Where Can I Get a Mechanical License?

It depends where you’re based.

Mechanical licenses are most commonly used for cover songs or new recordings of copyrighted songs. They are only required in North America for physical and digital download sales. Musicians don’t need a mechanical license to cover a song live since a concert is not considered a reproduction of the song.

If you are based in the U.S., you can obtain a license through the publisher who controls your work (Songtrust, for example), sites like Songfile and Easy Song, or the country’s primary mechanical license society, the Harry Fox Agency.

Mechanical licenses are most commonly used for cover songs or new recordings of copyrighted songs. For example, if you distribute a physical recording of you playing an Adele song (such as a CD), even if you use only a portion of that song, in most territories you would still need a mechanical license.

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