For as long as the human race has been making music there has been someone to reproduce it. Impersonation might be the sincerest form of flattery, but most of the time it's done for money. This doesn't have to be as mercenary as it sounds, if you like something and you might want to hear it live, then there is a market to supply the demand, and the laws of copyright serve to ensure that everyone profits one way or another, including the lawyers.

In the wider universe that is the music business, cover bands don't get the same recognition as the acts they copy. The perception is that they have an inherent failing in trying to be what they are not, nor can ever be, which is the original act. This is to be expected, they didn't write the songs and they didn't make them famous. But this is not what a cover band brings to the table. If you approach the business from the angle of what a cover band can do, then things can look a lot different. 

Firstly, the entire music industry needs to understand one thing. In the same way that the works of Beethoven, Mozart and Tchaikovsky have been kept alive over the years through symphony orchestras around the world, so too will the songs of Queen, AC/DC and Guns n' Roses be kept alive by geysers with holes in their jeans putting their thing down at the Dog and Duck. If you look at how the music business has progressed over time you will see the trend. Record companies want to believe that they can preserve music using electronic files, but preserving songs doesn't mean they get heard. Radio and T.V. stations playing music today employ people who can remember when U2 were recording - these days will pass, and with them the memories of the artists and their songs. Cover bands get things heard, and in doing so they create opportunities not only for themselves but for all parties concerned, which, while we're here means the venues they play in and the bodies that license the music. What can be made of this remains to be seen, however CBR has found two cents and its going in the slot. 

This website maintains that the cover band experience can be raised to a higher level, maybe not in every case, but for those bands that would want it, opportunities exist. So what's a higher level? Many would assume the main KPI for a cover band performance is how good the musicians are or what the singer can do, and these things are important, however CBR makes a different argument - it's the songs stupid, and for the removal of doubt it's the songs that make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. All bands have their big ticket items, the ones that get the crowd on their feet. They also have the stocking fillers, and it's the stocking fillers that are holding things back. A cover gig with the right songs, and take note, a cover gig where all the songs are the right songs, and yes even, played in the right order has the power to not only get a crowd up on its feet but also to then knock them back down again. 

What is being suggested here is a more scientific approach to what actually goes into a show. Rather than just a simple play list, a humble gig can be an orchestrated experience where songs are chosen for the impact they have on the audience. This should be spelled out, no-one would deny the effect that music can have on a human being, but at the same time no one should assume that because people are jumping up and down at a gig that a song has hit its mark. People at a gig will jump up and down anyway, it's called being drunk. What you're looking for are songs that, for their duration stop you taking anything more in because your senses are on overload. These songs exist in abundance and can be tailored to a particular venue, it just requires a bit of thought, but a bit of thought can go a long way. Likewise some attempt to work the crowd can also make a big difference. Bands do do this, and to be fair working the crowd isn't as easy as it sounds, but again, a bit of thought. Combine these things and what you get is an audience with a bands hands around their throat in such as way as the audience don't really mind. For good measure throw in the right amount of alcohol and you've got a winner. Done right this is the hair on your neck factor. Done right this is the higher level. It is true that a cover band is not the original act, but no one cares, because what cover bands can do is create that atmosphere whereby punters can feel that they've gone down the rabbit hole, and they aren't doing that every four years at Wembley Stadium or Maddison Square Garden, they're doing it most weekends at a pub near you. 

So what can be different?

First up CBR can acknowledge its own arrogance here. The whole purpose of this spiel is to say that the songs aren't bad, but some of them could be better, and that this can be a platform for further development. 'Better songs' is a matter of taste and CBR hardly has the monopoly on that. Also, if you start picking at a bands set list you open a can of worms. There are practical considerations, financial constraints, and a band is not a juke box - the songs take some learning. That said, if the cover band business would aspire to have a future then let it be thus - bands need greater freedoms in the choice of songs they are able to play. Ultimately this comes from the license holders. Greater freedoms allow the bands to make a better product, the product being the rabbit hole and the hair on the back of your neck. This in turn can help the licensors to better market and sell older music. The issue here is not one of access, it's more about price, specifically the costs don't need to come down, they just need to not go up. Everyone can profit from this if everyone understands the bigger picture. No-one is going to get rich here, but for the copyright owners sales of older music is money for old rope - and some degree of immortality. For the bands and the venues, more bums on seats will always be followed by more cash, while for the punters - they get the rabbit hole.

It's just a dream of course, but CBR can live in hope.