This ad for "Record Riot" appeared on the back of numerous Charlton comic books in 1965.






It lists 60 then-popular songs, which would never have sold in one batch for $2.98 if they were by the original artists (the Beatles, the Four Seasons, the Drifters, the Beach Boys, Dusty Springfield, Roger Miller, etc.).

What did people get if they bought this? One group doing all the songs? Several different cover bands? Instrumentals only?

Well, I googled "Record Riot comic book ad" and got this page:

http://leescomicrack.blogspot.com/20...cord-riot.html

And it takes forever for the writer, Lee, to get to the question of what the music sounds like and he doesn't fully answer my questions, but here's what he says:

I'm almost positive it would be cover versions, possibly by some anonymous group doing all of them. That sort of thing was fairly common before the 1970s.

I found a few 8-track tapes in my mom's attic once with a bunch of covers of popular songs by unknown artists. I have no idea what they sound like 'cause my parents threw away the 8-track player ages ago.

Very likely covers by session musicians needing a paycheck. My understanding of music rights is that you have to get the artist's permission to use a song in a movie but you only have to pay royalties to have someone else do a cover. That's why so many movies use covers of Beatles songs.

I remember those compilation albums from the 70s and 80s by K-Tel, which went out of their way to let you know that all songs were recorded by the original artists.

In the above ad they are careful to only list the song titles and not the artists, though they never mention that they are covers by session musicians, so it’s still rather deceptive.

You need permission to do a cover also. Before doing a cover you need to license the song from the publishers. Most artists form their own publishing company to control the licensing of their music. If the original artist is also the songwriter, the original artist could deny a license to record a cover if they want.
Once a cover is recorded, you need separate permission/license to use that cover version in a movie/tv show.

Permission is required to perform a song live also. When you see an artist do another artist's song live, there is nothing spontaneous/unplanned about it.
Prior to the tour, artists will contact the original artist and get their permission(obtain a license) beforehand.

That was my idea too.

Also, I remember that there was a scam outfit who named their studio band The Original Artists.

I believe anyone can cover a song without the songwriter's permission, but you aren't allowed to change the words at all in your cover version. They call it a mechanical song license. The original artist still gets paid for the cover, but doesn't have the power to block it.

https://www.harryfox.com/license_mus...l_license.html

What you aren't allowed to do without the artist's permission is directly sample a song, or copy the melody while using your own lyrics.