What is a cover version of a song and how to put it on the Internet

 Covering a famous song is usually an inspiring and extremely rewarding experience for musicians that can do wonders for their success and career if done right. In this quick guide, we'll list some of the key factors that make a good cover song and walk you through the recording and distribution process on your own.

What is a cover song

A cover version, cover version, remake, or simply cover can be defined as a performance or recording of a previously recorded song by a musician other than the original composer or recording artist. This new version may differ more or less from the original version, mainly through musical adaptations (such as instrumentation, melodic paraphrasing or tempo changes), but always has similarities in terms of structure. It is important to note that if more extensive changes are made to a song in terms of arrangement, genre, lyrics, or word order, it is no longer a cover, but an edit of the song that requires a license to distribute.

It can be said that nothing compares to the original version of a song, but throughout history there have been many cases where cover versions were not only more commercially successful and popular than the original recording, but also drew a lot of attention for the covers. painter. Therefore, many musicians choose the strategy of recording a cover version to get their own tracks noticed, which can end up being extremely beneficial for their career. In addition, making a cover of a song can help you improve your knowledge and skills with various musical instruments, as well as inspire you to develop or improve your own production style.

Some of the examples of very successful and famous cover versions are Whitney Houston's version of "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton; "Valerie" by Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse (originally by the Zoutons), Aretha Franklin's version of Otis Redding's original "Respect", or Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails.

How to cover a song for an independent musician

Do your research and choose a song well

Naturally, the song you choose and its popularity can play an important role - if it is known, the likelihood that people will listen to your version is much higher than if it was rather an unknown song by an unknown artist. Choosing an uncharted song can certainly be fun and benefit your creativity and artistic expression, but it likely won't help your marketing or career.

However, choosing a song that has already been covered multiple times may not be the best choice either. Fans may be less interested in such a cover, as it may seem repetitive, devoid of originality and even a calculated step. Therefore, it is very important to find the perfect song to cover. It's definitely worth spending enough time browsing archives of your favorite artists and songs, or exploring YouTube and music streaming platforms, to find a hit song that resonates with you, your artistic brand and personality.

It is estimated that around 90,000 new songs are uploaded every day on Spotify alone. Thus, the likelihood that a popular song has already been covered is quite high. So dedicate some extra time to researching and studying previous cover versions of your chosen songs. This way, you will not only avoid duplication, but you will also discover the opportunity to do something better or more unusual than others.

Experiment with different genres and bring your own personality

The song you choose may not necessarily belong to the same musical style that you tend to create. While you can't change the genre or arrangement of a track, don't be afraid to deviate from the song's original sound and experiment with different instruments and musical compositions. It is extremely important to bring your personality and musical characteristics to the cover to make it unique and more interesting for your audience.

In doing so, you will be able to show your personal way of interpreting the song and show what kind of musician you are. You should also be aware that covering someone else's song should be far from karaoke, or more importantly, dubbing the song (making a copy of a song is not actually legal). While it's admirable to record and perform a song exactly or nearly exactly as the original musician/composer did, it's not something your audience will be interested in. If a version of a widely popular song already exists, listeners will most likely not want to listen to another version that sounds exactly the same.

Make sure it's still a cover of the song

This has been mentioned before, but it's important, so we'll repeat it again! Although, as stated above, experimentation and action in one's own way is welcomed and supported, it is important to remember that any cover version must contain the same lyrics, melody, and song structure as the original version.

Making too many edits to the original song may result in your version being legally no longer considered a cover.

Choose high quality audio and video

As stated earlier, making a cover is not an uncommon practice among artists and musicians. Therefore, strong competition requires a lot of effort. This also applies to investments in quality audio and video equipment. It's no secret that artists with high quality tracks and high definition videos attract more listeners and thus get more attention and engagement. If you feel like you need to level up your gear, this is definitely something worth spending money on.

Owning equipment that allows you to produce quality tracks will help you make the right impression on your listeners. As a result, as with any type of track, your audience will enjoy listening to your cover and be more likely to listen to it multiple times and share it with others.

Keep doing covers if that's your goal.

While there are examples of musicians who have become particularly successful after recording and releasing a cover version, it doesn't happen overnight. So if you decide to pave your way with cover songs, it will require consistency and most likely a publishing plan.

Keep in mind that, just like recording and releasing your own songs, creating a cover version is a lot of work and can take quite a bit of time, especially if you also want to shoot and publish videos, most likely on YouTube. Also be prepared for the fact that it can take a long time before your work starts to pay off, so try not to get discouraged by a slowly growing number of plays, followers or subscribers.

How to legally cover a song

Creating a cover version of a song often involves a lot of uncertainty and questions regarding the sale and distribution of the song from a legal point of view. Are covers copyrighted? Do you need permission to cover a song? How do I get permission to cover? To give a simple answer: Yes, cover songs are copyrighted and if you want to record them and distribute them legally, you need permission from the copyright holder. However, different rules may apply depending on where you are from, what market you are delivering your cover version to, and what distribution media, physical or digital, you are using.

Cover song distribution

Cover release on YouTube

Playing your cover on YouTube can be a little more difficult than selling it as a physical or digital recording. This is because YouTube is a video platform, and in order to use someone else's song in an audiovisual project or motion picture, you need to obtain a sync license (in addition to a mechanical license) - even if it's just a slideshow or a single. image accompanied by music. Since it can be quite difficult for an independent artist to obtain the necessary license, the truth is that most musicians publish covers of their songs on YouTube without one.

Thus, the platform analyzes each video uploaded through the so-called Content ID system to determine if the video contains copyrighted material. This way, YouTube can determine if you own the copyright to the song and put a "claim" mark on the cover video if you don't. Based on this, the right holder can decide on the following actions. They can block your video, restrict it to a specific country/territory, mute the video, or block access to the video on certain platforms or apps. More often than not, however, the copyright holder allows their content to be used by advertising on the cover of the video and earning some or all of the revenue generated from the clip.

In this case, you should be prepared for the fact that you may not make money on releasing a cover on YouTube. On the other hand, you can consider this as an additional marketing and promotional activity, while generating income from the distribution of the cover track on streaming platforms or selling it in physical and/or digital form.

How to distribute a cover version using New Music top

You've recorded your cover and now it's finally time to spread the song! At New Music top, we provide musicians with clear directions to let them know if they have actually recorded a cover that we can distribute and give them information about what we need from them for final processing.

To distribute a cover version, you will need to provide the following information:

Name(s) of the original publisher(s) of the song

Name(s) of the song's original composer(s) (may be different from the artist's name)

Name(s) of the author(s) of the original lyrics of the song (may differ from the name of the artist)

Also, tag your cover as "cover" as this will speed up the release of the song.