When I've asked three different professionals in the industry, I get three different answers. One told me that covers were not allowed, but if I had someone to sing the song I wanted, that would be okay. Or, their team (the company's group who does the voice overs, etc...) could sing the song. THAT is a cover. I asked another company and was told that no one could sing the song, but that they could do a custom mix with raps and voice overs. When I asked GHSA for clarification, the response was that no one would be monitoring the music but that schools had always been held responsible for music and copyright laws. It seems that no one has the same information. Suppose a school uses a recording of a song (or has someone actually sing a desired song to a karaoke track)- does that not constitute as a cover? Is that not allowed? I know the use of themes and songs that worked within that theme have been the practice of many GHSA teams. When attending allstar comps, I noticed that the music was more voice overs than actual songs. Is this what we will see from GHSA teams? Many schools do not have the money to spend on such customized music, as pricing from music production companies has now increased, as well. I understand the need to compensate artists for the use of their work; if a song is purchased from iTunes for example, does that not provide the compensation needed???
