The Cover Song Draft plus What’s Really Going On With Streaming Royalties for Musicians?

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Show Notes

The Algorithm

Streaming music hate and what’s really going on

How Artists Get Paid

Types of streaming
1. Radio
2. Non-interactive
3. On-demand
Types of Payout
1. Pro-Rata
2. User-Centric
Platform Notes
Per stream payouts is a red herring

Radio Airplay (Traditional AM/FM Radio)

Royalties Paid To: Songwriters and Publishers, but NOT Performing Artists
- In the U.S., terrestrial radio (AM/FM) pays performance royalties only to the songwriters and publishers, not the recording artists. This is because traditional radio is considered a promotional tool that helps sell music.
- Performing Rights Organizations (PROs) like ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC collect these royalties and distribute them to the songwriters and publishers.
- The artists (performers and labels) do not receive royalties from traditional radio in the U.S. However, in many other countries, performers and labels do get paid when their recordings are played.

Paid Streaming Services (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.)

Royalties Paid To: Songwriters, Publishers, Artists, and Record Labels
- Streaming services pay multiple types of royalties, including:
  1. Mechanical Royalties (for songwriters/publishers) – Paid when a song is streamed on-demand.
  2. Performance Royalties (for songwriters/publishers) – Paid for the right to publicly perform the composition.
  3. Master Recording Royalties (for artists, labels, and producers) – Paid for the use of the actual recording.
- Streaming services generate revenue from subscriptions and ads, and royalties are distributed based on the number of streams rather than per-play.
- The amount paid per stream varies by platform, country, and subscription type, but typically it’s fractions of a cent per stream.

Key Differences

Aspect	Radio Airplay	Paid Streaming
Who Gets Paid?	Songwriters & Publishers (no payment to artists in the U.S.)	Songwriters, Publishers, Artists, Labels
How Revenue is Collected?	Stations pay blanket fees to PROs	Users pay subscriptions, and ad revenue is shared
How Payment is Calculated?	Based on radio airplay logs & station size	Based on number of streams
Per Play/Stream Payout?	Higher per play but fewer plays counted	Lower per stream, but more plays

Summary

Traditional Radio benefits songwriters more than recording artists (at least in the U.S.).
Streaming benefits both artists and songwriters, but the per-stream rate is often criticized for being too low.
Radio typically pays a higher rate per play, but a single radio play reaches thousands of listeners at once.
Streaming pays less per stream, but every individual listen generates revenue.

1. Non-Interactive Streaming (Pandora Free, iHeartRadio, SiriusXM, etc.)

Listeners cannot choose specific songs (they can only select stations or genres).
Revenue comes from ads or subscriptions.
Royalties are paid through SoundExchange (in the U.S.).

Who Gets Paid?

Songwriters & Publishers → Paid via Performance Rights Organizations (PROs) like ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC.
Recording Artists & Labels → Paid via SoundExchange.

How the Money is Split?

For each play of a song on a non-interactive streaming service:

50% goes to the Record Label (or rights holder of the sound recording).
45% goes to the Featured Artist (the performing artist).
5% goes to Background Musicians & Session Players (via unions like AFM and SAG-AFTRA).
Separate royalties are paid to songwriters and publishers via PROs.

This is different from traditional radio, where only songwriters and publishers get paid (not artists).

2. On-Demand vs. Non-Interactive Streaming Payouts

Aspect	Non-Interactive (Pandora Free, SiriusXM)	On-Demand (Spotify, Apple Music)
Can Users Pick Songs?	No, only stations/playlists	Yes, full control
Revenue Source	Ads & subscriptions	Subscriptions & ads
Who Gets Paid?	Artists, labels, songwriters, publishers	Artists, labels, songwriters, publishers
How Payment is Handled?	SoundExchange + PROs	Direct licensing deals with labels + PROs
Payout Per Play?	Higher per play	Lower per stream, but more streams

3. Pandora Plus & Pandora Premium (Hybrid Model)

Pandora Plus (Ad-Free, No On-Demand Playback)
- Still considered non-interactive, so royalties are paid via SoundExchange.
Pandora Premium (Fully On-Demand)
- Works like Spotify – royalties go directly to record labels and rights holders, not SoundExchange.

Key Takeaways

Non-interactive streaming services pay recording artists and labels, unlike terrestrial radio.
SoundExchange is the key organization handling these payments in the U.S.
Songwriters and publishers are still paid separately through PROs.
Non-interactive streaming typically pays a higher rate per play than Spotify but has fewer plays overall.

Spotify Notes

“In November 2023, Spotify announced a couple of big royalty payment policy changes that took effect earlier this year. First, songs will only generate royalties once they reach 1,000 streams in the previous 12 months, affecting about 0.5% of its library. The reality is that rights holders weren’t accessing royalties for tracks with fewer than 1,000 streams anyway, as the money they generate is below the minimum that many distributors require before making payouts.”

Apple Notes

“Apple has made one big change to its royalty payout structure this year, announcing in January that tracks with spatial audio will earn 10% more in royalties, even if users don’t listen to that version. Pro-rata shares for songs with a spatial audio version available on the platform are calculated using a factor of 1.1, while those without it will continue to use a factor of 1. Indie labels have criticized this decision for benefitting those with enough resources to invest in spatial audio recording tech while hurting those who cannot. At the moment, spatial audio adds around $1,000 per song to the production cost, meaning the additional cost of producing a complete spatially optimized album ranges from $10-20k depending on the album length.”

Soundcloud Notes

“User-centric model, called its Fan-Powered Royalties (FPR). Technically, it has a hybrid model, where artists can opt in to FPR or remain in the traditional pro-rata model”

Deezer Notes

Distinguishing between music and noise

Like Spotify, Deezer has taken a stand against functional audio content—or in their words, “declared war against irrelevant sounds.” Deezer’s language is more intense, and so is their approach to this type of audio content, as it has removed white noise from the royalty pool entirely, and is directing funds “toward genuine artist content.”

Artist boosts

Artists who get more than 1,000 streams per month from at least 500 unique listeners receive a double boost—in the volume of streams attributed to them, not the royalty amount generated— meaning a boosted market share of total royalties.

Active streams

Songs receive a boost in market shares when users discover them organically, add them to their favorites, or include them in their playlists.

User cap and fraud detection

Deezer has placed a 1,000-stream cap on every user to prevent system abuse—in other words, people who stream more than 1,000 tracks a month will be down-weighted in the payouts calculations—and implemented a “robust fraud detection system.”

References

https://trolley.com/learning-center/so-how-exactly-do-streaming-services-calculate-royalties

Cover Song Draft

Jon’s Picks

Wonderwall – Ryan Adams
Mad World – Gary Jules, Michael Andrews
Smooth Criminal – Alien Ant Farm
Devil Town – Bright Eyes
The Man Who Sold The World – Nirvana
When The Levee Breaks – Led Zeppelin
I Will Survive – Cake
Hurt – Johnny Cash
Killing Me Softly – Fugees
Such Great Height – Iron and Wine

Vince’s Picks

Billie Jean – Cornell
Don’t Think Twice – Mike Ness
Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door – Guns N’ Roses
Sweet Jane – Cowboy Junkies
Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon – Urge Overkill
Shankill Butchers – Sarah Jarosz
We’re Only Gonna Dies For Our Own Arrogance – Sublime
Always On My Mind – Pet Shop Boys
Boyz-n-the-Hood – Dynamite Hack
Crazy Mary – Pearl Jam

Transcript

Vince Marotte (00:00)
Alright, so this is episode five, our third take on it. We had technical difficulties on two different episodes. We finally fixed John’s computer, which turns out that that was the problem. We thought it was the internet issue because I was on some sketchy internet, but then it turns out your computer was a disaster. So we fixed it. So there was some kind of demon in there.

The J-Man (00:05)
Dang.

Yeah, good.

There was. I appreciate you leading me through the boggy marsh and the epic hill that we had to climb. We fought three ogres and a giant spider at one point.

Vince Marotte (00:33)
Here’s what most people don’t know about people that they think are good with technology. It’s not that they’re good with it. And I think I fall into that category of people who are good with technology. It’s that there’s two things. One, if it doesn’t work, that drives us nuts. so we, two, if…

The J-Man (00:48)
You are.

Vince Marotte (00:58)
Resetting everything usually helps. So if you know the sequence of things, just turn it all off, reset it, factory reset, you know, works. But most importantly, you just got to not give, just poke around with stuff until it doesn’t work.

The J-Man (01:12)
Well,

I’ve found that throwing the equipment out the window and buying new ones seems to work pretty good too.

Vince Marotte (01:19)
That’s a hard reset. works.

So, you know, most of the time we don’t know what we’re doing when we’re trying to fix the thing, the stereo or, you know, your printer. We’re just poking around, not afraid to poke around, you know, and click on stuff and try some things, you know, it’s already broken. What’s the worst going to happen?

The J-Man (01:33)
Yeah. What’s the

computer redneck version of that? Because to me, a redneck is more hard, something mechanical. You’re going to just poke around. You got to park back in the garage under the toolbox and…

Vince Marotte (01:48)
Yeah. So you’re so

like your car isn’t working and you start troubleshooting, you start taking things off it. Next thing you know, you’ve taken the entire engine apart. That’s the, that’s the redneck equivalent. The wrong thing to do is just start taping crap on there, you know, and trying to make it patch it up. Cause that just makes it worse. But yeah, don’t be afraid to just tear into it, whatever it is and fix it. that that’ll do it. So we got cool episode. Uh, we’re going to do the.

