Cover Songs & Cover Song Smackdown Tuesdays

Who doesn’t love a unique cover of a great song? How about three covers of one song? We’ve all got a few cover songs we love — whether it’s an acoustic version of a hard rock song (think “Pardon Me (Acoustic)” by Incubus), a humorous spin on funny classic (think “Baby Got Back” by Jonathan Coulton), or a complete track reinvention (“Faith” by Limp Biscuit). Cover songs kindly bait listeners by borrowing solidly anchored “hooks”, then showcase a band’s stuff via the cover’s interpretation. For that reason, they’re excellent promotional tools, and are often used by bands and labels for just that purpose. In fact, the trend has become a primary promotional tool for many new bands, as I learned during my own YouTube cover song experiment.  In a nutshell, musicians are posting videos of themselves playing currently-radio-airing songs on YouTube to target the vast sea of listeners searching for those same songs — and get found. While that may annoy some rockstar-wannabe-purists (“I only respect originals, dude!”), some of these bands are quite talented, and rise to the top. Pomplamoose, Boyce Avenue, and David Choi have collected MILLIONS of views and thousands of subscribers by employing this strategy.  CD sales, tours, and label offers are even included in some cases…  This is no joke. Anyway, I love the fact that some very talented musicians are using freely available social media and major label content to generate exposure for themselves.  Eat that, major label moguls. In celebration of the trend — and in support of indie artists — and for my own amusement — I’m starting “Billboard Cover Tube Tuesdays” “Cover Song Smackdown Tuesdays”, where I’ll post three awesome cover song videos of a Billboard-topping single each week. If I get bored, I’ll stop. If I don’t, and/or people like it, I’ll continue. Check in tomorrow for the first of installment of… BILLBARD COVER TUBE TUESDAY COVER SONG SMACKDOWN TUESDAYS.]]>