How To Use Cover Songs to Promote A Career In Music

Find out how to use cover songs to promote music and grow an audience. Learn simple strategies to turn popular songs into career-boosting tools.

How To Use Cover Songs to Promote A Career In Music

by David Andrew Wiebe from Bandzoogle

You don’t need to search far and wide to find an artist or band whose career has benefited greatly from recording and sharing cover songs. Igor Presnyakov. Pomplamoose. Justin Bieber. The list goes on and on.

With the holiday season looming, the best time to start planning for a well-timed release is now. Per Bobby Owsinski, music consumption increases by 3% during the Christmas season, and what artist doesn’t want more plays?

In that spirit, let’s look at how cover songs can give your music career a much-needed boost, and how to promote the songs you record.

Song selection matters

As an artist, I’ve always had a knack for the obscure, especially if it’s good. I love paying tribute to artists and bands who broke ground or contributed greatly to a genre and yet remain largely unknown (bands like Daniel Amos and King’s X come to mind).

Of course, if you want maximum exposure for your cover song, you don’t want to go too esoteric. A little niche is okay, but if the artist you’re covering only has 5,000 streams for their song, you’d be lucky to get even half of the attention they got.

Easy fix: scan the 2024 charts for hit songs you know and enjoy. Or go back a decade or two. It’s not too early to start working on 2000s covers. I stress finding a song you like, though, because people can tell when you’re just trying to get plays.

While it’s beyond the scope of this article, you might consider a Christmas song too. Many are in the public domain, which means you won’t owe royalties.

Promote your music to fans

Bandzoogle gives you the marketing tools to promote your work and grow your audience. With your own music website you can promote your music your own way. PROMOTE YOUR MUSIC

Arrange your song

I do not object to note-for-note covers. Sometimes that is the right choice and no further discussion is needed.

Of course, if you were to look at the example of some of the artists mentioned earlier (Presnyakov and Pomplamoose), you’d see that they bring something new to the table. While Presnyakov works out intricate acoustic guitar arrangements, Pomplamoose completely re-harmonizes the chord progression of hit songs!

Maybe your fans are different, but… I find mine usually like to hear my version of Clapton, Young, Petty, or Mayer, not wholesale recreations.

If you’ve got a band, then cook up a brainstorming session or jam out some ideas. If you’ve got a guitar genius in your band, then let them shred up a unique guitar solo. Transport violin parts over to the guitar or piano parts over to a saxophone. There are many opportunities to stand out – use your imagination!

Give this thought, because a unique interpretation of a popular song could be a major selling point.

Prepare multiple formats

Choosing a popular song to cover does not guarantee success. It usually takes a perfect storm for an artist to go viral, especially in this noisy, competitive age. Going viral might not even be the goal, but all things being equal, we’d sure like to give you a fair chance at achieving your goals.

Besides ensuring that your performance and production are top-notch, there are a few other things you can do to get more exposure:

• Prepare your track for release and run a pre-save campaign. This much is relatively obvious. One thing artists tend not to think about, though, is their release artwork. It’s worth spending more for better quality work, so no penny-pinching unless necessary!
• Make a lyric video. You can find freelancers on Fiverr that will do this for you, at a nominal cost. If in doubt, hire three freelancers to make different versions and use the best one.
• Produce a music video. While you can make a music video on a shoestring budget, they are generally costly and sometimes don’t pay off. Whether to do one depends on your ambitions and how big you think the song will be. But remember, this is an opportunity to reinterpret not just the song, but the video too, if the original artist had one!
• Create a video song. Every musician should consider making a Pomplamoose-style video song. Yes, it’s work. But it has a good track record on platforms like YouTube, and it’s an opportunity to show off your (and/or your band’s) skills.
• Prepare short-form clips/reels/shorts. Take your music video or video song and split it into shorter clips you can share on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, etc.

Drop your tune

There are many things to think about on launch day. Hopefully this isn’t your first launch, but even if it is, you will find the following helpful. Remember that posting and ghosting isn’t a strategy, so plan well and accumulate as much content as you can before your release, even if you don’t end up using it.

So, when you’re ready:

• Run a pre-save campaign, like previously mentioned. Your music distributor, such as DistroKid, will have built-in tools you can utilize.
• Add a Smart Links feature to centralize your music links, making it easier for your fans to listen on their favorite platform. 
• Send letters, text, call, and reach your friends and fans by any means. Pro tip: Let them know why they should care and/or what’s in it for them.
• Update your website and email signature, send an email campaign, and post to social media.
• Post your videos to YouTube. Experiment with Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and other video-sharing sites for extended reach.
• Make a distribution list and reach out to reviewers, bloggers, influencers, and YouTubers. You could also put a bit of money into a service like SubmitHub.
• If it seems like you’re getting traction, throw $5 to $20 into advertising to see if your song has any legs. You will know by the end of the campaign. If it has legs, throw more cash behind it.
• Of course, you can submit your song to playlists too. Try playlist promotion services if you’ve got money but no time!

Submit your holiday cover song

If you’re ready to launch your cover song, then head over to DistroKid to upload your track to have it distributed across all popular streaming platforms – Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and more.