Q: i have been searching for awhile and getting more and more upset at the lack of clarity of information.  would you mind going into some detail about what you know of compulsory licensing for doing covers.  as well as the idea of a 'derivative work' rather than a 'cover' and how that requires songwriter permission rather than a compulsory license.  i can't even figure out how to go about getting compulsory licenses or how much they would cost.  and i know that many people just don't even worry about it and post things without licenses but it makes me sort of scared to do that.  i really just don't want to bother with this crap because it sounds like a horrendous messy use of brainpower and time.  fuck word-soup-lawyer-speak.  so frustrating.
A: hahahahahahahahaha sounds like you already know more than me. a general rule of thumb is, look around at people doing something similar to you and whose audience size is similar to yours, and see if they are getting busted or not. also contact those people and see if they have any experience with getting busted or not. and don't try to do the eagles