When playing a cover without a previews authorization given by the person who owns the copyright (usually the song maker or the label), many people don´t know this is a crime by the law. The copyright lasts for 70 years after the owner´s death, only after this time the copyrighted object is “for all”.

If talking about Bootleg bands, they are always authorized and supported by those who own the song and part of the income goes to the official band.

What could and should be done in this case is to make the access easier to these bands in which concerns to the copyright use, reducing costs and increasing the rotation, besides checking the practice. But here in the land of the bureaucracy it sounds more like a joke, a bad joke.

If the band wants to play only cover music choosing not to have an artistic proposal, this is the band´s right but 2 very important points must be observed: the law in relation the copyright and the art itself which, in this case, is the conscience that you are not producing any art but reproducing it, in a way that you are assuming a big responsibility to promote the copyrighted artist (besides the fact that it´s a big pleasure to listen to the songs we like alive if we compare it to a pair of speakers). But the contribution with the musical language in question is very little.

The big problem, though, starts before all these. In fact it´s a chain of facts that ends up in this matter. When building a band people may have many different goals: leisure, fun, social ascension, psychiatric and physic rehabilitation, artistic expression, so on and so forth. But to be a musician as profession you will need a lot of discipline, honesty, artistic responsibility, perseverance.

Music has never harmed and will never harm anybody, it´s the opposite and the benefits are uncountable. I am a big supporter for the musical practice whenever it happens, wherever it is, however, it´s necessary to have artistic responsibility and honesty. This mass entertainment the media gives us can be called anything but music. Perhaps “noise” would be more appropriated...

Who has never dreamed of being a rock star touring around Europe, Asia in their own plane, staying in 5-star-hotels surrounded by groupies and making the audience scream? Well, this is the dream of at least most part of those who have ever touched an instrument here in Brazil, unfortunately...

But dreaming with the European stages many people forget some basic things to make it happen: an intelligent artistic proposal, really playing the instrument understanding the music language, being fluent in English and, if possible, another foreign language. Could you imagine yourself in a business meeting with a big recording company manager speaking poor English? Or signing a contract without being able to understand it clearly? It´s just impossible.
Speaking the language of the country you intend to go opens many doors, breaks walls and causes a great impact, besides several other things such as the necessary rules for copyrighting songs, the brand, the name of the band. Don´t you think it would be terrible to find out that someone had robbed your name and is suing you for something you should be the owner? Believe me, there are people who make their living by this practice. This is business and it´s very serious, it´s not fun.
If you try to fly having no wings you will fall and be really hurt.

In a recent trip to Scandinavia I spent a few months in Finland and saw something that really made me excited: a huge number of small bands playing their own music in pubs and bars of all cities. And it was great because places were always crowded. It´s amazing to see the Finns going out to watch bands playing their own music while “others” pay to see covers (tributes, bootlegs, warming ups). Well, here people don´t want to pay 5 reais, which is a little more than 1 Euro to see their own friends playing their own music. Brazilian people prefer to go to concerts to listen to cover music and are not curious to know the good potential of several bands which are around competing with some cover bands that have absolutely no artistic responsibility.

But why does it happen? Price. It´s simple. I´ve been playing with bands for several years, I live my day by day surrounded by musicians from small to big bands. For those who take it seriously I assure you that it´s very expensive to keep a professional band. Equipment, transportation, recording, rehearsals, promo material, besides the personal investment each musician must make in relation to instruments, customs, language courses, music courses, and all these to get a really insignificant payment, competing with those 'cover musicians' who most of the times are not even professional musicians.

The worst of the things is when a great musician with a great artistic proposal gets without option in life and has to dedicate himself to the cover music just because of money. These musicians get in this practice and give to the bars´ and pubs´ owners the necessary element that make them think investing in cover music is better. Then a cycle is closed.

Well, I don´t think we need to think a lot to understand why there is a boom of bands coming from Finland and Sweden nowadays. Stop and think about something before complaining about what the media gives us.
We are all guilty too.

I recommend:
Clube da Esquina - Tavinho Moura, Wagner Tiso, Milton Nascimento, Lô Borges, Beto Guedes, Flávio Venturini, Toninho Horta, Márcio Borges, Fernando Brant & Cia. (one of the big names in the progressive rock)