Are the royalties split between the original composer and the cover band? I’m talking about songs like “Killing me softly with his song”, that was originally recorded by Lori Lieberman, re recorded by Roberta Flack and by The Fugees.
In: 60
In the case of [Killing Me Softly](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_Me_Softly_with_His_Song) (to look at your example), the song was written by [Norman Gimbel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Gimbel) and [Charles Fox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Fox_(composer)) (and maybe a little by [Lori Lieberman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lori_Lieberman#%22Killing_Me_Softly%22_controversy)?), and those two (or three?) people own the song no matter who performs it.
Every time Roberta Flack or the Fugees or Perry Como or anyone else performs that song live, and every time that song is streamed or broadcast or whatever, Gimbel (dead) and Fox (alive) or their heirs get a payment. I don’t know if Lieberman gets a payment — she’s not listed in [the database](https://repertoire.bmi.com/Search/Search?Main_Search_Text=killing%20me%20softly&Main_Search=Title&Sub_Search=Please%20Select&Search_Type=all&View_Count=0&Page_Number=0) as a writer of that song.
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