The J-Man (01:52)
Yeah.

Exactly. Right.

Yeah.

Vince Marotte (02:15)
cover song drafts been a little while since we did a draft. had some cover songs that were just in my, in my playlist kept popping up. did, I did like the full Western loop road trip over about two weeks since the last time we were on went to the few basketball games. The conference tournament was in Las Vegas. So I went all the way down I five from Portland, made some stops ended up in San Diego for a few days, then made my way over to Las Vegas. Then came all the way back up I 15 up through Utah and Idaho.

The J-Man (02:27)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah,

Vince Marotte (02:45)
did the full loop. It was pretty cool.

The J-Man (02:45)
sweet. Awesome. Did you, what was the coolest thing you saw? Did you see like the world’s biggest rubber band ball or peanut or something or? Right, but.

Vince Marotte (02:53)
No idea. I don’t tend to do any of that kind of stuff, but if you’ve

ever one little neat thing is if you’re on I-15, which goes from, you know, basically it goes from Mexico all the way up to Canada, but it goes up through Southern California, then kind of cuts a little bit East and, and, heads into Nevada. It’s how you get to Las Vegas straight from, from like Los Angeles, which without traffic is not very far three hour drive or something like that. But then it keeps going North and it

cuts through this tiny little corner of Arizona. You’re only in Arizona for like a minute, and then you get up in Utah and it just heads all the way up through Utah. But there’s this river, it’s called the Virgin River. And it cuts through this canyon so steeply that as you’re approaching it, if the light is good, and you’re in that little part of Arizona where you’re just cutting through the corner, it looks like the freeway can’t go anywhere. It looks like you’re gonna run into this massive cliff and you’re like, where does this go? I don’t see a road going up the mountain. And then there’s just this

The J-Man (03:48)
Dang.

Vince Marotte (03:50)
Out of nowhere, it seemingly a little slot appears in the cliffs and the freeway goes through there along the Virgin River. And the whole time I’m going, man, whoever built this, this is amazing that they did this. I don’t know if it’s a good thing for nature and all that stuff, but it’s an impressive feat of engineering I-15 going through the Virgin Canyon. that always impresses me.

The J-Man (03:54)
Team.

There needs

to be one of those Hollywood signs that goes across the road like Wiley Coyote would do to try to trap the roadrunner where it looks like the road, but then you crash through it.

Vince Marotte (04:21)
Mm-hmm.

It’s

like that, but it’s a full on full on, you know freeway. So yeah, so we’re gonna do cover song draft that’ll be but at the top this is thing I wanted to talk about because it’s kind of You know, I whenever I see someone being black and white or or mad or hating on something. I’m always curious What’s the nuance? What’s the underlying thing and I kept seeing in my feeds, you know more than normal Yeah, I see there once in a while. I’m quitting Spotify

because they don’t pay the artists enough, right? Or I’ll see that I’m quitting streaming services. I’m going back to CDs because they don’t pay the artists enough. And you’ll see that every once in a while. But over the last few weeks, I’ve seen it a ton. And most people call out Spotify and it makes sense. It’s the biggest, right? That’s why most people that don’t live in California are mad about Californians moving to their state because California is the biggest state by population by far. it.

The J-Man (05:06)
Weird.

Yeah,

Vince Marotte (05:20)
It makes sense that most people moving to your state from another state are coming from California. Um,

The J-Man (05:20)
people move. Yeah, right.

Vince Marotte (05:25)
you know, so there’s like this, there’s this bias towards it. So there’s a bias towards Spotify specifically. And so I wanted to know like, okay, what’s the, what’s the nuance here? What’s the truth with, with streaming? And, and a lot of people don’t know a little bit of my background is that is I was music industry adjacent within a couple of roles. worked with musicians for a boutique guitar and electronics manufacturer. was a program manager.

The J-Man (05:28)
Sure.

Vince Marotte (05:50)
for the whole electronics shop. I had musicians coming in there and all types, famous people all the way to like the session guys that are like elite musicians that you’ve never heard of, like a Mike Landau who you’ve almost certainly heard Mike Landau play guitar, but you have no idea who he is. So those types of people. And so I’ve been there and I understand some of the economics. And so I wanted to dig into it and…

see if I could make some sense of the nuance of how people are getting paid in the streaming space because it’s definitely changed, right? Did you have tapes and then move to CDs? Did you have, were there, were you around or

The J-Man (06:29)
Yes.

Vince Marotte (06:33)
were you old enough to at least be exposed to eight tracks being played? Yeah. Yeah. My dad’s car when I was little had an eight track player and that’s, we had a beach boys.

The J-Man (06:37)
Yeah, I was very young, but yeah.

Vince Marotte (06:45)
album that you’d play. So if you don’t remember, it’s like bigger than a cassette, not as big as like a VHS tape. Yeah. And if I recall it, you couldn’t really, you couldn’t like rewind it. You had to play it. You could fast forward. And if you wanted to listen to the other side, it had to be, you had to play it like a different way. Like you had to pull it. No, it would just, you didn’t flip it like a tape. It just would go backwards and play the other side of the tape.

The J-Man (06:48)
Looks like an Atari cartridge.

pull it out and flip it, right? You pulled it out and turned it upside down? okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.

Weird.

Vince Marotte (07:13)
without

flipping it. So it was a little bit different than, let me see if I can fix this. Okay, that’s cool. I had a little echo. It was a little bit different, but you know, the music industry had this luxury through, especially through Gen X’s lifetime where can you think of an album that you bought at least three times? Like you bought the tape, then later you bought the CD.

And then later you bought it on digital, like you bought it in iTunes. Was there any album that

The J-Man (07:42)
Yeah,

I mean, I want to say Metallica Black, but I don’t know if I got that on tape. But yeah, something like that.

Vince Marotte (07:48)
Right.

I can tell you too off the top of my head, I know for sure I did that and I was definitely more. It would be Pink Floyd’s The Wall, had the tape, had the CD, bought the digital. I would say most of the Beastie Boys catalog, definitely a few Bad Religion albums, specifically the first CD I bought. That’s why I think of it as Bad Religion’s No Control. I think it was in 1988 that came out. Had the tape, bought the CD. I think I bought the CD a couple of times.

because I’d lost it and it’s one of my favorite albums of all time and then bought the digital. And now I’m paying bad religion still because I stream it, right? So it’s a quadruple dip. And if you go back to eight tracks and records, so we made fun of Rolling Stones. If you’re a huge Rolling Stones fan and you bought a Rolling Stones album on record and then later you want to listen to your car, so you bought the eight track and then you bought the tape so you could listen to it on your Walkman.

The J-Man (08:29)
Yeah

Vince Marotte (08:47)
And then maybe you bought the CD. So you’re up to four and then you want to go digital. You bought it five times. And if you’re streaming it, you know, they maybe dipped into that album’s revenue six different times. You did. Yeah, we started with vinyl. Yeah. And so, you know, it’s that’s the one thing. So we’ve we’ve given we’ve given a lot of money to the record industry, but is it equitable? Is everybody getting paid right now? So.

The J-Man (08:59)
Did we say vinyl? Okay, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

Vince Marotte (09:14)
Now I think, I don’t really buy, obviously I don’t buy albums anymore. I don’t buy a CD. I don’t buy the digital version. I go to shows. but one thing I often say is I wonder if I’m spending more money on music per month than I used to. I don’t know if I bought an album every month. There may have been times during my life where I was getting close to that, you know, but I spend, you know, it’s, I’m, I think I’ve had the family plan on Spotify is around 20 bucks a month.

I joke all the time. It’s one of the best $20 spends I spend every month. My wife and my two kids, all are bananas about music, listening to music all the time. I would drop any other subscription, Netflix, YouTube TV, all those go first. But Spotify I keep. And so I wanted to get in, get into this and see how people are getting paid because it is inequitable. know, do, is there something wrong? Okay.

So you’ve probably heard like, have you ever heard like people say, well, they only get paid like 0.0003 cents per stream. You hear stuff like that all the time, right? Well, it’s important to kind of understand some of the context. I’m gonna get a little bit nerdy here because I mean, this matters. love, I want artists to make money. I want them to be able to do their art. It’s important to us, right? And I wanna contribute to it. I wanna be a steward of, what’s the word?

The J-Man (10:20)
Yeah, I’ve heard stuff like that, yeah.

Vince Marotte (10:40)
of the arts, you know, I want to, I want to experience it. Yeah. Yeah. I want to be that, you know, so I looked into it. so things, you know, artists are paid royalties, right? And they’re paid differently in different ways. You know, like you, can get synchronization rights, is a per deal kind of thing where like, say, you know, they sell the rights to use our music, use my music in one of your films you’re making, right?

