Covers bands - are they just parasites? (& how PRS works)

[Al Krow]

What say you the collective BC hive-mind? 

 

Would you say the same about a well known artist covering a track and making it their own? 

 

Edited September 25, 2023 by Al Krow
There's some useful chat on PRS if anyone's interested.

[paul_5]

I think they're a welcome part of the live experience. Not everyone can write songs and/or be a recording artist, so cover bands give amateur musicians a chance to experience the thrill of playing live. 

Similarly not everyone can afford to pay to see a live band every week, so it provides inexpensive entertainment for punters down the Dog and Duck.

 

The way I see it it's a win/win.

 

I think if an established artist wants to release a cover of someone else's song then have at it; the original artist/label can always stop the release of the cover if they don't like it.

[uk_lefty]

No.

[sandy_r]

12 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

What say you the collective BC hive-mind? 

 

Would you say the same about a well known artist covering a track and making it their own? 

 

 

Now that you ask, I'd say that Covers bands are following on in the honourable tradition of the dance bands dating back at least to the last century (in an organised way), obtaining and playing from sheet music of the then-latest 78 releases, and well-prior to Hardy's time, with village bands providing the musical entertainment and accompaniment to social occasions

 

I've felt honoured to be a small part of it, tbh

 

 

[Pirellithecat]

Cover bands are parasites in the same way as actors performing plays by Shakespeare (or other).  They do not pretend to be the originators of the material but often add their own interpretation.     

They may be performing at the RSC or the local theatre group, may be good or not.    So pretty similar to cover bands or even, perhaps orchestras.

Discuss

😅🫢

 

[Teyeplayer]

No, the parasites are often the guys that run the open mic nights. They go into a local venue that has had live music on for years and offer to run nights for a third (or less) of the usual fee. For a time they make it work, taking half of the money for their ‘expenses’ and giving out a tenner here or there to cover ‘fuel for the featured artist’. After three or four months they’ve exhausted every connection they have locally, the landlord calls time on it and the open mic guy moves on to do the same in another local venue. However, the landlord now knows he can get an evening’s entertainment for a fraction of the prior cost so lowers what he is willing to pay accordingly. Local music scene dries up. Cue open mic guy ranting on social media that nobody will pay for live music anymore when nobody will book him and his band. Seen it a few too many times now.

[itu]

Music

- composing

- arranging

- performing

- learning

- enjoying

...

 

Whatever you do, what's not to like?

[Jackroadkill]

Having been in several originals bands over the years and currently being in the only covers band I've ever been part of I can say this:

 

People like local covers bands more than local originals bands, at least in terms of Friday night activities.  My band doesn't do what you'd call standards, either, but the fact that at least a few people in the audience will know each song at the very least seems to make a big difference.

[BigRedX]

As a musician:

It's not for me. I'd been in one "proper" covers band, and I've got any need to be in a similar band completely and utterly out of my system. In my personal opinion playing in a covers band (compared with the sorts of originals bands I've been in over the last 30 years), for too much effort for too little financial gain and almost no artistic satisfaction. I went in to playing covers having seen the band I ended up joining because one of their guitarists was a very good friend of mine, because I thought it would be great playing songs that I had enjoyed when I was getting into music in the 70s. The reality was that I ended up hating several of the songs we played and quite honestly I would never want to hear them again under any circumstances. I always felt that our audience would have been just as happy and probably better served by an appropriately stocked video jukebox.

 

As an audience member:

Not at all for me. In the past the only covers bands I have gone knowingly to see are ones where I knew at least one of the musicians. They tend to play in the sorts of establishments I wouldn't normally frequent, that appear to be mostly filled with the sorts of people I would want to avoid. To me it always seemed as though the music at these gigs was little more that aural wallpaper, or to behave badly under the influence of too much alcohol using the excuse that they were "getting into the music"to justify their actions. I'm probably out of the ordinary as a musician in that I don't see anything special about "live music" per se. So to me most covers bands come across as a random set of musicians playing a random selection of songs to a random audience. I think most of the time the typical covers band could be replaced with a well-chosen playlist and no-one who had come out for the evening would really complain.

 

As a composer:

Bring it on! Every time someone covers one of my songs it's going to be money in the bank. So far it has only happened once, and the earnings were meagre, but that doesn't rule out something better in the future. Of course I'd rather it was my version that was successful, but I'll take someone else's version of one of my songs being successful as a very good second best.

[EssexBuccaneer]

I started playing in my early-mid teens. Originals only, because that was what music was about. Making your own material and putting it out there. Hoping to make it. I put my heart and soul into a couple of bands in the hope of being the next big thing. That generally took the form of playing gigs to anywhere between a dozen and two hundred people, for barely any money, and a lot of sunk hours in writing and rehearsal, not to mention studio time and money. 
 

Now I’m a lot older (43) and accept that I’m never going to tour round the world and have platinum albums. So what can I do to enjoy my music? Play in a covers band. The crowds are bigger, the money is better, and the gigs are more fun and far less stress.

