Anyone can legally perform any piece of music because copyright law contains a provision called a "compulsory license." This is how an artist can "cover" someon

Anyone can legally perform any piece of music because copyright law contains a provision called a "compulsory license." This is how an artist can "cover" someone else's song. Congress deemed music too important to allow the author to lock it up for years. An author automatically grants a license to anyone who wants to perform a piece at a rate per second per person fixed annually.