The J-Man (10:42)
Yeah, contributor.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Vince Marotte (11:08)
But

the main ones here for us, for people who are just consuming music, specifically, not to talk about hard media, so buying records, buying, there was a set fee. Say I get $2 per record or CD or tape or digital sale, the artist gets a flat fee. And that’s split up usually amongst four different people. There’s the songwriter, the publisher, the artist who’s performing it. Sometimes the label gets dipped.

gets to dip in there and as well as some of the session musicians involved. So a lot of people get paid on the royalty, but just to oversimplify, we won’t get too much into it. But now in the streaming world, you’re not doing that. You’re not buying an album. You’re paying for a fee to have access to it. And so there’s three kind of types of royalties that are paid in that reality. One is like radio, right? So if a song is played on the radio, there is some money that goes to the artists. And that’s kind of what’s

The J-Man (11:59)
One is like radio, right? So if a song is played on the radio, there is some money that goes to the audience. And that’s kind of

what’s, that wasn’t what they were about, to make a lot of money. And in some countries,

Vince Marotte (12:06)
That wasn’t what they were dependent on to make a lot of money and in some countries they

don’t take any money It’s just seen as a marketing thing But in the u.s. Which is where we’re kind of focused They did they get they get paid a little bit of royalty for their their music being on the radio And then but for our purposes, there’s the streaming right? You remember when streaming first? Kind of hit it was like radio, right? It was serious FM. It was

XS, XFM, you know, and it was Pandora. Did you ever use Pandora? So it’s like, that is what what’s called non interactive. Meaning you don’t get to select the song, you don’t just go, go to an album and listen to an album. There is some algorithms, there’s some things about it. It’s almost like radio, right? Pandora was built for radio. The reason those kind of hit first is because the licensing was more understood.

The J-Man (12:38)
Yeah, yeah, yeah

Right. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Vince Marotte (13:04)
And they essentially were licensing it just like radio. It cost a lot less for Pandora or Sirius FM to play the music because it was what’s called non-interactive. So it was just like radio. You didn’t get to pick. And where it changed is when we get to what you and I know as streaming, which is on demand, which is I can listen to any song I want now in any order I want, just like as if I owned it. And that’s a different licensing thing. That costs more.

there’s more to be paid there. So that’s the three types that we’re gonna focus on non-interactive

The J-Man (13:34)
Mm-hmm

Vince Marotte (13:38)
and on-demand. Right, that make sense? Non-interactive is like radio basically, on-demand is what we, if you have a paid.

The J-Man (13:40)
Yeah.

Yeah. Well,

my Spotify, because I do the free Spotify, it’s like pseudo non-interactive.

Vince Marotte (13:51)
Mm-hmm.

Yep,

there’s a hybrid as well. So it’s, can kind of pick things, but then it’s going to throw a commercial or it won’t give you access to all the music. And that’s where it kind of gets into this gray area, right? So yeah, there’s, there’s kind of the hybrid where I’m ad supported and I don’t have the full on demand. have like a semi on demand, right? So you can click a song when you on, I’ve never really used it. When you click a song on ad support at Spotify,

Like say you just open the app and you haven’t done anything and you go to click a very specific song. Does it play that song? Okay, so sometimes makes you listen.

The J-Man (14:25)
Not always. It’ll play something

like that song and then it makes you hit the forward button but you only get like four forward buttons and it’s like a roll of the dice if you’re going to get the song you’re looking for.

Vince Marotte (14:30)
Yeah.

Yeah.

So it’s basically

non-interactive with almost some interactive stuff. okay. Now that’s the types. Now there’s two types of payout. This is where we get into legal terms. One of it sounds all confusing. Pro rata, which is we, all the money goes into a bucket, right? So all the Spotify of the about 50 % of your Spotify monthly payment goes into this bucket to pay artists. And this is how.

but Spotify works there, what’s called ProRata, it goes into a bucket. And then depending on the percentage of total plays for whatever the time interval is a month, let’s say, you get a percentage of that bucket. if Post Malone is 3 % of all plays on Spotify, he gets 3 % of all the money that goes into that bucket. So, and if you’re down chain, same thing, 0.0001%, right? And then there’s user centric.

which is what most people think it is, which it’s not. There are some platforms that do it like Bandcamp, where if I play a Post Malone song, he gets paid the fee for whatever it costs, whatever the fee is, whatever the licensing is for me to hear that song, right? Or even if it’s in buckets for every 500 plays, know, Post Malone’s gonna get a certain amount of royalty for it. And when I say Post Malone, I mean all the people.

within the chain of a Post Malone song that get paid songwriter, publisher, know, performers, you know, all those things, they all have to get paid. That’s called user centric. Most platforms are doing pro rata where it’s just one big bucket and it’s broken down by percentage. And they even set some thresholds because what’s happening in streaming is as you may know, there is like fake music or music trying to capitalize on you searching for something.

Like you want to go search for daughter by Pearl Jam and it might play some song called daughter that isn’t by Pearl Jam and it’s garbage. And so they’re setting minimums of like thousand plays in a 30 day or something like that. It’s for them to even qualify for some of this stuff. So again, pro rata, one big bucket, whatever your percentages of what’s getting paid, that’s what you get. And then

per user centric is whoever’s listening to your music, you get paid based on the percentage of what they’re listening to out of their pay out, right? And so that’s where things get confusing because one thing that’s totally true is it’s not a per stream payout. And that’s where it gets lost. That’s kind of a red herring. I it’s not really what happens. it’s, it, it paints a false picture of how artists are getting paid. So whenever you see an article or someone posting,

You know, here’s how here’s per per play payouts for YouTube music, Apple, Spotify, know, Deezer, all those. What’s the what’s title? That doesn’t mean anything. It’s not a thing. It’s it’s much more complicated and nuanced than that. OK, there’s tranches to it. And so often you’re mixing what you get with non interactive and on demand and you’re in. And that doesn’t work. The per.

So per song streaming, what I’ve learned in this, it’ll be in the show notes. I got some good links to some articles. It’s not a thing. So whenever you see that, just ignore it. It’s not a thing. What I learned, and just to sum up after looking at all this, is think of YouTube, right? Your kids watch the YouTube, right? And they probably have some famous people, some people, yeah, some use.

The J-Man (17:58)
Whatever you see that is important. It’s not a painting. What I learned is somehow…

We’ve got some subscribe channels. We watch them

regularly when they drop a new video.

Vince Marotte (18:15)
Right, right.

Well, here’s the thing. There’s arguments about whether pro rata or user centric is the way to go. We think at a glance, user centric is the way to go. But at the end of the day, there’s two sides to this. One, there’s always a way to game the system, right? By just getting useless plays is how bands have tried or fake bands have tried to game pro rata or

just barf music onto the platform, you’ll see like, you how many different remastered versions of an album are on there. You know, like, you don’t need to make the, you know, the reverb on that one snare drum, 1 % more dry than it was 20 years ago when you remastered it just to throw it on there just so you have more coverage. You know, they’re gaming it. User-centric is basically what YouTube is, right? So you’re…

The J-Man (18:51)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Vince Marotte (19:11)
You know, the ads you see or your subscription for YouTube, if you’re paying for it, goes to the creator and it is a user centric one. the more people that watch your videos, the more money you’re going to make and it’s based on that kind of user centric idea. Both of them are kind of a winner take all. At the end of the day, the most popular is going to be making way more of the money. is a very steep curve on

On the way this works. There’s only you know, one percent of or people of less or less that are putting content on the youtube Can make a living at it Right, like we’re not gonna make a living at this, you know We get a few thousand people here in there, know a week or so listening or or pop it in and watching some of the clips of suburban kings on youtube But we’re not going to make a living at it And that’s true with music too. You know, there is there is a it’s you know musicians actors artist is one of the most

The J-Man (19:51)
Right.

Mm-hmm.

Vince Marotte (20:10)
has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world. would say probably basketball is probably the highest unemployment rate. You know, there’s only like 300 and something basketball players in America making a living at it, you know, maybe less than a thousand. And so that’s the reality is like we see these numbers and when they throw that red herring out of her stream, they’re just barely, you listen to it, they might get like 0.00003 of one cent when you play it. That’s not the thing. Okay.

The J-Man (20:16)
the fifth

Yeah, right.

Vince Marotte (20:39)
Yes, the music industry has changed. Yes, the way things happen, change. We don’t buy albums anymore. But in capitalism, it’s always going to be winner take all. There’s always going to be a 1%. And in music, it’s no different. So do we cancel our streaming apps because we don’t like the way things are? I don’t know. This is the reality we’re in right now. This is not changing. This isn’t going to go away. Now, how the licensing happens.

Might change a little bit, but no matter what happens, it’s going to be a small few who are making lots of money and it’s still a pretty small amount of people that are going to make a living recording and putting music out there. So what do think, John?

The J-Man (21:25)
I was thinking about it from the artist side and then I was thinking about it from the supporter side. And, you know, it seems like there’s still something to be said about the hustle that comes with like the expression of the art, whether it’s music or art itself, like more of a, you know, like a, like a show, like a, you’re going to go do an art show somewhere. Like the hustle of it is like, man, we’re going on tour. We’re going to play at these shows. We’re going to care about our

Vince Marotte (21:30)
Right.

The J-Man (21:54)
our customer or our listeners in a way where when they mention that they’re at our show, whether it’s the actual artist or you’re paying somebody to run your social media accounts, at least engage with them and say, thanks for coming or stick around and give a couple of kids like an underground album and sign some shirts and keep moving and hustling. I think what isn’t that the value of like

Vince Marotte (21:56)
Right.

Right.

The J-Man (22:22)
trying to climb that ladder is when you go on tour, you’re building your fan base. More people hear about you and those people that have a good experience with the show are gonna share that information, whether that’s the Google star reviews or sharing that through your stories and your feeds. So that to me seems like if we wanna be good listeners or supporters of the artist, go to a show.

