Did Jack Johnson pay royalty fee to play "Rocky Raccoon"?

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I've wondered this for a while. When musicians cover other artists' songs in concerts or albums, do they have to pay the royalty fees?

I'm guessing "yes", when the songs are recorded or released, but probably "no", if just playing them in concerts......
 
That's a good question, I would have thought the same, and yet Oasis used to play 'I Am The Walrus' as staple concert fodder from before they were famous (basically because they had nothing else to play) and then released the song as a single after they had appeared on the radar with their first album.

I would have thought that royalties would be payable in a case such as Oasis (although I'm betting they didn't) but that it would be very difficult to know where to draw the line in other cases... how often does Jack Johnson cover 'Rocky Racoon'? If it's a regular part of his set, then maybe Paul MacCartney should be getting a cut...
 
Gawd, Chris. You are supposed to be helping, not make it more complicated. :p

Hmmmmm, maybe it's not as cut and dry as I thought. As for Jack Johnson playing "Rocky Raccoon", I'm not sure. I just got a hold of one of his bootlegs, and it was on it. That reminds me though, he also used bits from Bob Marley and The Car's hits in couple of his songs. Surely, there are no royalties involved there?
 
If it's a concert, I don't think so.

There are thousands of budding singers/songwriters/bands playing a zillion covers at any one time... if they actually release the covers as singles, that probably should count towards royalties, but if they're mixed in with sets at a concert, I'd say no.
 
I think playing covers of other's musician's/band's songs is royalty-free if it's a live performance. Making a copy of it available for sale requires paying a royalty fee, at least in the United States.
 

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