Licensing a song

The Randy Newman Internet mailing list (aka 'Little Criminals') is girding up its loins for a new cd. There have already been previous cds: the first was a single cd (including my version of "Last night I had a dream"), the second was a double (my contribution being "Jolly Coppers"). So I don't know whether the new one will be our third or our fourth. Complicating matters is another double cd in which Little Criminals performed their own songs ("All I want" and "Before noon" being my songs), so maybe the new cd will be the fourth, fifth or sixth. Complicated!

The cd's organiser (Susan) has asked for every contributor to produce a valid mechanical license for the song being performed. As the first LC cd was organised by someone who worked in music publishing, she worried about getting the licenses; the second cd organiser also worried about the licenses. The wikipedia article states that a mechanical license is not generally required for an artist who is recording and distributing their own work, and so the problem did not arise in the third cd.

I want to contribute my version of "Something Special", which has been laying in the vaults for several years, gathering dust. Susan suggested that all contributors first try to get a license via the Harry Fox Organisation which easily allows one to obtain a limited quantity license. Unfortunately, the song which I want is not available via HFO and so I have now written to the song's publishers to ask for a license.

I am hoping that they will ask a nominal sum for the license. According to Susan, a license from HFO for the quantities that we will produce will cost about $20, which is definitely nominal. If I get quoted a sum which differs radically from this, I will have to consider contributing a different song, one which is in the HFA catalogue. The first song which springs to mind is "Every time it rains", but this song has already been covered twice on previous cds. Whilst my version is somewhat different, I would prefer there to be no comparisons.