You know, and, and say you went and tell people like how great of that expression of the art it was or not, you know, trash them if it sucks or whatever, you know, cause that’s the thing that can be disconnected from this is how digital, you know, I don’t know the separation between the human experience of being present in a moment versus just being a casual listener where you just put something on and.

Vince Marotte (22:57)
Right.

Yeah.

The J-Man (23:18)
That’s where I think part of what we’re fighting against in this, or at least for me, is to be engaged. Like stay engaged with the arts. So if it’s not music, know, go find an art show and go try to like it. Go walk through and sit with a painting for a minute or, you know, a piece of pottery or, you know, go walk through like a garden somewhere and allow for yourself to feel the tension of like, man, this is kind of boring.

Vince Marotte (23:34)
Yeah.

The J-Man (23:46)
Because then maybe you might turn that corner and it might be the very thing that you have been missing in kneeing. Like, and I see that I’m seeing that through my kids. My kids have been going to a lot of shows and it’s really perpetuating a lot of things for my oldest son, because he’s starting to make music now. And so this is interesting to me because he’s coming to me with a lot of questions and I don’t have a lot of answers, but he’s just digging around trying to figure it out. And the things that it makes me wonder is when he uses,

Vince Marotte (24:10)
Yeah.

The J-Man (24:15)
like a couple of loops or like for his song, I’m like, okay, well, here’s the deal. If that gets some listeners, what does that mean for the loop that you got it from? Like you gotta be a little careful with this, you know, cause then he’s like, well, I’m putting this song on Spotify, but I gotta go through this third party for them to even put it on there. I’m like, well, what does that mean if you get some traction with this? So that it’s dicey cause I got a 16 year old son that’s dabbling around with this stuff.

And then one hand, I’m like, go for it, you know, go dude, just figure it out. And the other hand, I’m like, well, there’s some greasy people out there that are going to take advantage of kids that don’t know any better. So this is, you know, figuring that piece out. I don’t know, because if he was doing this 20 years ago, then it would be different because then you’re paying the bar guy like, or, you know, you’re getting free fajitas.

Vince Marotte (24:55)
Right.

And that’s

the thing. What’s changed is the bar to entry to get your music broadcast around the world is super low. I could probably get a song on Spotify in the next 24 hours from zero, right? Or definitely could get it on somewhere else, YouTube, for free today. If I, you know, so that…

That’s totally different where the bar to entry to just make the recording, let alone distribute it is so different. And that’s kind of where I am now. And it’s at what use are the labels now? They used to be the gatekeeper to all that. And so there was a toll to get your stuff out there and they would collect that on the backend when albums were sold. So that’s what’s changed. So at the same time,

There’s this concept in business called marginal cost. Have you heard that term? So, you know, if you, let’s say you open a restaurant, right? Well, to get that first plate of food on the table in front of somebody, very expensive because you had to build out the space you rented, buy all the equipment, pay people. I mean, you’re talking, you’ve made no money. You’re not making money.

The J-Man (26:05)
Mm-mm.

Vince Marotte (26:27)
But once all of that is accounted for, your sunk cost, your rent, all that, what does it cost to create the second plate of food, right? The marginal cost, still pretty high because you have overhead and all that sort of stuff. In the digital space, once you’ve made the recording and you’ve put it out there and it’s digital, the marginal cost to get that recording to another person is near zero. And how do you mark up near zero?

marginal cost to make money. And that that’s the difference in digital space. There’s not that big lift. So, you know, you should at face value, you you all that conversation needs to start with a digital song is worth less than a song on a vinyl record. Pure and simple, because it is it’s easier to make. It’s easier to distribute zero cost is almost zero.

You know, what’s the electricity cost to download one song? You know, stuff, right? So that’s where we are now. And I think just our mindset hasn’t changed. So you’re seeing the money now is in synchronization, getting my song into movies, video games, films, things like that. The money is in live performance. A few people are making money from their streaming or other things. So yeah, the cost of shows is that’s kind of where we’re taking the hit. I think we get access to more music for less money.

The J-Man (27:38)
Right. Yeah.

Vince Marotte (27:52)
But if you want to go to live shows, that’s who’s carrying the water now in terms of the finance. you’re seeing all, know, whenever you see a band you haven’t heard of in 10 years, like Oasis, where you get back together and tour, you’re like, ran out of money.

The J-Man (28:03)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah. It

was interesting because he went to a South by Southwest like festival, smaller scale, and it was at like a venue, a small venue, and they had these artists that would just take the stage every hour and there was like 10 or 12 of them. And I was thinking so old school because like he wants to network, he wants to connect and know stream with some of these guys and collaborate with some of these guys and

I was like, too bad you can’t just burn a hundred CDs and put a single on it and hand it to people. you know, like how do you, how do you navigate that now? Like how do you network in a way? Like put, some cards together with a QR code on it and like, you know, they scan it and you put those all over the place and it’ll lead them to your download. And it’s like, no, yeah, that’s kind of how my mind works. And like, and then it gets weird. Cause like, he’s just looking at me like, you are such an old man. Cause

Vince Marotte (28:41)
Yeah.

The street team, the hustle, yeah.

Yeah.

The J-Man (29:04)
you know, that doesn’t translate now. But I can’t teach him to hustle digitally. hey, you got to start following people. You got to start figuring out how to have those conversations. You need to start.

Vince Marotte (29:14)
Well, now,

I talked to my daughter who will record our first episode on Sunday where she is going to introduce me to new music. We were talking through it this week and she’s like, most my friends and myself, our main channel for discovering music we haven’t heard is TikTok. That’s the channel, whether it’s new music or old stuff that is put on. when something goes viral, that’s the channel now is I got to get my song to go viral on TikTok.

and have other people use it for their background, for the music, for their TikTok. And so that’s, it’s interesting. Very different from what we’re used to. yeah, wild times. And in light of how people are getting paid, let’s talk about cover songs. I love a good cover song, okay? And I’m gonna talk about one. I’m not gonna talk about, you know, why.

The J-Man (29:47)
Yeah. Yeah.

Hmm.

Yeah, for real.

Yeah.

Vince Marotte (30:12)
What cover songs are great, but I do want to talk about currently what ones are bad. And then we’re to get to it a draft. And as always, John will go first, but can we just touch on the, on some of the worst cover songs of all time real quick? Like I could tell you right now, the worst cover song of all time is probably Eric Clapton doing I shot the sheriff.

The J-Man (30:25)
Yeah, yeah, like jump in and I’ll spin off you. Like, we’ll go from here.

Vince Marotte (30:39)
It’s a dangerous place to go. One iconic song from an iconic artist that is very different, unique voice, unique sonics. That is a scary place to go. And he didn’t really change the melody. He just claptidized it. And so it’s, yeah, it’s weak. It’s just bad, especially, and maybe that’s just me and the world I live in because I’m a huge reggae fan. And that song is just, the cover is just garbage.

The J-Man (30:45)
Yeah, yeah, right.

Gave it the clap. Yeah

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, dude, when you said that we are going to be talking about this immediately, I sent you my worst of all time, Pitbull singing Africa on the Aquaman soundtrack. It literally makes your ears bleed. Like it is so, my stomach, it turns.

Vince Marotte (31:19)
Yeah, that was terrible. That was terrible. Yeah.

It’s it was good. It was terrible in that. That’s a good

domine and the other one that you have to talk about is stained doing sound of silence. Just auto to auto tune hell, auto tune hell. So to yeah, just just rough. So I want to start it off. You get the number one pick in in the cover song draft. And then with my number one pick, I’m going to describe what makes a good cover song.

The J-Man (31:36)
man. my gosh. Yeah. So bad. So bad.

Okay. Yeah.

Vince Marotte (31:55)
if my number one pick still stands after you go.

The J-Man (31:55)
Okay. Yeah. Okay. I think it’s

good to preface a little bit like what you’re saying. And for me, I just put my list together based on my listening. Like how many times I’ve listened to the song as opposed to trying to identify like the best cover song of all time. yeah. So, I mean, I have a feeling that I’ll be pulling some stuff off the list that you’re just like, can have it. Like I’m not going for like the fantasy football win on this.

Vince Marotte (32:14)
I’m kinda in the middle there.

I imagine, yeah, I don’t think this one’s

gonna be as competitive as the Road Trip albums. was, you know, were jockeying for similar albums.

The J-Man (32:27)
Yeah, and I think too,

like with a cover, you kind of touched on like Eric Clapton. He did his Clapton spin on a reggae classic. And that to me is like what one of the most intriguing things about a cover song is. And I think that that can really be the risk in it. But that’s also when you hit a home run. And what I mean by that is a cover song needs to take the song from

another artist and then as an artist, you got to express it in your own way. You can’t just perform it. You can’t karaoke it. You got to take it. You got to make it yours. So that way, if you go look at a Andrew Warhol painting, you know his style. So he can’t paint a different style. He’s got to paint in his style. So when you see it, you’re like, that’s a Warhol. And I feel that way with like a good

Vince Marotte (33:00)
Right?

Nah.

