Covers

               In our recent class discussions, we have been talking a lot about remix culture. We’ve discussed how easy it is for artists to sample parts of preexisting recordings and sell them as their own. This has gotten me thinking about covers of songs and how easy it is to make them. Now that virtually everyone can record themselves with the touch of a button, people can upload videos of their own covers with ease. Most pop songs that are released now are covered hundreds or thousands of times.

I remember reading once that new artists cover songs because that’s how they get recognized. If an unknown artist writes an original song and posts it on YouTube, the chances of it ever getting viewed are miniscule. If they cover a well-known song, though, their cover will pop up whenever someone looks up that song. This is another way (in addition to remixes) that people are getting recognized for others’ work.

Covers are also a way that songs become more widespread and well-known. Without covers, artists would have millions fewer people listening to their pieces every day. On the other hand, people are getting thousands of views for their covers of songs while the original artist is often not getting any financial compensation for the use of their work.

               There is one group I love who has sustained their entire careers by covering other artists’ songs. Pentatonix is an acapella group that rearranges pop songs, records them, and performs those songs on tour. In fact, this group has won Grammys for their arrangement of a Daft Punk medley and for their collaboration with Dolly Parton to rearrange her song “Jolene.” Pentatonix have been able to build their reputation though their arrangements because they put their own twists on songs and present them in a completely new way. More than that, their vocal skills are outstanding. I personally believe that the reason they are so famous is their talent; they didn’t get famous because of the artists who originally wrote the songs.

               In the Copyright Criminals video, one of the people they interviewed said that he thought it was lazy to borrow other artist’s music; he said that remixers were “taking something that was already awesome” and not putting any of their own work into making something “awesome” themselves. To an extent, I think that’s true. However I also believe that sometimes, people that cover or remix songs make them even more awesome than they originally were. Just the other day my friend was playing a remix of an Elle Goulding song in the car. While it was playing she said, “I love this remix. I don’t really like the original song, but this is cool.” So perhaps remixers aren’t stealing something that’s already awesome, but they are taking something that isn’t awesome yet and making it so. In that case, the original artists should be thankful in a sense. They are getting a wider audience to listen to their song without having to change anything about it themselves.

               Covers have become a part of our culture as much as remixes have. As media technology progresses, they are becoming increasingly easy to make, edit, and share. While the original artist might not be getting all the credit for these covers, I overall believe that they should be grateful. Their songs are reaching wider audiences, becoming more popular, and sometimes are being improved upson. These are just some of my thoughts; I am interested to read what others think about covers and how artists should get proper recognition for them.