In the

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

, a pre-release cover version is a type of

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

that arises when a cover artist releases a version of a song before the original artist does. This practise takes advantage of a 'release window'; it occurs when an upcoming song receives much

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

despite not yet having been released. Pre-release cover versions are common in the UK because of the unique situation there in that songs by big acts get weeks of airplay before being released, giving cover artists enough time for session musicians and computer experts to record a near-exact cover version of the song. For example, UK number one " Talk Dirty" by

Jason Derulo Jason Joel Desrouleaux (born September 21, 1989), known professionally as Jason Derulo (; formerly stylized as Derülo), is an American singer and songwriter.

featuring

2 Chainz Tauheed K. Epps (born September 12, 1977), known professionally as 2 Chainz (or Tity Boi), is an American rapper. Born and raised in College Park, Georgia, he initially gained recognition as one-half of the Southern hip hop duo Playaz Circle, al ...

, made No. 71 the week before it made No. 1 in the form of a pre-release cover version by Select Hits. Usually the original artist's record label will notice the cover version and release the original early; one example is when Can You Blow My covered

Flo Rida Tramar Lacel Dillard (born September 16, 1979), better known by his stage name Flo Rida (, ), is an American rapper and singer. His 2007 breakout single " Low" was number one for 10 weeks in the United States and broke the record for digital dow ...

's "

Whistle A whistle is an instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small slide whistle or nose flute type to a larg ...

" and making the top 40 at No. 38, causing Rida's record label to rush-release the song mid-week.

Avicii Tim Bergling (; 8 September 1989 – 20 April 2018), known professionally as Avicii (, ), was a Swedish DJ, remixer and music producer. At the age of 16, Bergling began posting his remixes on electronic music forums, which led to his first rec ...

's " Wake Me Up!" was intended to be released on 8 September 2013 however on 15 July 2013

the Official Charts Company The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. In the United Kingdom, its charts inc ...

announced that it would be released that week after a group called

Spark Productions "Wake Me Up" is a song by Swedish DJ and record producer Avicii, released as the lead single from his debut studio album ''True'', released on CD by PRMD Music and Island Records on 17 June 2013. "Wake Me Up" was written by Avicii, Mike Einzige ...

recorded a pre-release cover version and made No. 26 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

with it. A successful pre-release cover version is

Precision Tunes Joshua Weinstein (also known as Precision Tunes) is a New York-based music producer. His pre-release cover version of Maroon 5's "Payphone" made #9 on the UK Singles Chart, selling 34,492 copies. The song also charted at #4 on the Scottish Singles ...

' version of

Maroon 5 Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It currently consists of lead vocalist Adam Levine, keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine (musician), James Valentine, drummer Matt ...

's "

Payphone A payphone (alternative spelling: pay phone) is typically a coin-operated public telephone, often located in a telephone booth or in high-traffic outdoor areas, with prepayment by inserting money (usually coins) or by billing a credit or debit ...

", which sold 34,492 copies and charted in the top ten on three charts. After ''

The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', kn ...

'' tracked him down, he said that "We have currently restructured .html" ;"title="T Records">T Recordsand its employees, ndare in the process of issuing takedowns f our previously released coversand researching accounting for those releases and plan to relinquish any monies made on the nine releases".

Legal status

While the practice is legal, the area of licensing they are operating in has been described by

PRS for Music PRS for Music Limited (formerly The MCPS-PRS Alliance Limited) is a British music copyright collective, made up of two collection societies: the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS). It undertakes ...

as "tricky". Barney Hooper from

said that along with record labels and publishers the trend was something they were "investigating" and "thinking about a bit more". In the United States, a songwriter has the preemptive right to determine who will record the first version of a song, making pre-release covers less common there.

References

{{pre-release cover version Cover versions Song forms Music production