The J-Man (33:24)
musician is you got to know who’s singing it, but you then immediately connect it with the original and say, my gosh, okay, okay, I got to get past how this isn’t landing with me because it’s so different because I’m so used to the original, but this is kind of cool because he’s putting his spin on it. So anyways, so for me, I’m taking, Wonderwall by Oasis originally done, redone by Ryan Adams.

Vince Marotte (33:36)
Right.

Yeah. Yep. That’s nailed it.

The J-Man (33:53)
That’s just at the top of my list. The first two or three times I listened to it, I didn’t like it. But then I fell in love with it and he puts a haunting spin to it. It has some melodic changes that are a little weird at first. Like, well, okay, that’s different and doesn’t land well. But it’s so honestly him and so honest in its own way. And I just, love how much he simplified it.

Slowed it down. And Ryan Adams is an imperfect singer and that’s why I like his singing. He’s a terrible singer, but he’s him. True. True. So I’m putting that at the top. That’s a personal pick. That’s arguably one of my favorites.

Vince Marotte (34:28)
Yeah, you want some life. Yeah, you want some, not Anthony, he’s not Anthony Keat is terrible. Yeah.

I love it.

I love it. Now my number one pick comes from the origin story as I understand it. This gentleman that composed this cover of one of the most popular songs of all time was, if I understand the story, he was basically in the kitchen with his wife and a cover song came on as you described it where it really wasn’t much different. was using the same melody.

And really the only difference was we’re using different instruments, maybe, and the, the tone of the singer is different because it’s a different singer. And he’s like, that’s not a good cover song. You got to change the melody even and make it something totally different. And on, on a whim, he’s like, I got an idea. Here’s an example. And he takes this song that everybody knows and he makes it his own and changes the melody. And for my money has created.

not just my favorite, I think it’s my favorite, but what I think is also technically the one of the best covers of all time. And that is Billie Jean by Chris Cornell.

The J-Man (35:46)
Yeah. Yeah.

Vince Marotte (35:48)
It is, he does this blues in a minor, in a minor scale version of the song. And again, we’re not, we don’t play the music because it’s, it’s impossible to your videos and things get taken down. But Billie Jean by Chris Cornell is just hauntingly good. It’s, it’s clearly got Cornellian melody to it. He completely changes the song. and I’ve heard recently, it sounds like a, maybe like a, like an America’s Got Talent or, or somebody.

The J-Man (36:08)
Yeah.

Vince Marotte (36:18)
did a cover of Chris Cornell’s cover and it kind of bums me out because they just are doing a bad cover of a great cover. And it’s like, you totally, when I think about the origin of this cover and him saying you got to do something different, it’s almost offensive that someone else is doing his version of it because it is just perfection. And you don’t even have to be a Chris Cornell fan. So Billie Jean by Chris Cornell, that’s my number one draft pick in the cover song draft.

The J-Man (36:36)
Yeah, yeah, right.

Dude, yeah, that’s

awesome. I remember you showed me a performance of that on a YouTube and then later on he did it again like right before he died in a studio. It wasn’t a live performance. It was a live studio recording. But yeah, dude, so good. Such a great performance, the one you shared. All right. I don’t even know where, I’ve made a pretty long list and I don’t even know where to go, but I’m going to…

Vince Marotte (36:53)
Slays.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

Just awesome.

Got

47 songs in my short.

The J-Man (37:17)
I’m going to go with Mad World, originally put together by Tears for Fears, but Gary Jules did a version of that.

Vince Marotte (37:25)
It’s on my

shortlist. That’s been, that’s one of those covers where depending on your age, you might think that’s the original.

The J-Man (37:34)
I thought it was when I first heard it.

Vince Marotte (37:38)
I was a huge Tears for Fears fan when they dropped in the 80s, so for me, I loved the original, but this is a great cover.

The J-Man (37:44)
I listen to it a lot. It landed with me in a time in my life where it matched my mood in a weird way. It’ll put you in that mood, you know? It’s a moving song. It reaches your emotions in a different way. It’s powerful. That’s a good question. I don’t even know. Why? Is it just GC and D?

Vince Marotte (38:03)
How many churches played that version of that song on a Sunday morning?

I bet it’s a lot.

It’s well, it’s just got it’s it’s safe It’s safe. It has a vague enough message, but that can be pointed enough That it works within a church settings one of those like a u2 song But yeah, great great song original is awesome and I love it and they changed it. They made it a new song And it’s it’s awesome. Now i’m i’m going to be the first one to drop it My number two pick is what I would expect is there’s probably going to be several

The J-Man (38:16)
E minor.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear you.

Vince Marotte (38:42)
Bob Dylan songs on here because as I’ve always said the best Bob Dylan songs are ones covered by other people and this is one of my favorites In terms of covers, it’s not too different other than he just throws a rockabilly Mike Ness action at it. You may know social distortion And Mike Nesta frontman his cover of don’t think twice by Bob Dylan is my number two pick

The J-Man (38:47)
Yeah.

Sweet.

That’s cool, man. That’s a good pick. I like that. Yeah.

Vince Marotte (39:09)
It’s a banger and

it’s one of those ones where it just takes that song Which is you know, a real quiet, know It’s one of Bob Dylan’s songs where he’s not having to work so hard So his terrible singing doesn’t get in the way but this version of his upbeat it’s got the boom chucked It’s almost a country song the way Mike Ness does it. I love it

The J-Man (39:32)
Okay, sweet. I’m gonna take one that is probably gonna be very controversial. This is like me saying one of my favorite shows might be a reality show. You know, this is like a guilty pleasure. So I’m gonna take this one. It represents maybe a time in music that just got really, really weird and lost, but it’s fun. It’s a little more upbeat, but I’m gonna take Ili and Antfarm’s rendition of Smooth.

Vince Marotte (39:43)
I know you like a home improvement show.

The J-Man (40:01)
criminal, Michael Jackson, Smooth Criminal. That’s fun, man. It’s fun. It’s fun. I’m not saying it’s better than the original. just, again, music connects to me emotionally. And when I turn that on, it makes me kind of want to rock out, maybe throw some Frisbee golf discs. You know, I think I listened to that at a time in my life when I was playing Frisbee golf.

Vince Marotte (40:05)
This one is controversial.

I love that version. Yeah.

I love it. And it was a great move by them to introduce people to their sound because their sound was a little bit different. They were kind of coming up in that, you know, in that that late 90s, early 2000s, kind of on the heels of what like 311 were doing and Incubus and that kind of thing. And they brought they they brought a different kind of sonic to it. And it’s a great way to introduce people. I always think if you’re a band and you’re opening for a band and you’re playing to a room where people don’t know you.

The J-Man (40:36)
90s. Yeah.

Right.

Vince Marotte (40:52)
It’s a good idea sometimes to throw a cover that puts your sound on the song people know and it helps them tune. think this did that for them. I think this was a, you cause I love their track movies. great song. but it introduced you to it. Got you familiar with their sound. great one right there. I am going to go, go on Bob Dylan again. I’m going Bob Dylan again. like this is a guns and roses cover.

The J-Man (40:53)
play it cover. Yeah. That’s great. Yeah.

Cool.

Yeah.

Cool cool cool yeah

Vince Marotte (41:22)
You know it?

The J-Man (41:26)
So yeah.

Vince Marotte (41:28)
Is it now I’m second guessing myself is knocking on heaven door heavens door. That’s a pop deal. Yeah, not gonna have.

The J-Man (41:31)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And,

Eric Clapton did a little clappy and spin on it too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sweet.

Vince Marotte (41:36)
I hate Eric Clapton.

only because of his bad Bob Marley. Knock it on heaven’s door. Guns and Roses is that’s my number three pick.

Great cover and just it is. Yeah, just got some awesome just wailing from from Axl Rose like you just this was peak. You know, Guns and Roses with the usual losing illusion. Can I say it? Use your illusion one and two. Great, great album. Great cover.

The J-Man (42:01)
Use your illusion one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sweet.

Yeah, buddy. man. Okay, you mentioned Bob Dylan and I think Bob Dylan might arguably be one of the artists that have been covered the most. honestly, I appreciate Bob Dylan. I don’t know if I like Bob Dylan. I appreciate him because of how much influence he’s had culturally in music, you know.

Vince Marotte (42:29)
yeah.

The J-Man (42:29)
Folk singing, folk writing, the movement at the time. But he’s probably one of the most covered artists of all time. So there’s a local Austin artist that has been covered. And I don’t know if people like him or even know how much influence he’s had. He’s like the Austin Bob Dylan, Daniel Johnson. So I’m gonna take Bright Eyes, Devil Town. I like that song. I like that band.

Vince Marotte (42:38)
gotta be.

Yeah, I know who you’re talking about. Yeah.

The J-Man (42:59)
And it was in an episode. That’s how I heard it of Friday Night Lights. Again, another Austin recorded show. Clearly I am just a homer. I like Austin culture. I’ve grown up in Austin. So that song for me did it because it was a Daniel Johnson song. I like Bright Eyes and then The Devil Town played in an episode of Friday Night Lights. And then I actually spin it from time to time. I like it.

Vince Marotte (43:27)
I love that song if you haven’t heard the original if you’re going out there to look to a bunch of people have covered it’s one of those songs where it’s Kyle it’s almost like like hallelujah where it’s become a staple for covers and a lot of times we’ve been to some tapings and a couple times they’ve played Austin covers and was it bony bear did they do devil town a Lot of people when they do it play they do an ACL taping they’ll play devil town

The J-Man (43:38)
Yeah.

