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| From | "Sager, Greg" <greg.sager@bankofamerica.com> |
| Subject | Re: Too soon to be covering songs |
| Date | Mon, 28 Apr 2003 12:39:12 -0500 |
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> Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2003 09:29:36 -0700 (PDT)
> From: kcronin <fiatluxury@yahoo.com>
> To: audities@smoe.org
> Subject: Re: Too soon to be covering songs
> Message-ID: <20030428162936.61191.qmail@web21401.mail.yahoo.com>
>
> Somehow I'm not thinking any of these people were
> saying, "Man, my version shoulda been the hit...they
> just didn't catch the essential ESSENCE of it at ALL."
> No. I'm thinking they are saying: wow, cool - someone
> saw potential in my music and they made me a fucking
> fortune off it.
>
In 1992 Nick Lowe was without a record label, and was even
contemplating giving up the music business altogether. Then Curtis Stigers's
cover of Lowe's "(What's So Funny About) Peace, Love, and Understanding" was
placed on the soundtrack to *The Bodyguard*, which subsequently sold so many
copies that it ate up half of the world's supply of polycarbonate. Lowe made
a million dollars in royalties, and was financially able to keep his career
going while moving to an indie label. Lowe got Stigers's phone number from
his management company, called him at home, and told him, "You'll never have
to buy dinner in London again."
Is the Stigers version as good as the original by Lowe's old band
Brinsley Schwarz, or the classic cover version by Elvis Costello and the
Attractions? No. Did the success of *The Bodyguard* propel Lowe into
international success and prominence? No. Did any of that bother Lowe? Not
one bit, apparently.
Let's face it -- it's tough sledding being a little guy in the music
biz. Artistic integrity is vital, but once you've written a song and it's
out there in public, anybody and his brother can cover it -- and you have no
control over *how* they cover it. It's likely that a high percentage of
songwriter/musicians will naturally prefer their own versions of their songs
to those of other artists covering them. And I suspect that, in their heart
of hearts, most of them wish that it was them having a hit single with the
song rather than someone else. But I really doubt that all of that matters
much if those cover version allow you to keep doing what you love to do
without sacrificing any of your own integrity.
Gregory Sager
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