Association

In the age of ad blockers it was no longer possible to cover the costs of webhosting by advertising revenues. Furthermore the website had and has to be developed in technical matters. That is why we founded COVER.INFO n. e. V., a non-registered association, on June 1, 2018. The goal is to keep the project COVER.INFO alive, not only by voluntary work but also by donations.

The association is managed by the board consisting in members of the editorial staff of COVER.INFO who are also taking care of the content of the database.
 

Altruistic Activity Serving Public Benefits

COVER.INFO n. e. V. is an association serving public benefits which for the first time was officially recognized by the tax authorities of Oranienburg, Germany (Finanzamt Oranienburg, decision from June 25, 2018, file number 053 / 142 / 03641 K03, lastly decision from October 28, 2025). The association is altruistically serving the advancement of people education in popular music. Therefore donations to the association can be set off against tax liability for purposes of German income and corporate tax. The association has the right to issue donation receipts.

When using its resources, the association must obey its statutes which are the basis for the official recognition as an association serving public benefits. Thus the association can spend its money only for its own purposes.
 

Contact Us

The best way to contact COVER.INFO n. e. V. is by sending an e-mail to verein [at] cover.info.
 

Donations

Here we tell you how to donate money to the association.
 

Statutes

Please note: The following is a machine translation of the German statutes, provided so that you can read what they say. It has no legal force. Only the German version is binding.
 

Statutes of 1 June 2018, amended by resolution of the general meeting of the members of 4 August 2025
 

Section 1
Name and Seat

(1) The association bears the name COVER.INFO n. e. V.
(2) The seat of the association is Oranienburg.
 

Section 2
Financial Year

The financial year is the calendar year.
 

Section 3
Purpose of the Association

(1) The association pursues exclusively and directly charitable purposes within the meaning of the section “Tax-privileged purposes” of the German Fiscal Code (Abgabenordnung).
(2) The purpose of the association is the advancement of people education in the field of popular music.
(3) The purpose set out in the statutes is realised above all through
– the documentation, free of charge and publicly accessible, of certain musical releases, namely cover versions, medleys, samples and musical quotations together with their related originals, and
– the assumption of the operation, maintenance and further development of the website COVER.INFO including its database of cover versions and musical quotations. The database enables the public to find out which songs take up other, already existing pieces of music, and how often certain musical works have been taken up again in the history of music.
 

Section 4
Bodies of the Association

The bodies of the association are the management board (Section 11) and the general meeting of the members (Section 12).
 

Section 5
Altruistic Activity

The association is active altruistically; it does not primarily pursue its own economic purposes.
 

Section 6
Permitted Uses of Funds

(1) The funds of the association may be used only for the purposes set out in the statutes.
(2) The association may reimburse members of the association and of the management board for expenses incurred by them in the course of their activities for the association.
(3) The general meeting of the members may, by resolution, grant members of the management board a remuneration for their work on the board.
 

Section 7
Prohibited Uses of Funds

(1) In their capacity as members, the members receive no allocations from the funds of the association. The association may use its funds neither for the direct nor for the indirect support or advancement of political parties.
(2) The association may not benefit any person by means of expenditure unrelated to the purpose of the association or by disproportionately high remuneration.
 

Section 8
Acquisition of Membership

(1) Natural persons may become members of the association.
(2) The application for admission must be submitted in text form (Section 126b of the German Civil Code).
(3) The management board decides on the application for admission.
 

Section 9
Termination of Membership

(1) Membership ends by withdrawal, by expulsion or by the death of the member.
(2) Withdrawal is effected by declaration in text form to a member of the management board. The declaration of withdrawal must be made to the management board subject to one month’s notice, in each case with effect from the end of the financial year.
(3) Expulsion may only take place for good cause. Good cause is in particular conduct damaging to the aims of the association, the breach of obligations under the statutes, or arrears of contributions of at least one year. The management board decides on the expulsion. The member may appeal against the expulsion to the general meeting of the members; the appeal must be addressed to the management board in text form within one month. The general meeting of the members decides finally by resolution.
 

