorded performance. It belongs to whoever made the recording, often a record label. These are neighbouring (or related) rights.

The U.S. Copyright Office puts it plainly: a musical composition and a sound recording are two separate works, and licences generally have to be obtained separately from the owners of each (Circular 73B). Use only the composition, as with a cover, and you deal with the first layer. Use any part of an existing recording and you deal with both. For who collects what, see music royalties explained.

Covers: a licence for the composition

BumaStemra, the Dutch collecting society, defines a cover as a one-to-one copy of an existing work in which nothing, or little, of substance has changed. The original composer and lyricist remain the copyright owners — of your cover version too. The recording you make is yours; the song is not.

How you get the licence depends on where you are:

• In the Netherlands, BumaStemra says you need a licence from BumaStemra to record a cover, without having to ask the rights holders directly — provided the original writers belong to BumaStemra or one of its sister societies. If they don't, you arrange it with the rights holders yourself (BumaStemra on covers, arrangements and remixes).
• In the United States, section 115 of the Copyright Act provides a compulsory licence to make and distribute recordings of a song once it has been released in the US with the copyright owner's authorisation. Since 2021, streaming and download services can obtain a blanket licence for streams and downloads from the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), as the Copyright Office explains in Circular 73B. You can also negotiate with the owner or their agent directly.
• Elsewhere, ask the society that handles mechanical rights in your country, or contact the publisher.

Crystal Distribution asks for a mechanical licence for a cover.

You don't need permission from the owner of the original recording, because you record the song yourself. That changes once you use an existing recording, such as the original instrumental or someone else's karaoke track: then you need its owner's permission too.

In your metadata, use the original song title and credit the original composers and lyricists as the writers, not yourself. Don't use the original artist's name in a way that suggests yours is the original version. See the release metadata checklist.

Your own spin: when does a cover become an adaptation?

BumaStemra points out that most covers aren't "pure" covers, because the underlying composition is changed too. At that point it's an arrangement, and you need permission from the original composer and/or lyricist or their publisher; BumaStemra itself doesn't grant permission for arrangements. US law draws a similar line: the compulsory licence lets you arrange a song to fit your style of performance, but changing its basic melody or fundamental character needs the copyright owner's permission.

Typical adaptations are translated lyrics, new lyrics or an extra verse over the existing music, and a changed melody. A publisher can refuse, or attach conditions. If you want a share of the income as the arranger, BumaStemra says you need a written authorisation contract that allows the arrangement and entitles you to an arranger's share.

Samples: clearing the master and the composition

A sample is a piece of an existing recording used in your own track, such as a drum loop or a vocal. As BumaStemra explains, sampling means you both adapt the original work and use its recording. So you need permission from:

• the owner of the recording, often a record label;
• the owners of the composition: the songwriters or their publisher.

This is called clearance. With only one of the two, your sample isn't cleared.

How short can a sample be?

A stubborn myth says a couple of seconds is fine. In the EU, the Court of Justice ruled in 2019 that sampling without authorisation can infringe the rights of the producer of the recording. Only a fragment altered so that it is unrecognisable to the ear falls outside that. The case was about a rhythm sequence of roughly two seconds.

In April 2026, in the same long-running dispute, the Court clarified the exception for pastiche. It can cover work that evokes an existing work, is noticeably different from it and, including by means of sampling, engages with it in a recognisable artistic dialogue — as a tribute, say, or as humorous or critical commentary. It is not a catch-all for every creative use, and it doesn't cover concealed imitation or plagiarism (Court of Justice press release). Whether a particular sample qualifies is ultimately for a court to decide, case by case. Clearing the sample first removes that uncertainty.

Loops from sample packs

Loops from a sample pack come with a licence from the maker. Check whether you may use them in a commercial release and whether they are exclusive, and keep the receipt and the terms. Non-exclusive material can also turn up in other people's tracks. That matters for YouTube Content ID and the TikTok and Instagram music libraries, which need exclusive rights; see YouTube Content ID, TikTok and Instagram.

How to clear a sample

1. Identify the source: title, artist, release and writers.
2. Find the owner of the recording (the ℗ line on the release is a good start) and the publisher of the composition.
3. Ask both for permission, and describe exactly which part you use, how you change it and how you'll release the track.
4. Put in writing what's allowed, in which territories, for what fee or share, and with which credits.
5. Keep everything and add it to your release's rights dossier.

