Cover

In popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition (performance or recording) of a previously recorded song. In its current use, it can sometimes have a pejorative meaning — implying that the original recording should be regarded as the definitive version, usually in the sense of an "authentic" rendition, and all others are merely lesser competitors, alternatives or tributes (no matter how popular). Despite this, some covers do become more popular than the originals. For example, Soft Cell's version of "Tainted Love" is much better known than the original. While some people are attached to the original versions of the songs they love, there is no inherent reason to expect the original to be better. Some cover artists happen to be very talented performers, and some put a new spin on the music or even play it as though it were a different genre. For example, 2Cellos has turned AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" into a vibrant work of classical music, and Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox performs many contemporary songs in older styles. Furthermore, the negative perception of covers is limited mainly to pop music. In jazz, it is common to play standards, and in classical music, it is par for the course to play music written by other people. While some cover artists focus exclusively on covers, others perform covers because they love a particular song or to draw in a larger audience for their original works. Although covers are sometimes inferior to the originals, they also provide an indication of how popular a song is. Billboard — and other magazines recording the popularity of the musical artists and hit tunes — originally measured the sales success of the published tune, not just recordings of it, or later the airplay that it also managed to achieve. In that context, the greater the number of cover versions, the more successful the song.