When people cover music they buy a licence to cover the music. Only when you create a photo from scratch is it entirely your own work. I'm not an expert in copyright, but I'd always buy a licence, then if the licence allows you to modify the work, you're still within the scope of the licence. There's no rule against manipulation, just against using someone else's work without their permission or a licence. There is a blog on it below. It's like someone taking your article, changing a few words and then saying it's their article. Nonsense. It's still your article - they've just changed a few words. Anyway, read the section entitled: 'Can I edit images to avoid copyright infringement?'.... https://www.resourcespace.com/blog/how-to-avoid-copyright-infringement-with-images

And on the topic of music licences - pubs, clubs and venues buy music licences, churches buy music licences, bands buy licences to perform cover songs. Some karaoke software probably comes with the licences already paid as part of the package - like my computer has a licence for Windows included in the price.