What is covering music?
It’s when a musician performs or reinterprets some other musician’s work. When a musician acts so, they are said to be “covering” music. Covers can range from outright playing another persons song the way it is to totally changing its style and almost making it into different song completely. There are an assortment of reasons why musicians might do cover music. Occasionally, it’s a form of tribute and respect. Legendary bands frequently have their songs covered as a testament to their influence in the musical world. The music industry is an originative community, and artists oftentimes listen to each other’s work. Covering another musician’s song can be a way of stating, “Hey, I think your song is cool, and I would like to perform it.” In another example it can be a test of a musician’s skill or barely for fun: “How can I make this rock song sound like a mellow ballad?” And some of the times, it can be a form of critique: “I don’t think your song is so great, and I think I could do a better job.” But overall, covering is typically a congratulate. Isn’t imitation (or perhaps reinterpretation) the sincerest form of flattery?
Performing a covering music may represent advantages and disadvantages to a musician, specially to musicians who are anticipating the break into the industry and make it big.
Musicians who have already made a name for themselves already have a developed, recognized style so performing covers does not have as much of an effect for them. Nonetheless, little known musicians might often begin by performing covers since these are songs that are already familiar and people will recognize and pay attention to them. This is why several musicians starting out on youtube will post videos of covers. Viewers will see well-known Top 40s songs on acoustic guitar and think it is neat. Then, when a youtube musician has developed a significant following, they might post their own original material along with their covers. Then they may start becoming famous in their personal right. However, cover music can create a booby trap for musicians whose covers overshadow their own work. A few artists do not have a problem with this and in point of fact build careers off of covering other artists, but for musicians who are anticipating to be recognized as original performers, this can be an issue.
So it is truly up to the musician and what they desire to achieve. Cover music can at first be a trifle of a crutch, but it may as well be a neat way to present one’s work to the listening public. Depending upon what sort of image you prefer to build as an artist or what kind of music you would like to perform, you will be able to use cover music to your advantage or not.
