Editing Cover version (section)

==Early 20th century history==
===Multiple versions in various formats or locations===
Early in the 20th century it became common for [[phonograph]] [[record label]]s to have singers or musicians "cover" a commercially successful "hit" tune by recording a version for their own label in hopes of cashing in on the tune's success. For example, ''[[Ain't She Sweet]]'' was popularized in [[1927 in music|1927]] by [[Eddie Cantor]] (on stage) and by Ben Bernie and [[Gene Austin]] (on record), was repopularized through popular recordings by Mr. Goon Bones & Mr. Ford and [[Pearl Bailey]] in 1949, and later still revived as 33 <small>1/3</small> and 45 RPM records by [[the Beatles]] in 1964.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.everyhit.com/retros/index.php?page=rchart&y1=1964&m1=06&day1=2&y2=1964&m2=06&day2=2&sent=1 |title=Retro Charts |website=EveryHit.com |date=2000-03-16 |access-date=2016-11-21}}</ref>

Because little promotion or advertising was done in the early days of record production, other than at the local music hall or music store, the average buyer purchasing a new record usually asked for the tune, not the artist. Record distribution was highly localized, so a locally popular artist could quickly record a version of a hit song from another area and reach an audience before the version by the artist(s) who first introduced the tune, and highly competitive record companies were quick to take advantage of this.

===Rival outlets and popularized recordings===
This began to change in the late 1930s, when the growing record-buying public began including a younger age group. During the [[swing era]], when a [[Bobby-soxer|bobby soxer]] went looking for a recorded tune, say "[[In the Mood]]", typically she wanted the version popularized by her favorite artist(s), e.g. the [[Glenn Miller]] version (on RCA Victor's cheaper Bluebird label), not someone else's (sometimes presented on a more expensive record company's label). This trend was marked closely by the charting of record sales by the different artists, not just hit tunes, on the music industry's [[hit parade]]s. However, for sound commercial reasons, record companies still continued to record different versions of tunes that sold well. Most audiences until the mid-1950s still heard their favorite artists playing live music on stage or via the [[Old-time radio|radio]]. And since radio shows were for the most part aimed at local audiences, it was still rare for an artist in one area to reach a mass audience. Also radio stations tended to cater to broad audience markets, so an artist in one vein might not get broadcast on other stations geared to a set audience. So popular versions of [[jazz]], [[country and western]] or [[rhythm and blues]] tunes, and vice versa, were frequent. An example is "[[Mack the Knife]]" ("Die Moritat von Mackie Messer"), originally from Bertolt Brecht's 1928 ''[[The Threepenny Opera|Die Dreigroschenoper]]''. It was popularized by a 1956 hit parade instrumental tune, "Moritat", for the [[Dick Hyman]] Trio, also recorded by [[Richard Hayman]] & [[Jan August]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cashboxmagazine.com/archives/50s_files/19560303.html |title=Cash Box Top Singles 3/03/56 |access-date=2009-02-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081122043551/http://www.cashboxmagazine.com/archives/50s_files/19560303.html |archive-date=2008-11-22 }}</ref> but a hit also for [[Louis Armstrong]] 1956/1959, [[Bobby Darin]], 1959,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.everyhit.com/retros/index.php?page=rchart&y1=1959&m1=11&y2=1959&m2=11&sent=1&day1=1&day2=1 |title=Retro Charts |website=EveryHit.com |date=2000-03-16 |access-date=2016-11-21}}</ref> and [[Ella Fitzgerald]], 1960,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.everyhit.com/retros/index.php?page=rchart&y1=1960&m1=04&day1=3&y2=1960&m2=04&day2=3&sent=1 |title=Retro Charts |website=EveryHit.com |date=2000-03-16 |access-date=2016-11-21}}</ref> as vocal versions of "Mack the Knife".