Clearance takes time and the answer may be no, so start well ahead of your release date. If you'd rather replay a recognisable melody or lyric yourself, that's an interpolation, and you still need permission for the composition.

Remixes, edits and mashups

A remix or edit of someone else's track uses the original recording, usually through the stems. According to BumaStemra, you then adapt the musical work and use the recording, so you need permission from the master owner and from the publisher or writers. The same goes for:

• edits, bootlegs and extended versions of existing tracks;
• sped-up, slowed and reverb versions of someone else's recording — it's still their recording;
• mashups combining several recordings, which need permission from every owner and publisher involved.

If a label commissioned your remix, your agreement with the label decides who releases it. Stems from a remix contest don't automatically give you the right to release your remix; read the contest terms.

If you have your own track remixed, the recording stays yours. Do agree up front what the remixer gets, such as a flat fee or a share (royalty splits with collaborators).

Interpolations: re-recording an existing melody

With an interpolation you don't use the original recording. You replay or re-sing a recognisable part of an existing composition: a melody line, a hook or a lyric. You don't need the master owner's permission, but you do need permission for the composition, because you're building an existing work into a new song. The publisher can attach conditions, such as a share of the songwriting in your track. See also what a music publisher does.

What is free is style. BumaStemra notes that the style in which a work is created isn't protected by copyright. A new song in the style of a well-known artist is fine, as long as you don't copy a melody, lyric or recording.

Public domain: free composition, protected recording

Some music is no longer in copyright. BumaStemra gives the example of works whose author died more than 70 years ago, such as music by Beethoven or Mozart. You can record, arrange and release such a composition without a licence. Terms can differ between countries.

Three things to watch:

• The recording is protected separately. A Bach composition is free; an orchestra's recording of it from last year is not. To use an existing recording you need its owner's permission for as long as that recording is protected. Record the piece yourself and the recording is yours.
• Arrangements can be protected. A recent arrangement or a translated lyric of an old song can be protected in its own right. Work from the original, or ask the arranger.
• Count every writer. If a song has a composer and a lyricist, check when each of them died.

AI and voice cloning: rules still developing

The rules around AI are still developing, and they differ by country and by streaming service. A few points are already clear:

• An existing work is still an existing work. If an AI tool recreates, alters or extracts part of an existing song, the same rules apply as for a cover, adaptation or sample.
• Don't clone voices without permission. Spotify removes music that impersonates another artist's voice without their permission, whether through AI voice cloning or any other method; there are exceptions, such as certain forms of parody (Spotify's policy).
• Your tool's terms matter. They decide whether you may release the output commercially and who holds which rights.
• Openness about AI is becoming more common. Spotify is testing AI credits, which let you show per role what was made with AI, such as lyrics, vocals or production. You add them through your distributor; the feature is in beta and only available with certain distributors (Spotify on AI credits).

Crystal asks separately whether AI was used for the audio, the composition and the artwork, and sends that information along with your release; what a service does with it is up to that service. Answer honestly, even if AI only did part of the work.

What Crystal Distribution asks per track

In the portal's six-step release wizard, the Rights step covers exactly this (how to create a release). For each track you state:

• whether it's your own composition, a cover or a public domain work;
• whether it contains samples;
• whether AI was used for the audio and the composition; for the artwork you state it separately.

For covers, samples and remixes you can add a rights dossier with evidence, such as a licence document, and a member of Crystal's staff reviews it. Before a release goes to our distribution partner, staff check the metadata, rights and media. In the final step you sign a rights declaration tied to the exact content at that moment; change anything afterwards and you sign again.

A notice claiming that a release infringes someone's rights is not yet a warning. Only an infringement Crystal has confirmed counts as a warning; an objection is judged by a different member of staff, and a warning lapses after a year. More in the help article on rights, covers and samples.

Common mistakes

• Releasing a cover over the original instrumental or someone else's karaoke track.
• Assuming a sample of a few seconds is free to use.
• Releasing translated or rewritten lyrics as a "straight" cover.
• Uploading a sped-up version or edit of someone else's track.
• Using an AI voice that sounds like an existing artist.
• "Clearing" something with a quick DM, without agreeing on use, territories and payment.

Once your permissions are in place, releasing is the easy part: see how distribution with Crystal works.