Great and Unexpected Song Covers

In popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition (performance or recording) of a previously recorded, commercially released song. In its current use, it can sometimes have a pejorative meaning?implying that the original recording should be regarded as the definitive version, usually in the sense of an "authentic" rendition, and all others are merely lesser competitors, alternatives or tributes (no matter how popular). However, Billboard?and other magazines recording the popularity of the musical artists and hit tunes?originally measured the sales success of the published tune, not just recordings of it, or later the airplay that it also managed to achieve. In that context, the greater the number of cover versions, the more successful the song.http://museum.woolworths.co.uk/1950s-embassyrecords.htm

Typically, artists and record companies are not directly compensated when other musicians perform covers, revivals or contemporary versions. Contemporary versions of older tunes have always particularly popular among nascent musical acts as they are often used to strategically position well-known music between less popular "originals" by the artist(s), such as with "Who's Sorry Now?", "Blue Moon", "Twist and Shout", and "Not Fade Away".