Europe's [[Radio Luxembourg (English)|Radio Luxembourg]], like many commercial stations, also sold "air time"; so record companies and others bought air time to promote their own artists or products, thus increasing the number of recorded versions of any tune then available. Add to this the fact that many radio stations were limited in their permitted "[[needle time]]" (the amount of recorded music they were allowed to play), or were regulated on the amount of local talent they had to promote in live broadcasts, as with most national stations like the BBC in the UK.

===Incentives to make duplicate recorded versions of a song===
In the US, broadcasters pay royalties to authors and publishers. Artists are not paid royalties, so there is an incentive to record numerous versions of a song, particularly in different genres. For example, [[King Records (USA)|King Records]] frequently cut both [[rhythm and blues]] and [[country and western]] versions of [[novelty songs]] like "Good Morning, Judge" and "Don't Roll those Bloodshot Eyes at Me". This tradition was expanded when rhythm and blues songs began appearing on pop music charts.<ref name=":0" />

In the early days of [[rock and roll]], many tunes originally recorded by [[rhythm and blues|R&B]] and country musicians were still being re-recorded in a more popular vein by other artists with a more toned-down style or professional polish.<ref>See [[Dot Records]]</ref> This was inevitable because radio stations were reluctant to play formats outside their target audience's taste. By far the most popular style of music in the mid-1950s / mid-1960s was still the professional light orchestra, therefore popular recording artists sought that format.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.percyfaithpages.org/tos2.htm |title=The Orchestral Sound2 |website=Percyfaithpages.org |date=1982-08-19 |access-date=2016-11-21 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120905224621/http://www.percyfaithpages.org/tos2.htm |archive-date=2012-09-05 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
For many purists these popular versions lacked the raw earthiness of the original introducing artists.

Most did not have the kudos that rebellious teenagers craved, the street credibility&nbsp;— of rock and roll music; most were performed, and some were written, by black artists not heard in popular mass entertainment markets.<ref name=pc4>{{Gilliland |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19750/m1/ |title=Show 4 - The Tribal Drum: The rise of rhythm and blues. [Part 2] }}</ref> Most parents considered the bowdlerized popular cover versions more palatable for the mass audience of parents and their children. Artists targeting the white-majority family audience were more acceptable to programmers at most radio and TV stations. Singer-songwriter [[Don McLean]] called the cover version a "racist tool".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.don-mclean.com/forum2/view.asp?topic=5432&s=Definition |title=DON MCLEAN ONLINE |date=February 13, 2007 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070213114605/http://www.don-mclean.com/forum2/view.asp?topic=5432&s=Definition+of+a+Cover+Version&l=True |archive-date=2007-02-13 }}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Many parents in the 1950s - 60s, whether intentionally racist or not, felt deeply threatened by the rapid pace of social change. They had, for the most part, shared entertainment with their parents in ways their children had become reluctant to do. The [[jukebox]] and the [[Phonograph|personal record disc player]] were still relatively expensive pieces of machinery&nbsp;— and the [[Transistor radio|portable radio]] a great novelty, allowing truculent teenagers to shut themselves off.

Tunes by introducing or "original" niche market artists that became successful on the mass audience hit parade charts are called [[crossover (music)|crossovers]] as they "crossed over" from the targeted country, jazz or rhythm audience. Also, many songs originally recorded by male artists were rerecorded by female artists, and vice versa. Such a cover version is also sometimes called a ''cross cover version'', ''male cover'', or ''female cover''.<!--as in cross dressing?--> Some songs such as "If Only for One Night" were originally recorded by female artists but covered by mostly male artists.

Reworking non-English language tunes and lyrics for the Anglo-Saxon markets was once a popular part of the music business. For example, the 1954 worldwide hit "[[The Happy Wanderer]]" was originally "''Der fröhliche Wanderer''", to this must be added "''[[Hymne à l'amour]]''", "''[[Answer Me|Mütterlein]]''", "''[[Nel blu, dipinto di blu (song)|Volare]]''", "''[[Seemann (Lolita song)|Seeman]]''", "''[[Quando, Quando, Quando]]''", "''[[L'amour est bleu]]''", etc.