Would you believe it, today is the (approximate) first birthday of stormcellar.com.au. Just on a year ago I got sick of trying to blog on myspace etc and opted for an Open Source Adventure using Joomla.
To all the folks who have helped on the technical side, Big Birthday Thanks! Lachlan, Terry, Elize, NASA, Roger and the various folks who've let me mess with their artwork and of course, you, dear reader.
Just got word in that the publishers of Steely Dan's lyrics refused permission for us to record our Blues version of Dirty Work for our upcoming EP 'Spacejunk'.
Bummer.
For those of you (like me) new to the arcane world of publishing rights, you cant just willy-nilly record other peoples stuff because its:
A: Uncool
B: legally actionable
In order to record a 'cover' you need to obtain licensing from one of the relevant bodies (in Australia see www.apra.com.au). Its pretty easy.
However, if your 'version' of the song differs materially from the original (as ours did, musically) then you are no longer in cover territory, you are in 'Derivative Works' territory, a grey area from whose bourne few (independant) travellers return!
Read more: Smacked Down By Steely Dan! Rikki Please Lose My Number!