can i do cover songs without a license

Question

Can I do cover songs without a license

  for example I'm going to do a cover song , I'm going to sing parts of the song but the original singer is going to sing the rest can i do that without a license or i still have to get a license????

Answer 1

This is not legal advice, however, from what I understand, composers are paid royalties for at least 75 years.

 

If you do not want to license the song, you must pick a song from before 1922 or so.

 

These songs are in the Public Domain and do not need licenses:

 

http://www.pdinfo.com/public-domain-music-list.php

Answer 2

You should ask a copyright lawyer.

This is an academic and homework site.

We are not lawyers so cannot give legal advice.