In the
music industry
The music industry are individuals and organizations that earn money by Songwriter, writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music and sheet music, presenting live music, concerts, ...
, a pre-release cover version is a type of
cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
that arises when a cover artist releases a version of a song before the original artist does.
This practise takes advantage of a 'release window';
it occurs when an upcoming song receives much
airplay despite not yet having been released.
Pre-release cover versions are common in the UK because of the unique
situation there in that songs by big acts get weeks of airplay before being released,
giving cover artists enough time for
session musician
A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...
s and
computer experts to record a
near-exact cover version of the song.
For example, UK number one "
Talk Dirty" by
Jason Derulo featuring
2 Chainz
Tauheed K. Epps (born September 12, 1977), known professionally as 2 Chainz (formerly Tity Boi), is an American rapper and actor. Born and raised in College Park, Georgia, he gained recognition as one-half of the Southern hip-hop duo Playaz Ci ...
,
made No. 71 the week before it made No. 1 in the form of a pre-release cover version by
Select Hits.
Usually the original artist's record label will notice the cover version and release the original early; one example is when
Can You Blow My covered
Flo Rida
Tramar Lacel Dillard (born September 16, 1979), known professionally as Flo Rida ( ), is an American rapper and singer. His 2007 debut and breakout single "Low (Flo Rida song), Low" was number one for 10 weeks in the United States and broke the ...
's "
Whistle
A whistle is a musical instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It is a type of Fipple, fipple flute, and may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a s ...
" and making the top 40 at No. 38,
causing Rida's record label to rush-release the song mid-week.
's "
Wake Me Up!" was intended to be released on 8 September 2013
however on 15 July 2013
the Official Charts Company
The Official UK Charts Company Limited (formerly Music Industry Chart Services Limited), trading as the Official Charts Company (OCC) or the Official Charts (formerly the Chart Information Network), is a British inter-professional organisation ...
announced that it would be released that week
after a group called
Spark Productions recorded a pre-release cover version and made No. 26 on the
UK Singles Chart with it.
A successful pre-release cover version is
Precision Tunes' version of
Maroon 5
Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Adam Levine, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine (musician), James Valentine, d ...
's "
Payphone", which sold 34,492 copies
and charted in the top ten on three charts.
After ''
The Sunday Telegraph
''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, first published on 5 February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Tele ...
'' tracked him down, he said that "We have currently restructured
">T Records
and its employees,
ndare in the process of issuing takedowns
f our previously released coversand researching accounting for those releases and plan to relinquish any monies made on the nine releases".
Legal status
While the practice is legal,
the area of licensing they are operating in has been described by
PRS for Music as "tricky".
Barney Hooper from
PRS for Music said that along with record labels and publishers the trend was something they were "investigating" and "thinking about a bit more".
In the United States, a songwriter has the preemptive right to determine who will record the first version of a song, making pre-release covers less common there.
References
{{reflist, colwidth=25em
Cover versions
Song forms
Music production
Sound-alike