I don’t know

Vince Marotte (43:56)
So you’ll see a lot of covers of, I love, it’s a great, great little song. Yeah. He’s like a Bob Dylan. He’s a terrible singer, just quirky ass songwriter. and if you ever get the chance to watch that documentary, the devil and Daniel Johnston do it really phenomenal. All right. So I am kind of torn here. I don’t know if I need to get too defensive because I don’t think we’re going to be super, you did get smooth criminal from me.

The J-Man (43:58)
a nod.

Yeah.

Vince Marotte (44:26)
So I am gonna go, here’s what I’m gonna go with one I think a lot of people know. I’ll make sure I know who the original artist is.

So this one I think is one where I think most people, especially in our generation know the cover more than the original. So the original is by the Velvet Underground, which is kind of late 70s, kind of there were precursors to punk kind of that almost that CBGB New York era, but it is Sweet Jane by the Cowboy Junkies.

The J-Man (44:51)
Okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Vince Marotte (45:06)
which you may remember the movie, what was it? was, natural born killers. This was, this was one of the songs. This is where that that’s yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Very.

The J-Man (45:14)
Yeah, That soundtrack was very underrated. My brother had

that on CD and he played that a lot and it has a ton of like really good artists and it was a really like ugly movie but in a good way.

Vince Marotte (45:32)
It is a very haunting, you know, chill song that it’s on my morning playlist, a lot of mornings. I have a kind of a breakfast blend playlist that I have. And so it’s Sweet Jane by Cowboy Junkies is my number four pick.

The J-Man (45:34)
Yeah.

Yeah,

sweet. Very good. I’m going to go with Nirvana, Unplugged. And they took David Bowie’s, Man Who Sold the World. their live performance of that wasn’t perfect. I think, you know, he missed a couple of notes when he was singing and like, you know, I think even in the lead guitar solo, they missed a note or two.

Vince Marotte (46:02)
Mm-hmm.

The J-Man (46:15)
it was just a little bit of a messy performance, but yeah, but I liked their version of it, So I’m going, I’m going to go with that. Yeah.

Vince Marotte (46:19)
But you want that from Nirvana.

I dig it. dig it.

I dig it. I dig it. I’m trying to think. Do we go with another? I got on my short list. I have at least one more Bob Dylan, but I’m I’m not going there. I am going to go with another one out of a soundtrack, this time from Pulp Fiction.

The J-Man (46:37)
Okay, okay, okay.

Mmm.

Vince Marotte (46:47)
This is trying to think what’s the best way to describe it. Well, you know Neil Diamond, there’s a Neil Diamond cover who this is when I’m trying to explain someone how much I like dynamics in a song like, which is, know, volume, maybe not tempo change, but just intensity versus not, you know, a good song has good dynamics. It’s, you know, up and down.

The J-Man (47:15)
Yeah,

right, yeah.

Vince Marotte (47:16)
The

original of this song is an example I give to that because he kind of flips it where the verse is more up and loud and more in your face and the chorus is subdued. And this band, they don’t change it a lot. It doesn’t really fit within our rules because they don’t change it a whole lot. But Urge Overkill does a great cover of Girl You’ll Be a Woman Soon. And it had

The J-Man (47:30)
Okay.

Hmm. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn’t know that was a cover.

Vince Marotte (47:44)
Yeah, that’s a Neil Diamond song. And it is, yeah, and again, it’s one of the songs, if you didn’t have parents who were old enough to be listening to Neil Diamond, tidbit, the first show I can ever remember going to was a Neil Diamond show as a kid, played at a fair kind of thing on a lawn with the family. So.

The J-Man (47:51)
You think it’s the original? Yeah.

did, yeah, I

saw a Neil Diamond cover band show at the Austin Music Hall. think they were opening for, Tenacious D and the name of them were the Diamond Smugglers. And the guy was wearing like a sequined outfit. People loved him. I mean, total home run opening for Tenacious D because it was total like putting on a show. Anyways, yeah.

Vince Marotte (48:16)
Hahaha

Dude.

Listen

to the original of girl. You’ll be a woman soon by Neil Diamond and you’ll you’ll hear what I’m talking about His vocals go hard. They go hard like you can see it’s a tough song to change I get why urge overkill really didn’t change it a lot and his vocals are very similar to Neil Diamond’s his tone and Just the power between the verse and the chorus and how it’s flipped is really interesting again The chorus is quiet and subdued and the verse is up

The J-Man (48:33)
yeah. Yep. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s cool,

man. I like that. That’s a good one. Okay, I’m gonna I’m gonna go with When the Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin taking it from Memphis Mini, whatever, whoever wrote it originally. But it’s a stark difference. And that’s a classic Led Zeppelin song that hit it goes hard. You know that? man, when I think of Led Zeppelin, that’s

Vince Marotte (48:56)
in In You, so a great song.

oooo

Right?

The J-Man (49:22)
might be my favorite Led Zeppelin song. I just love it.

Vince Marotte (49:25)
I can

clearly say my favorite Led Zeppelin song is The Ocean. But I like when the levee breaks. Yeah, no, that’s got the wailing. yeah, yeah.

The J-Man (49:29)
Okay, okay. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah

No, no, no. When the Levee Breaks, it opens with like a harmonica and like a, yeah, it’s different. What you’re singing is, I come from the land, no, no, no. Not that song. When the Levee Breaks. When you hear it.

Vince Marotte (49:41)
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, no.

Yeah, the Little Rigs has the

Beastie Boys sampled it for rhyming and stealing. It starts with the drum, with the gated, reverbed drum thing. It’s awesome. That and the, nananana, nananana. I know it, okay. I totally blanked on that one.

The J-Man (49:56)
Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I

love that Led Zeppelin song, man. And I didn’t know it was covered for the longest time, but.

Vince Marotte (50:13)
I apologize to the classic rock people. I’m not a classic rock dude, so I don’t know. But I do know the ocean is, yeah. I think we both agree on that.

The J-Man (50:16)
That’s all right. I’m not really either. But that’s a nod

to that Zeppelin song, man. It’s a good cover. It’s a solid cover.

Vince Marotte (50:24)
It’s definitely one of those ones where people don’t realize it’s a cover. And I threw a couple on here that are worth mentioning now that you bring that up. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Cyndi Lauper is a cover originally done by a dude, like in the fifties, right? That’s a cover that a lot of people don’t realize. A lot of your country, country kind of had its heyday, early Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline. Lots of people, even in the Elvis days, most of those songs were done multiple times.

The J-Man (50:27)
Exactly.

Mmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Vince Marotte (50:54)
multiple people they were covering. was so much music being put out. was covered. So I think like Patsy Cline’s Walking After Midnight is a fantastic song, but it’s a cover, right? Let’s see, you know, George On By Mine, Ray Charles, that’s a cover. Twist and Shout by the Beatles is a cover. Right. You know, all those sorts of things. Yeah, they’re covers. So I want to go.

The J-Man (51:02)
Yeah. Yeah.

Mm hmm. yeah. Yeah. Hmm.

Vince Marotte (51:22)
I’m going to go with kind of a local artist or semi local to you in Austin out of Wimberley, Texas Sarah Jarreau Sarah Jarreau who is um, she kind of came to fame I want to say Yeah, maybe in that somewhere between 2009 and 2015 as like a 15 year old bluegrass vocal like phenom

The J-Man (51:28)
Okay. yeah.

2008, nine.

10.

Yeah. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Yeah,

yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm.

Vince Marotte (51:52)
Right? Like just

amazing vocal. She could sing. And so this is a is a cover. It’s it’s an old song from like the 70s where I first heard it as well as ones where it’s a cover of a cover in my world, because I know it first from the Decemberists. And I thought when I first heard her sing and I’m like, that’s a she’s doing the Decemberist, but they’re actually doing a song by trying to say.

Is a real song see you think of ultra? It’s like a protest song from like the IRA era during the troubles in the 70s so it’s one of those things where like maybe they they they They sang it like in pubs or something like that Like it’s a pub song and the Decemberist did it because they have this weird You know like they’re always doing like history influenced songs and the song is called the shank hill butchers and it’s just this haunting song and it’s just I get why

The J-Man (52:29)
Dang. Huh. Yeah.

Vince Marotte (52:50)
Sarah Gero did it because it’s just ready made for her voice. And it’s off of the one I thought was the original, was by the December, this is off the Crane Wife album. It’s called Shane Kill Butchers. And it’s just, sounds almost like a haunting song you sing to kids before bed to get them to go to sleep. If you don’t go to sleep, if you don’t fall asleep, the butchers are gonna get you. Yeah, it’s one of those.

The J-Man (53:12)
Yeah, let’s scare him to bed. Let’s scare him to bed. The boogeyman’s gonna put you to sleep. Yeah.

Vince Marotte (53:19)
And it is just, it’s so perfect for her songs.

I put it on, you know, I’ll play music and have candy and a fire out in the driveway for Halloween. And this is one of those, you know, it’s on that playlist because it’s almost a scary song. So Sarah Jarrell’s version of The Shankill Butchers, that’s my number six pick.

The J-Man (53:30)
Yeah, sweet.

Cool. Yeah.

Sweet, man. I’m gonna check that out. I can’t think of that. That’s something for me to check out. You’re putting all these in the note.

