4 Tips on How Cover Songs Can Help Your Music Career...



By: Lukas Camenzind | Music Think Tank.com

If you’re a performer and songwriter, of course you want to record and perform your own songs…

But you might be missing out on a very effective and easy way to take your music career to the next level: Cover songs!



Here’s my Top-4 Reasons why cover songs are great:

1. Be More Liked:
In psychology, there’s a phenomenon called the mere-exposure effect. What it means is simply this: People prefer what they’re familiar with over what they don’t know. So when you cover a popular song, people will like you and your performance more - just because they’re already familiar with the song. It doesn’t mean your own songs aren’t as good. It just means that with a cover, the hard work of popularizing the song is already done. Why not use this to your advantage?

2. Make Fans Come To You:
 How do new fans find out about your music? Maybe you’re playing shows, sending out press releases or spending money on radio promotion… But rather than pushing your music in front of an audience, what if you could make them come to you? Well, that’s exactly what the right cover song will do for you: By pulling in lots of new listeners with your cover, you can easily close the gap between you and your potential new fans. Now, you just have to pick the right song to pull in your ideal fans!


3. Be More Memorable:
 The best way to be memorable is to be different. But different compared to what? When you cover a song, the popular version of it acts as a reference - and gives you that opportunity to be different. So by performing a cover song you’ll actually be more memorable than with your own original tune. Plus, it’s relatively easy: Pick a song and switch up the genre or instrumentation, create a mash-up or choose a song that’s usually performed by the opposite sex.

4. Go Viral:
Unfortunately no one cares about your music if they don’t know who you are… But people are curious. And a cover song will pique that curiosity: What will your version sound like? Now, if you can “wow” people with an unexpected performance of a song they know, it just might be your best chance to get lucky and go far beyond your usual reach. To take your career to the next level, you need to focus on things that have the potential to actually make an impact. Cover songs are a good strategy, because they have that potential to go viral.

Bonus Tip And Some Inspiration…

Remember, you need a license to use someone else’s song! If you want to sell your version, check out Loudr.fm - an easy way to do it legally and with $0 upfront.