Is this an original or a cover?

[themickster]

I wrote a song for the acoustic band I was in. We did it ballady at 112 BPM. This week I recorded it at 160 BPM, by myself with heavy guitars, bass and drums. I'll be taking the backing track for playing at open mics. Is it a cover or an original? The acousties know nothing about it yet. I'm hoping to drop it on them, when we're at the same OM.

 

[MonetBass]

Since it's the same song with a different arrangement, it's clearly a cover.

 

[themickster]

Since it's the same song with a different arrangement, it's clearly a cover.

Would that mean that playing my own song in a new way would be a cover, even if nobody else had ever done it?

 

[MonetBass]

Would that mean that playing my own song in a new way would be a cover, even if nobody else had ever done it?

I guess you could call it a remake/rework since it's your song.

 

[JonathanPDX]

Did you ever release the original recording publicly or only play it live?

I wouldn't call it a cover if nobody in the world knows the song except for a couple of people you used to play with. Rearranging original music is quite common.

 

[buldog5151bass]

It's a cover of your original

 

[oMetaloHead]

I say its not a cover, its a different arrangement of your original song

 

[primussucks9126]

It's  an original. Just not the original version.

 

[mambo4]

I say not a cover
cover implies someone else wrote it

 

[TyBo]

It's an original. Your original tune, with a different arrangement. Like when the Beatles did different versions of, say, Revolution. Same original song, just different tempos, textures, etc.

 

[DigitalMan]

Not a cover. Just a different version by the original artist. Like unplugged, but the opposite. Maybe it’s a plugged.

 

[themickster]

Did you ever release the original recording publicly or only play it live?

I wouldn't call it a cover if nobody in the world knows the song except for a couple of people you used to play with. Rearranging original music is quite common.

We played it live

 

[BismarckHerring]

I think the definition on wikipedia is spot on:

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.

If you wrote it and originally performed it, it is by definition not a cover.

 

[JonathanPDX]

We played it live

It's an original song that odds are nobody will recognize. Not at all a cover.

 

[fretno]

It’s an original if you wrote it.

 

[themickster]

It's an original song that odds are nobody will recognize. Not at all a cover.

The other band will know it

 

[gln1955]

Everyone who writes a song and performs it many times, changes things. Songs evolve.

The idea that this is a cover is pretty silly.

 

[JamesGrant]

It’s a different arrangement of the same song.

 

[Michedelic]

You wrote it, not a cover, just “mickster’s version”.

 

[Thumpin6string]

It is a VERSION of your own original.