Music as art is a combination of vocals and instruments designed to yield a harmonious emotional expression. It is a form of creativity and has extended to cover records released earlier. It is a modern form of music, where the originality of the old song disappears, and the newer version is more improved but primarily to make more profit as or more than the earlier song produced.
Covering records include tracing the original song aired by the new upcoming artists to change the originality of a song and incorporate their treatments (Eddy, 12). Recently, Kelly Clarkson was caught in an ethical dilemma in his song, 'Already Gone' and that of Beyoncé’s 'Halo', she tried to pull it out from being produced. This kind of an act shows that she was not greedy as many of upcoming artist would have done. It is simply the form of integrity to not use one's song and change it for personal gain without his or her consent. The artist whose record covered might be not having a platform or the resources to produce the record, and the artist who has the resources, steals from him or her. (Eddy, 11) King Records producer, Nathan had noticed the form of exploitation, and he refused to license songs unless they paid a fee to the original producer of the song.
The music in the 1950s was the sort of music needed at that time; the society expressed themselves through music that in media houses (Tarquin, 8). Its popularity called for much attention, anyone who needed to cover a song had to pay the original artist. Otherwise, lawsuits over samples taken from original records should be filed. Negotiations of agreements to allow another artist to cover a record to avoid illegality of the action. Robert Van Winkle (Vanilla Ice) had included a record made by Queen and David Bowie artist of the record 'Under Pressure' had to settle a filed complaint in court for sampling the original song and labeled it 'Ice Ice Baby'. Sampling artists are issued with licenses at considerable costs so as not to aggrieve the original owner of the sampled song.
Cover records have for decades shown more profits and gains than any other record produced. As long as the original song impressed the audience, a cover song was an assurance of great cost saving and profit making (Plasketes, 7). Kurt in a concert performed 'Man who Sold the World' originally sang by David Bowie made significant profit margins. All they had to do is replace the black voice with a white voice to fit the expectations of the audience. Major labels had the connections, resources and the versions they produced were appropriate for the market at the moment (Petersen, 35).
Elvis Presley creatively covered a record by Carl Perkins, whose original version known as 'Blue Suede Shoes. The albums covered by the white artists, but the originality of the song came from the black artists, and it was at that moment the cover records showed success by attracting large audiences (Tarquin, 8). Major labels had broader mainstreams, connections, resources and a ready market. Record producers knew that the market would not appreciate a black voice, but a white voice needed no hustle. So the covered versions were offered to the audience for free to counteract the original records purchased.
Cover records have for ages been a trending thing for the upcoming artists whose motives is to shake the audiences. Cover songs have reminded the listeners of individual events, cultures that people used to voice themselves through music (Plasketes, 5).
Cover songs are extreme integral part of society. Artists gain inspiration from each other through cover songs. Upcoming artists gain recognition and experience by doing covers of popular songs. Covering records have been going on for decades now. The increasing use of social media and video sharing sites such as YouTube has promoted the access and sharing of cover songs. Ethical, financial and legal issues are associated with the type of music, creativity as well, making covering songs a risky business in the industry. Cover songs have revived the popularity of a hit song, revolutionizing music from popular music to the new Pop and more new genres.
Works Cited
Eddy, Chuck. Rock And Roll Always Forgets. Durham: Duke University Press, 2011.
Petersen, Holger. Talking Music. London, Ont.: Insomniac Press, 2011.
Plasketes, George. Play It Again. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2010.
Tarquin, Brian. Insider's Guide To Music Licensing. New York: Allworth Press, 2014.
