By admin

2 June, 2013

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You may have noticed that most of the most famous singers and musicians on Youtube tend to record cover versions of songs quite often. That is not by mistake. The more cover songs you record, the more traffic your channel will get and you might eventually rank on the first page for a popular song (in that case, you can literally become famous overnight)

Tips When Recording Cover Songs

1. Stick With Covering The Most Popular, And Latest Songs

Don’t bother recording covers of songs that are a few years old. Sure, you might do a great job, but if you get no traffic to your video, then what is the point? What you want to do is capitalize off of the most highly searched, popular songs out there. That way, when people search for a particular song, you may get some of that internet traffic to trickle down to your video. If Justin Bieber releases a song, try do do a unique cover version of it right away. They key is to be unique. If Pitbull releases a lame club track but it is all over the radio, then why not do a cover of it in a totally different way that will captivate your audience. Maybe turn it into a rock ballad, or just piano and vocals. Set yourself apart from everyone else, and you will gain more and more subscribers to your channel.

2. Only Record High Quality Cover Songs

Don’t record a lame acapella of a song just for the sake of putting out a video. Really try to take your time crafting a unique cover version. Produce it well, record it professionally and make a video for it. The video can be simple such as just singing in front of a mic. But remember, avoid singing acapella unless you are really going to blow away your audience. Lip sing along with your professional, pre-recorded version, just like all the music videos out there. People want to hear professional, perfect sounding, tuned vocals and recordings. That’s just what they are used to. If your videos are not up to standard, then why would you expect anyone to subscribe to you?

3. Record A High Quality Video

As for the video quality, the same rule applies. Don’t record a video with your phone. In the worse case, at least use an HD camcorder in a well lit room. If you can afford it, record a video using a professional DSLR camera. Using a DSLR camera will give you a highly polished look due to the depth of field effects you can achieve and the low light recording capabilities of such cameras in comparison to consumer camcorders. If your camera has the option, record it at 24p (24 frames per second, for a more cinematic look). Probably the most popular DSLR out there right now is the Canon Rebel T4i. There are pretty good deals out there on the older versions as well (T2i, T3i). If you are looking for a more compact camera, nothing quite beats the Sony NEX series (it’s a micro thirds camera, not a full DSLR, but the quality is outstanding as it has an interchangeable lens).

4. Promote Your Own Music

The whole point of recording cover songs is to gain traffic and subscribers to your channel. If you put at least 1 cover song video up per week, you will be gaining at least a few subscribers here and there until your career takes off. In between recording and uploading cover songs, put your own unique music videos. Videos that you fully own, you can monetize on youtube by signing up with a Google Adsense account. You will basically get paid a little bit per views and per people who click on ads on your videos. Just think, if you go viral one day, you could earn serious money (It has been speculated that internet sensation PSY earned over $8 Million Dollars for his Gangnam Style Video). Cover songs, unfortunately you cannot earn money on, but each new subscriber that you gain on your channel will eventually pay off in the long run.

5. Comment And Connect With People

It’s ok to do a little bit of comment spam. If you just recorded an incredible version of the latest Demi Lovato song, why not go to her channel and comment on her video every few hours. Say something like (Hey guys, I’m 18 and I’m a struggling singer. I really love Demi and just did a cover of this song. It would mean a lot to me if a few people could check it out). Many people hate these kind of comments and may just go to your video to leave a nasty comment. Don’t worry, that’s ok. Believe it or not, many people will check out your video and if they like what they see and hear, they will subscribe. And of course, share your video anywhere you can (Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, Blogs, Forums, etc). If you have a great video, don’t be afraid to share it and ask people to help you share it on their social networking pages as well. Every little bit helps.