Thanks Mike!
Good question about the copyright. Generally, the most common thing is to pull a mechanical license. This can be easily done on the Harry Fox Agency (HFA) which has special pricing now for online usage of copyrighted songs. See this page about Digital Licensing:
http://www.harryfox.com/public/infoFAQDigitalLicensing.jsp
It says:
The HFA website provides answers to commonly asked questions about mechanical licensing and other related inquiries.

Also see this page:
http://www.harryfox.com/public/songfile.jsp
It says:
New! Songfile minimum lowered to just 25 copies, and electronic check payment option added!

I have already purchased mechanical licenses for some of my cover recordings, but mostly for my sound recording licensing sales purposes. The OurStage streaming application (venue) might be handled differently, so I'm researching this now to learn more clearly which HFA license type (if any) would best apply.

For example, on OurStage audiences can stream songs but can't buy them for downloading if the artists have the optional download sales feature disabled. So the application would be only for preview and contest streaming. I would think that OurStage would need to pay performance fees via a blanket license from one or more of the PROs. Makes sense, right?

If you have any insights on this, please share so we can discuss and learn more.

Thanks,
Michael

There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself. -- Johann Sebastian Bach

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