Standard mechanical royalties are currently 9.1 cents (US) per song/per copy replicated, or $91.00 per 1,000 CDs.

If a song has already been recorded and commercially released, you don't need anyone's permission to record it - - but you do have to pay the mechanical royalty.

If a song has never been recorded and commercially released, you must have written permission from the composer. And it will be interesting to see how courts re-define "recorded and commercially released" in this time of the MP3 and the internet.

-Adam Miller