Editing Cover version (section)

===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.