Vince Marotte (53:48)
Yeah,

it’s gonna be the show notes, everybody can grab these. I’ll link to my shortlist playlist, which has all these on there plus another bunch. So what’s your number seven pick, John?

The J-Man (53:51)
Sweet.

Nice. Okay,

I’m gonna go with I Will Survive by Cake. got it. Yeah, dude, that kind of falls in the Alien Ant Farm kind of space for me a little bit, like just that timeframe, that timeframe in my life when I was listening to that music and they do their spin, their cake spin on it and I liked it. I didn’t know it was a cover.

Vince Marotte (54:02)
Ooh, that’s on my shortlist.

Right.

The J-Man (54:21)
Well, actually, no, no, I did know it was cover, but the original singer wasn’t who we think it is. Gloria Gaynor? No, but I think she did a cover because the original artist, credit when I looked it up, was Gloria Gaynor because I thought it was going to be the Donna Summer, I Will Survive. But anyways, I think it’s a cover of a cover.

Vince Marotte (54:30)
Wasn’t it Donis? Yeah, Donis Summer?

Right. Yeah.

Yeah, that’s right. So you’re right. It was a glory game.

The J-Man (54:48)
I didn’t. Yeah. I thought I thought

that’s what I meant to say is I didn’t know it was a cover of a cover. I knew it was cover, but I thought that the yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Vince Marotte (54:55)
It’s still in that disco era. Yeah

Nice very very I like that song cake was the local band when I was in high school So their local band that made it and their their first album motorcaded generosity is Perpetually on my desert island discs Playlist that’s one of my favorite albums of all time And it’s you know, they’ve they’re a band that has stayed sonically true to their roots

The J-Man (55:01)
Yeah.

sweet.

Yeah, buddy.

Vince Marotte (55:22)
and have not seemed to falter away from that and I really appreciate that. So, right? I am gonna throw for my number seven pick, I need to throw some punk rock in there because punk rock matters. And did you get into the sublime in high school? Did 40 ounces to freedom, did that hit or was it until the self title in your world? I California it was, you know, was.

The J-Man (55:23)
Totally. Yeah, me too. Good usage of trumpet too, by the way.

Yeah, yeah

It did. No, 40 ounces to freedom hit. No, it was a thing.

It was a thing here.

Vince Marotte (55:52)
So there’s a bad religion song on there That is one of my favorite bad religion songs and it’s very very relevant to today’s zeitgeist And the song so my number seven pick in the cover song draft is we’re only gonna die for our arrogance by sublime originally done by bad religion and They don’t change it much. They accept that they throw reggae

The J-Man (56:11)
Yeah.

Okay, I didn’t know that was a cover.

Vince Marotte (56:20)
It starts off fast, like a proper bad religion song, and then they break down into their break. It’s really awesome. It was one of those things that made me go, I’m going to listen to Sublime because I love bad religion. They clearly listen to bad religion because this was not a single. You wouldn’t know this unless you were a fan of bad religion. We’re only going to die for our arrogance by Sublime.

The J-Man (56:20)
Yeah.

sublimey and reggae.

Yes, All right. Cover album. Cover album by the late great Johnny Cash.

Vince Marotte (56:50)
Ooh.

You did like seven, right?

The J-Man (56:57)
Yeah,

I don’t know if it was an entire album, but one of the last things he recorded was like a cover album. And I’m to go with The Hurt by Nine Inch Nails. It was hard the first time I heard it to listen to because I was like this, he’s not doing it like Nine Inch Nails does it. But it really grew on me just an appreciation because he was actually singing from a place in his life. And I didn’t hear it the first couple of times because I was so almost like

thrown off by him singing it. But I’m gonna give it to him for putting it out there. And this is a good album and he’s such a great, arguably one of the best country western, I don’t even know how put him in that. I can’t think of the word. Yeah, well yeah, he’s country, yeah. Outlaw, he’s an outlaw, like outlaw music.

Vince Marotte (57:48)
He’s country. I call it. He’s definitely country

Outlaw. I’ll

The J-Man (57:55)
That’s the

Vince Marotte (57:55)
let you out.

The J-Man (57:56)
country genre he falls in. He’s an outlaw.

Vince Marotte (58:00)
So Johnny Cash did five cover song albums with Rick Rubin. So five albums of all cover songs. He did like Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode is probably the other one that’s really famous. And to hear kind of the origins of that, Johnny Cash just fully put his trust into Rick Rubin because Rick Rubin was like, do this song. And Johnny Cash is, I’m not seeing it, bro. Like I’m not seeing it on Hurt. But I’ll do it because I trust you. And it hit.

The J-Man (58:02)
Mm-hmm. Rusty cage.

Yep.

Yeah.

Vince Marotte (58:30)
It’s again one of those songs if you’re younger, you know, if you’re you know, you’re born Prior to the nine inch nails kind of peaking in the early to mid 90s This is the version of the song, you know, and I would imagine there’s a lot of people don’t realize it’s a cover And or haven’t ever heard the original or aren’t familiar with it. So it is the song for them And I think both versions are just awesome. I think a lot of people like which one’s better. They’re different They’re different in such a way

The J-Man (58:54)
Yeah, yeah. Right, right, yeah.

Vince Marotte (58:59)
that they’re both just incredible and they just bring a different thing to it. Trent Reznor will tell you, he says, that’s Johnny Cash’s song now. And I’m okay with that. I would bet, I would bet it has more plays on Spotify. I’m gonna check right now. Let’s see here. Johnny Cash is at 667 million. Okay, 667 million. Hurt by Nine Inch Nails.

The J-Man (59:03)
For real. Yeah.

So cool. Awesome.

than the original.

Man, that’s difficult.

Oof.

Vince Marotte (59:30)
Let’s go to… Go down to Hurt by Nine Inch Nails is one sixth of that at 104 million. So six times more. So Trent Reznor is right, that’s Johnny Cash’s song. And I would give him to it, because he’s a legend. He’s a legend. So let me get back to my playlist so I can get down my number eight pick. Great pick, John.

The J-Man (59:39)
Dang. Dang.

man. Wow.

Vince Marotte (59:55)
And you said cover albums. I actually have a cover album represented on here, but I don’t think I’m going to I don’t think it’s going to make my top 10. It’s close. There was an album. need to go to this album because it’s that important. This was happening in the 90s. A bunch you saw bands doing full covers. I know Rage Against the Machine did a full cover album, Renegades. But there was one where a bunch of, you know, a bunch of bands would cover songs by a one band.

The J-Man (1:00:03)
Okay. Okay.

Vince Marotte (1:00:23)
and do an album like that. This album’s called If I Were a Carpenter, and it’s all carpenters cover songs, and they’re really fantastic, and it’s all kind of your 90s players in there, so interesting. I do have Superstar by Sonic Youth on my short list. I don’t think it’s gonna make the cut. I am gonna go with.

The J-Man (1:00:27)
Hmm

Vince Marotte (1:00:46)
This one’s gonna be tough.

I’m going go with… here’s what I’m going with. I’m going with a song by the Pet Shop Boys.

Always on my mind. You’re always on my mind by the Pet Shop Boys is my eighth pick.

The J-Man (1:01:04)
Okay. Whoa. Okay. mean,

so I mean, Willie Nelson did a version of that. He did it. But who originally wrote that song?

Vince Marotte (1:01:14)
huh.

Let’s

look.

The J-Man (1:01:18)
I want to say Ray Charles did a version of that song too, but I could be wrong.

Vince Marotte (1:01:21)
It’s one I think it’s

it’s definitely become one of those standards. I you know, you know, um so about written by wane carson And johnny christopher mark jane is recorded by brenda lee Released by gwen mcrae in 1972 is the first time we see it elvis presley did it Willie nelson did it in 1982 was one’s first time he sees it pet shop boys in 87

And so it’s it they put a great spin on it. It’s kind of have has like an orchestral opening It’s one of their biggest hits in terms of plays by the Pet Shop Boys. So one of my favorites I love the Pet Shop Boys So that’s that’s that’s my pick for number eight always on my mind

The J-Man (1:02:06)
Sweet,

sweet, okay. Awesome. Song that actually got a lot of plays and I don’t know why, but I got the CD, that’s probably why. It’s interesting that this makes my list, but I’m gonna go with Killing Me Softly by the Fugees with Lauryn Hill, saying Roberta Flax. Roberta Flax.

Vince Marotte (1:02:24)
Ooh, it’s on my shortlist.

The J-Man (1:02:30)
hit. I liked that album. I liked that Fuji’s album. think that may have been the only Fuji’s album and or Wyclef slash Lauryn Hill albums I ever purchased, you know, or even really got into. I appreciated them. Lauryn Hill’s an awesome artist singer, but that’s a good song. Like I actually played that quite a bit when I bought that CD.

Vince Marotte (1:02:55)
That’s a banger. That’s on my short list. It’s on my short list. That’s a good one. for number nine, I’m also, gonna go into the hip hop. Worth saying, Fuji’s The Score album is top 10 hip hop albums of all time for me. If you haven’t, go back and give that a listen. It is a fantastic one. And that one’s kind of borderline cover because like they cover…

The J-Man (1:02:57)
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay.

Vince Marotte (1:03:25)
I think it’s a cover, I’m 100 % in support of it. But know, verse is obviously different. So they’re not only changing it sonically, they’re changing some of the words to kind of make it their own. But I think it qualifies as a cover. I’m curious what the royalties are for that based on how much of it is a cover, how much of it, know, that kind of, you know. I’m interested, but I it’s complicated, the royalties for that one.

