Do I Get Any Money From Cover Song Play?

Dear Rich: Our band covered a song and it's getting good airplay on Live 365 and at some other places. Do we get paid for this? How do we get the money? Most of the money generated from the playing of music --  whether on the radio, at an American Apparel store, or even on Internet stations --  is collected and paid to the songwriters, usually by performance rights societies. So, performing a cover song is usually not the best route to a guaranteed royalty stream. However, there is one way you can earn money for the public performance of your recording. Performers and record labels get paid for every performance of a song by a non-interactive webcaster – for example, Internet radio stations such as Live 365, Pandora, Sirius XM, Cable TV music channels, or virtually any digital transmitter in which the listener is unable to choose the specific song that's played. This money is collected and distributed by SoundExchange and you can sign up with them and list your tracks. The sign-up process is a little labor-intensive but once you are in their system, things should move smoothly.