Legal Q: How do people commercially release remix songs?

[aandrerules]

Hi,

I know that if you want to release a cover song, ie you haven't used any part of the orginal version you have covered, the process is relatively simple: you just need to pay mechanical royalties to the publishers (song writers, right?).

But the case of remix songs and bootlegs is much more complicated, because you are using audio from the original song, therefore should get the approval of the owner of the sound recoding (usually a recording label, right?).

So my question is, how do people in the industry usually approach this issue?
Take Spinning Records for example: the famous Summertime Sadness was a record owned by Interscope and written by Lana and another guy, and Spinning Records commercially released the remix by Cedric Gervais.

What do you guys think has happened? Spinning loved the remix and negotiated with Interscope the approval to release it?

Here's what wikipedia says:
"In January 2013, a remix by Cedric Gervais was commissioned for the record label Universal Germany. However, the remix was initially turned down by Interscope and Polydor Records, Lana Del Rey's record labels in America and the UK.[SUP][35][/SUP] In the spring of 2013, the remix quickly surged to number one on Beatport [...]"

So how can independent producers go about this? We certainly can't negotiate with the recording company, they usually want money up front and a percentage, i think.

Long one, sorry, but it could be very useful for us all to know this stuff...

 

[bandcoach]

obtain releases/licenses from the publishers (expect to pay) or a commission to do the remix (expect to be paid/receive publishing splits)

entering a remix competition gives you limited rights to use the materials provided for that competition, and maybe even the opportunity to obtain a release to use the material more widely