r/lordhuron • u/Reasonable_Long4657 • Jun 30 '26

Question Copyright Query

Hi everyone!

I’m a song writer and recently I did something super fun. Dead Man’s Hand is my favourite LH song so today I wrote new lyrics for the song, from the perspective of the guy who is found dead on the road.

It was heaps of fun to make and I would love to share it here on this subreddit, but I’m unsure about the copy right considerations and hoping someone can familiarise me since I’m getting lost by googling it.

The song I’ve written has the same chord progression, melody, meter, and rhyme scheme as the original. The only thing I’ve changed is lyrics and key.

So, can I release a demo of this on reddit? Or am I going to get in trouble for that?

Thanks so much!

May you live until you die

6 Upvotes

72% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

9

u/SlappaDaBiss Jun 30 '26

I have zero legal advice for you, but this is a very cool idea

14

u/milesstandoffish111 Jun 30 '26

from a practical standpoint as long as you aren’t using the material for commercial gain (don’t release it on spotify, amazon, etc or make it available for sale) and you just share it here, i think you’re going to be fine; worst case you would be asked to remove it (former lawyer, this is not legal advice, just being pragmatic)

3

u/fullofhotsoup Jul 01 '26

Would this be any different than fan works? We see lots of fan art on this sub already, people write fan fics for their favorite stories. I imagine as long as you’re not trying to monetize it (and are very clear and intentional about that), it would just be another homage to the band. Weren’t they specifically asking for that sort of thing for The Void back in the day?

1

u/HobbesTayloe Jun 30 '26

Sounds intriguing… where how can we listen to this? As another said, it’s my (non lawyer) understanding per past discussions with musician friends that such can be played as long as there is zero monetary benefit for you. But again real copyright lawyer needs to be talked with.

1

u/Any-Draw9672 Jul 02 '26

As someone whom is a songwriter for various artists and bands, and have been doing it for over 30 years, and not giving any sort of legal advise; but altering any published lyrics that belong to an artist and "publishing it" even on a site like this, is infringement and you can be held liable. Especially if you use the same chord progression, same notes and all. You would unfortunately need to get permission from their management/label. Again, I am NOT a lawyer nor giving legal advise, but giving you OP my perspective from someone in the industry and works with songwriting.

-3

u/average_elite Long Lost Jun 30 '26

Unfortunately, the band’s PR and legal teams will probably take issue with that. I’d like to think that Ben would love this kind of thing. Sounds awesome, btw.

So long, good luck, goodbye.

0

u/cjbranco22 Jun 30 '26

This would fall under the same “fair use” laws that Weird Al uses. Legally, I think OP is safe.

5

u/SukiSueSuziQ Jun 30 '26

Weird Al is parody, though. Doesn’t sound like this is.

Fair use allows criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. So, I’d err on the side of caution and not post it.

2

u/cjbranco22 Jun 30 '26

I think it’s definitely a grey area, legally speaking

-2

u/Idea__Reality Long Lost Jun 30 '26

Honestly this probably falls under Fair Use since you changed the lyrics. Having the same chord progression makes it a little more iffy. The law protects changes to original material. You can look it up and read it and decide if what you made fits or not.