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The ethics of doing covers songs


The ethics of doing covers songs  

12 members have voted

  1. 1. The ethics of doing covers songs

    • Do you view covers as a waste of time ?
    • Do you modernized the song ?
    • Do you try to emulate the songs sound ambience or mood ?
    • Does the band recreate the song verbatim, note for note ?


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Doing covers can be a disservice if its done badly. In my opinion, medleys are often the worst way to do covers, especially when a band makes a bunch of different songs all sound the same by using the same beat and/or sound for the whole medley. Stars on 45 and Jive Bunny are a couple of serious offenders. If a performer doesn't like a song enough to play the whole thing, they probably shouldn't play it at all, there are many other songs that they can play.

 

IMO artists who cover a relatively unknown artist's song should announce who wrote it when they play live. That is especially a good idea when it is an artist that never got the acknowledgement that they deserve, such as many blues players/song writers. Otherwise the audience may think its an original. The original artist needs the exposure and the audience will benefit from the quick and painless history lesson. I discovered a lot of great music because a performer announced where the song came from.

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I sometimes announce an obscure song by saying, "If you never heard this before, I wrote it. If you have heard it before ______ wrote it" (Inserting the proper name). It gets a giggle and I think it helps the audience remember the name of the songwriter, or at least recognize it if they hear it again.

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takin a break from learnin "AINT NO REST FOR THE WICKED by CTE The guitar is open G with a slide.

Now I do a live show with one acoustic guitar.

Ain't gonna retune and slam a slide on my fanger no siree bob I hain't!

so I found a version in G that works for me useing Barre/power chords and whatnot

already changed some of the lyrics to help the song flow mo bettah

and readin through the posts, one cat mentioned playing the whole song or not at all and I do agree to learn the entire song. you can do a shortened version. Do the entire song yet you MUST do the song justice in any event cause you don't want the song to fizzle, you want it to pop and move.

Folkes is already sangin along with the chorus so the arrangement and tempo I am employing seems to accommodate the recognizable chorus.

I got the essence of the tune, the chorus sounds the same so folkes sang along,the song list goes smoothly no retune/no extra guitar, added four minutes to the song list and lastly and most importantly ITS A COOL TUNE that folkes will appreciate and enjoy! yet no one feels cheated they remember a cool song that sounded just fine. so no the song ain't ezzack. YET the listener hears their faveo tune done well. ethically pure. true to the tune. satisfying to both artist AND listener. what more could one expect or need. .

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Ethics? All I know is I never wanted to play other people's music but I enjoyed learning to play being influenced by great artists and songs I admired. I was driven to want to be an artist, write and perform my own songs. I did a half assed attempt at trying to make that dream a reality and too late at that. Ok I own it. Did the Nashville thing, wrote with hit songwriters, got a few cuts, more holds, found out I can hang. Didn't make me any real cash so I'm back to playing covers which gets me paid well. No ethics in it, it's a very cut and dry thing to me. I play tunes people know that I can stand to play and get paid to do it. It's a job, nothing more. I do not get an ego boost out of it, or any real joy. I don't HATE it per se and at least as a consolation of devoting my life to being an artist I get to play someone's music albeit NOT MINE, it can still seem like drudgery and a bitter pill. I'm the only guy I know who isn't tickled pink to just be able to be on stage being Paid! regularly. I actually feel regret and like i'm a failure because all I every wanted to do was write and perform my own music. I don't play more than a handful of my own songs these days mostly because it actually makes me feel WORSE as it spotlights my failure to achieve my dreams. Then again, I had a {censored} plan or no play to achieve those dreams so I own that and know it's my own fault!

 

Oh well, life goes on and i'm getting to the point where I just feel grateful for being relatively healthy and waking up everyday with a family who loves me. It's been a VERY rough 5 years emotionally however.

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Remember when John Coltrane said, "I really like the melody in 'My Favorite Things,' and out of deference to Rodgers and Hammerstein, and in the interest of giving the audience exactly they expect to hear, I am going to play it totally straight with no funny business."

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I actually feel regret and like i'm a failure because all I every wanted to do was write and perform my own music. I don't play more than a handful of my own songs these days mostly because it actually makes me feel WORSE as it spotlights my failure to achieve my dreams.

 

I think the only time you can achieve your dreams is if they sync up with other people's dreams, and you can express what they can't.

 

At one point in my 20s I had to make the choice between continuing with music as a business, or continuing with it as a biological imperative. I chose the latter. Any success I've had since then has been due to being in the right place, at the right time, with the right artist or material. These days I'm making more music than ever, enjoying it more than ever, and making it available for the people who enjoy my music. That number of people is too small for significant/consistent commercial success, but enthusiastic enough to provide the incentive for me to share it.

 

Sometimes chasing a dream just scares it off, and it becomes more distant. All you can be is yourself, which may or may not produce art that appeals to large numbers of people.

 

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Good points, Mr. Anderton.

 

I'd like to add that one should realize whether or not their genre is commercially viable before they get their hopes up. As Mojo Nixon said, singer-songwriters are a dime a dozen, and everyone from Tom Waits to Jimmy Page have a gimmick. In 2017, you don't record Ambient music in your home studio and put it online with the hope that it'll be a hit, though.

 

I've also learned that the best way to promote your music is not necessarily online. Live performance is the way to go if you want an audience. These days, you can hire a manager and ad agency to promote your stuff, but they often get you a bunch of social media followers rather than an actual fanbase. But if you play some gigs, throw in a few decent covers, and go at a steady pace, people will show back up. They may not even think your music is amazing, but it's tolerable enough for them to socialize during.

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If you walked into a club and some band was doing your music

Would you want to hear their spun on it ?

Or how would you feel if they did an exact cover of your song ?

 

I have had this happen. It was an odd feeling; on the one hand I was a bit ticked off that they were playing one of our songs in a venue that we played in. On the other hand, I was flattered that they felt my song was worth covering. They did as close to an exact cover as they could....I think I would have preferred to have them do their own take on it. When you hear a close cover, I think you listen for their mistakes; when they make it their own, you're listening for their creativity. As an artist, I prefer to hear the creativity.

 

That said, I play with a couple of groups where the job is to be a human jukebox. OK, I can do that, and thanks for the paycheck. I will do whatever the gig calls for musically - I have other things that make a bigger difference in my enjoyment of the show.

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I wonder if the Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, London Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, or any of the others of the world's greatest orchestras ever worry about doing covers of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Suk, Dvorak, and so on?

 

Or the people who played songs by Mann/Weil, King/Goffin, Leiber/Stoller, Sedaka/Greenfield, Gershwin/Gershwin, David/Bacharach, Gamble/Huff, Holland/Dozier/Holland, Ashford/Simpson, Greenwich/Barry, Porter/Hayes, Pomus/Shuman, Whitfield/Strong, Rodgers/Hart, etc.?

 

There is nothing unethical about playing songs you didn't write yourself.

 

There is nothing wrong with doing them your way.

 

There is nothing wrong with playing nothing but your own original material

 

There is nothing wrong with mixing it up

 

There is more than one right way to make music. If you get an appreciative audience, whatever you are doing is right.

 

Insights and incites by Notes.

 

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