I hope this is the right forum for this query!
I've recently joined a band (called Powerhouse, plug plug plug) which plays 'heavy metal/nerdy ceilidh' music - we take traditional and non-traditional folk tunes and mash them up with TV theme tunes, videogame songs, heavy metal tracks, movie themes, etc. We're looking at recording a short EP of some of these mash-ups so that we have something to promote ourselves with and look to get more gigs, but it seems that the copyright/permissions stuff is an absolute minefield, especially if you want to put songs up for free streaming/free download online - we're based in the UK, so PRS is the main body we'd have to deal with, but it's a nightmare figuring out what we can and can't do.
We were discussing this and it got me thinking - OCRemix is obviously cleared to post adaptations of copyrighted material for free and put them on Youtube/etc. Does anybody know if the OCR community operates under some kind of fair usage rules that would also apply to us? We'd be applying for a licence which would cover the sale of physical CDs at our gigs, but there must be some way that we can release stuff for free on the internet without getting DMCA/takedown notices from all of Hollywood/major record labels/videogame companies, right? I don't even know how we'd start asking Universal Pictures for permission to use the Back to the Future theme in a song...
I suppose one option would be to try and get one of our songs submitted to the site (we have a version of the Chemical Plant theme from Sonic 1 for heavy metal guitar, accordion, flute, bass and drums...) so we can just point people to that, but that's obviously not a given...
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!