 

 

[neepheid]

I'm as parasitic as they come.

[Steve Browning]

John Paul Jones wrote no part of Stairway To Heaven. How different to a bass player in another band playing the song?

 

Not a big fan of tribute bands though. A mate of mine was in a Who tribute and you could almost imagine him thinking he was Roger Daltrey.

[peteb]

To use @BigRedX's headings: 

 

As a musician: 

I've been gigging since I've been sixteen and the thing is that I like to play live. When I was a kid it was all about being in original bands, but since I turned 30 or so (a long time ago) I've played in original bands (recording a few albums), many covers bands and more recently, a couple of really good tributes. I the band is good, playing decent music and there is an audience then I don't really care what category the band is. The one exception is that I wouldn't rehearse up an original band to play pubs or other small gigs. You have to appreciate that it isn't the 80s / 90s anymore and you are not going to fill a club unless you have really made a big splash, whereas 30 years ago you would have done. I've been on albums that have had licensing / distribution deals (mainly with German labels for some reason) and sold a few copies, but there was no suggestion that the band was going to rehearse and play live unless it was offered a genre specific festival or support. 

 

As an audience member:

I will go and support live music and go and see bands whenever possible. My expectations are different depending on the type of band. If I go and see an original band, I'm happy to travel and pay for a ticket, but I expect them to offer a good package and be good live - expectations are high. When you go to see a tribute band, you know that you will like the music and you expect to pay and the band to be of a good standard. Watching a covers band in a pub is a different thing, where they are part of a night out when you are meeting friends and you're probably going to have a few beers. I still expect them to be decent and hear songs that I know, ideally with just a few that I'm not so familiar with. 

 

As a composer: 

I'm not really a composer, although I have co-written a fair few songs in the past. It doesn't bother me if I haven't written the material, I'm just the bass player and I want to play decent material live. 

 

Edited September 23, 2023 by peteb

[Bassassin]

Odd question. Realistically the huge majority of gigging musicians, whether or not they started out in original bands, will end up in a cover band of one sort or another if they want to be out performing & taking home a few quid.

 

Not really for me - I was in a cover band which ran alongside my original band in the 90s - with the same guitarist - basically because we were getting regular gigs, OK money & it helped subsidise the 'proper' band. It was fun & we had a regular crowd many of whom ended up coming to the original band's gigs, but I've never been drawn to playing covers just for the sake of getting out gigging. Maybe one day?

[Lozz196]

I’ve been in many covers bands, to me they’re part of the entertainment business, if people didn’t want them they’d soon dry out.

[msb]

Elvis just covered songs. 

[DJpullchord]

Writing music is great fun.

 

I’ll play any cover you want, if you pay me.

[DCS222]

I couldn’t play music as a teenager (though I loved going to gigs). Hit my 40’s and I learned guitar and could hold a reasonable backing vocal… a pub covers band is pretty much the pinnacle of my abilities… during covid, I did write, record, produce and release a song and I have written a few others  but more as a vanity/self-challenge project than any serious attempt at hitting “The slightly bigger time”… I’m now learning bass for a new covers band (first gig tomorrow)

I can honestly say, I had great evenings in the audience at stadiums and festivals; I’ve discovered great original bands I’ve never heard of… And I have sung my heart out and danced to pub covers bands too! it really doesn’t matter, as long as the music has some passion and connects with the audience. You are the sound track to their well earned time off… You want to get them foot tapping, hand clapping, stood up and dancing, closed-eyed-hands-raised singing at the top of their voices… I don’t hugely care if Adele wrote the song originally, or who played/produced/released it for her… just that the lads who build houses, girls that teach in schools, carers in hospitals, postmen etc can stand together in groups having an awesome night! How am I being the parasite?

[Jackroadkill]

6 minutes ago, DCS222 said:

You are the sound track to their well earned time off…

 

For me, that nails it entirely.  Originals or covers, this rings true.

[Woodinblack]

2 hours ago, Steve Browning said:

John Paul Jones wrote no part of Stairway To Heaven. How different to a bass player in another band playing the song?

 

He didn't have to as Spirit already had

 

[JoeEvans]

The important relationship is the one between the performers and the audience. If the audience are having a good time, the band are doing a good job and that's all there is to it.

[Norris]

Given that probably half of the site members play in covers bands, do you not think that your question might be regarded as a little incendiary?

 

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you are not deliberately trolling, and possibly didn't consider your question before posting it

[Woodinblack]

32 minutes ago, Norris said:

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you are not deliberately trolling, and possibly didn't consider your question before posting it

 

As he plays covers, I am sure he has considered it

[fretmeister]

No.

 

Classical orchestras are just big covers bands. Non writing members of original bands are really playing covers too.

 

Not parasites, not a lower class of musician in any way.

[chris_b]

Cover bands are musicians and entertainers. That's a tradition that goes back thousands of years.

 

There's nothing wrong in entertaining others.