Visit DiscMakers, they are a good source of information:
http://www.discmakers.com/music/preparingyourorder/copyrights.asp

Scroll down to #3. Basically you will need to secure a compulsory mechanical liscence from the Harry Fox Agency. This can be done at http://www.songfile.com

Should cost you about $50/song.

hey so would i be able to record an album of cover songs and not sell the CD for money just give it away. Would that work with out a license?

I am by no means an expert, but I believe you will still need the license if you are giving the recording away. You should contact the Harry Fox Agency yourself, they will get all of your questions answered.
http://www.harryfox.com/contact.html

Let us know what you find out.

In the US you can get a license to record and sell CDs with cover songs. You must pay 8.5 cents to the owner of the copyright for each cover song on the album, per CD sold.

And it doesn't matter if you give your songfs away or you sell them. You still have to pay the copyright owner. If you think about it, that makes sense, its their songs. Now if you write your own you have to pay no one...

"In the US you can get a license to record and sell CDs with cover songs. You must pay 8.5 cents to the owner of the copyright for each cover song on the album, per CD sold."

Doesn't this amount change from time to time?

Yes, it changes every few years. Right now it is 8.5 cents.

wakeupbomb wrote: "In the US you can get a license to record and sell CDs with cover songs. You must pay 8.5 cents to the owner of the copyright for each cover song on the album, per CD sold."
Doesn't this amount change from time to time?

if I may add, this also includes downloads and even songs you give away. The fact that you give someone else's song away does not absolves you frtom having to pay- on the contrary, you have a legal and moral obligation to pay the copyright owner for usage of his/her work. After all, how would you like it if someone else recorded your songs and were out there giving them away! :D