Section 10
Membership Fees

Reasonable contributions may be levied from the members in order to cover the financial needs of the association. The general meeting of the members determines the amount of the contributions and their due date by resolution.
 

Section 11
Management Board

(1) The management board represents the association in and out of court.
(2) It is responsible for the management of business, including the conclusion of contracts with third parties, for convening and chairing the general meeting of the members, and for the finances of the association.
(3) It may consist of one or more natural persons.
(4) The management board is newly determined by resolution of the general meeting of the members if the management board itself or at least one third of the members of the association requests a resolution. By way of derogation from Section 12(4) sentence 1 and 12(7) sentence 2, the majority of the members of the association takes the place of the majority of the votes cast. As long as no valid resolution has been passed, the previous management board remains in office.
(5) Each member of the management board may represent the association individually. Internally, they may not act against the declared will of the majority of the members of the management board, nor contrary to resolutions of the general meeting of the members.
(6) A member of the management board may enter into legal transactions with themselves in the name of the association, unless this is prohibited by resolution of the general meeting of the members.
(7) The management board may adopt rules of procedure.
 

Section 12
General Meeting of the Members and Passing of Resolutions

(1) The affairs of the association are settled, insofar as they are not to be attended to by the management board, by resolution at a meeting of the members.
(2) The general meeting of the members should be held online as a conference call. The meeting should be convened in text form at least one week in advance. The notice is deemed to have reached a member if it was addressed to the last address they made known to the association. Email addresses, telephone numbers for receiving SMS and messenger accounts customarily used by the member concerned also count as addresses.
(3) The general meeting of the members has a quorum irrespective of the number of members present, provided that at least two members are present.
(4) Subject to Section 13, resolutions are decided by the majority of the votes cast. In the event of a tie, whatever the majority of the members of the management board voted for is deemed to be decided; if the application of this rule produces no result, the resolution is not adopted. In case of absence, a vote may be cast in text form to the management board in advance of the general meeting of the members.
(5) The validity of a resolution does not require the subject matter to be specified when the meeting is convened. However, no resolutions of fundamental importance to the association or to the website COVER.INFO should be passed at the meeting if the subject matter of the resolution was not specified when the meeting was convened.
(6) Resolutions passed should be documented in text form.
(7) Resolutions may also be passed without a meeting of the members, by circulation procedure. Subject to Section 13, a resolution is valid if, within a set period of at least one week, the majority of the voting members, but at least two, have declared their consent to the resolution in text form to a member of the management board. Paragraph (4) sentence 2 applies.
(8) The general meeting of the members must be convened if fundamental decisions are to be taken for which the circulation procedure is not suitable, if the interests of the association so require, or if one third of the members so demands. The management board decides whether a resolution is suitable for the circulation procedure.
(9) Motions to remove the management board from office, to amend the statutes and to dissolve the association which did not already reach the members with the invitation to the general meeting of the members may only be resolved upon at the next general meeting of the members.
 

Section 13
Amendments to the Statutes and Dissolution of the Association

A resolution containing an amendment to the statutes requires, at the general meeting of the members or in the circulation procedure and by way of derogation from Section 12(4) sentence 1 and 12(7) sentence 2, a majority of three quarters of the votes cast. By way of derogation therefrom, an amendment to the purpose of the association or its dissolution requires the consent of three quarters of the members.
 

Section 14
Consequences of the Dissolution of the Association

In the event of the dissolution or winding-up of the association, or if its tax-privileged purposes cease to apply, the assets of the association pass to SOS-Kinderdörfer weltweit Hermann-Gmeiner-Fonds Deutschland e. V. (SOS Children’s Villages Hermann Gmeiner Fund Germany), with its seat in Munich, which must use them directly and exclusively for charitable purposes.

Resolved on 1 June 2018

Thomas Wagner     Herbert Zach     Axel Mellenthin
as founding members