The J-Man (1:03:48)
Yeah.

Hey, how many do we have left? I’m just curious how to narrow this down. dang. Crap.

Vince Marotte (1:03:52)
One each, one each. Yeah. So you gotta pick,

your next one’s number 10. It’s gotta be a banger. So.

The J-Man (1:03:58)
Okay, I got

one. I got one and you could probably steal it from me because you probably guessed it. Okay.

Vince Marotte (1:04:01)
Here’s my number nine. Here’s

my number nine. This is and I grew up on hip-hop. This is There’s no way to describe this Other than just to say it and that is boys in the hood by dominant dynamite hack Great great song You know, I love the original it’s it’s on regular rotation at my house both versions of it to kind of take a rap song

The J-Man (1:04:14)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, dude. I loved that when that came out. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, super cool.

Yeah.

Vince Marotte (1:04:28)
Here’s

a couple of things you don’t realize. Next time you go to listen to Boys in the Hood by Dynamite Hack, also listen to Blackbird by The Beatles, because that’s the song they’re playing, and that’s the melody they’re using. They’ve taken a Beatles song and an NWA song and mashed them up. So not only is it a cover of two songs, and so when it’s a cover mashup, which is super interesting.

The J-Man (1:04:37)
yeah,

Cool. Cool. Cover mashup. Cool.

Vince Marotte (1:04:54)
And it makes it that and that’s one of my favorite Beatles songs, too So that’s why it really hit me The other thing that’s kind of buried in here in the Easter egg is the name of the band dynamite hack It struck me as well because it’s it’s a it’s a phrase from one of the one of my favorite movies of all time one of the most quotable movies of all time that is caddyshack When when he’s in his when he’s in his shed, he’s like cannonball. He try this this this is some dynamite hack and so

The J-Man (1:05:15)
Mmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Bro.

Vince Marotte (1:05:22)
You describe

describing weed is the name. That’s where they’re banned. I assume that’s where the band name comes from, because that’s where I know it from. But Boys in the Hood by Dynamite Hack. That’s my number nine pick because it’s a double cover. I’m getting NWA and I’m getting the Beatles.

The J-Man (1:05:31)
That’s sweet.

That’s a good, that’s a good pick, man. I like that. I liked it. I enjoyed it when it came out. People didn’t like it because it was so different. But again, that’s the risk. That’s the excitement of a cover. He totally made it his and he was very clever about it, clearly.

Vince Marotte (1:05:46)
Right?

If you like that, Ben Folds does NWA, but it’s only on YouTube because he did like a live show, almost like an ACL Live kind of thing, but for Facebook. And he covers Bitches Ain’t Shit by NWA. And it’s amazing. It’s just, know, as Ben Folds can do. So that’s also worth looking at, but that’s, you’re not gonna be play that in Spotify, so I didn’t add it.

The J-Man (1:06:04)
huh. huh.

Okay. So,

all right. I’m going to close mine out with a cover and an original that I arguably like equally. And they’re different. They’re very different. But they both work for both these bands. I’m going with Such Great Heights originally written and put together by the Postal Service but redone by Iron and Wine.

Vince Marotte (1:06:35)
I have the Postal Service on here. And that was one where I thought it was their song originally too. I was confused. Who was your OG?

The J-Man (1:06:42)
Yeah,

yeah, yeah. So that’s what I’m going with to close my, have, yeah. When you were saying that, I thought that that was who it was gonna be.

Vince Marotte (1:06:47)
Also from Wemberley, Wemberley getting represented twice in here. Yeah.

Right.

And was that in the garden state? Was that the version that was in the garden state? That’s why. Yeah. So you covered it in there. So yeah.

The J-Man (1:06:59)
Yeah, uh-huh. Yeah. The Garden State, another good

soundtrack, man. That was really good. The shins and iron and wine. We should, man. Yeah.

Vince Marotte (1:07:07)
We might have to do a soundtrack draft.

All right, so I’ve got a hit here. I’m going to come out of left field because this is, again, we’ve talked about songs that have hit us at the right time. And I would never consider myself a huge Pearl Jam fan.

And yeah, so as a fan, so I think my take on Pearl Jam is different. So but as someone who’s more of a Pearl Jam fan, what would you say is your favorite? If you only have one album to rock, what would you what would you be? 10. OK, yeah. See, I think most people would say 10 or Vitology is the other one where I’m kind of I think my favorite is Versus. That’s the only Pearl Jam album I listen to front to back. And it has a cover on there. Do you know what the cover is?

The J-Man (1:07:38)
I am, I am. They’re one of my favorites.

ten. Ten.

Hmm.

I can’t think of it. But when you say it, I’ll probably know, but I can’t think of it.

Vince Marotte (1:08:12)
It’s the closing track. And so this was on CD. And so the kids don’t know. A lot of times you had a hidden track, remember? So you’d go to the, when you’re playing the last track on the album, which I, which I think was, elderly woman, maybe it was the last track or I can’t remember which, which was the last track on the album, whatever the last track you look at it. And the song would be like 18 minutes long. This, the song would end and then it would be blank.

The J-Man (1:08:15)
Mm-hmm. yeah, yeah.

You gotta wait.

Okay, yeah, I can’t think either.

Yeah, that’s when you knew. That’s when you knew there was a hidden song.

Vince Marotte (1:08:41)
And so then there was.

The J-Man (1:08:41)
It’s like seeing a Marvel movie and waiting to the very end to see that last little three second snippet. Little cliffhanger. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Vince Marotte (1:08:45)
Yeah, they throw that stinger at the end. yeah.

And so it’s like that. It was a hidden track, but that’s not a… I don’t know if that’s a thing on the streaming. At least it isn’t on the Spotify version of Verses. But there’s a song on there that’s a cover. It’s called Crazy Mary.

And it’s just, I don’t know if it’s just really stripped down, just kind of clean electric guitar and Eddie Vedder just in his bag singing. And it’s kind of this old school, know, probably like a blues song. is the original artist wrote it in, let’s see, 1986, let’s see. It’s song about like a historical figure, like there’s something about it.

The J-Man (1:09:12)
Hmm.

Interesting.

Vince Marotte (1:09:31)
Victoria was an American singer-songwriter, writer, she was born in 1958. In 1986, she worked with her husband Peter for the album Falling Years. When was it written?

It’s just her. Victoria Williams originally wrote it. But she’s like a legendary songwriter that you’ve never heard of because a lot of other people did her songs. so Pearl Jam does Crazy Mary, which you should go listen to as a Pearl Jam fan. So that’s my number 10 pick in the cover song draft, Crazy Mary by Pearl Jam.

The J-Man (1:10:08)
Sweet. Okay. Can we? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I wanted to throw something out there. It’s been catching my attention and it works. And I think it would work really well at a… Well, okay. You know where I’m going? yeah, nah, yeah. It’s grown on me. It’s grown on me. But no, I’m going with the band that pretty much they’ve built their following just by doing covers.

Vince Marotte (1:10:10)
That’s it a couple a couple honorable mentions

Yeah.

I know what you’re going to say.

You’re gonna say fast car by Luke Combs.

The J-Man (1:10:36)
And I think this band is, I think they’re gonna start creeping in. Like I think they’re gonna become a thing. They’re a Tejano band. They take these classic bangers and these current hits and they throw some, what is that, that, that, or accordion and they throw the Tejano spin and everything and it really works.

Vince Marotte (1:10:36)
Okay.

The J-Man (1:11:06)
good. They’re good musicians. Name’s awful. EZ Band, EZ Band. And their Instagram page is fun because they’ll take the song, they’ll do their spin on it. And the reason why it’s fun is I’m always curious to hear their rendition of it. And the reason why, another reason why I think this band is really going to make it is like, at least here in central Texas, is there’s so much culture here.

Vince Marotte (1:11:13)
Nice.

The J-Man (1:11:34)
But just being right here at the border, I think if you were at a backyard barbecue and you put them on, people would like it.

Vince Marotte (1:11:43)
Noted that’s going in there easy band for honorable mention. They just have all covers or lots of covers what you’re saying

The J-Man (1:11:49)
Yeah,

to just thumb through their Instagram. It is getting a little watered down because you can tell now they have to keep up with this monster they created. So it feels a little bit like they’re not putting as much love into it. But if you scroll back a little bit and listen to some of those, it’s like, dang, that’s awesome.

Vince Marotte (1:11:59)
Yeah, it’s still contrived.

Rapid fire honorable mentions here mrs. Robinson by the lemonheads in the 90s remember that they popped off, know kind of originally a simon and garfunkel jam bullet the blue sky pod covering u2, which is really good ub 40 doing doing elvis’s red wine Walk this way From from dmc kind of a hybrid cover one of my favorites off the you know, rages cover album renegades They do how I could just kill a man from cypress hill love that version

The J-Man (1:12:11)
Okay. Okay. Yeah. yeah. yeah.

Yeah,

Yeah. Yeah.

Yep.

Yeah.

Renegades of Funk was a cover song.

Vince Marotte (1:12:43)
Yes, yeah, the album’s called Renegades. And yeah, there’s a bunch of cover. They do an MC5 jam on there. They do some good stuff. John Mayer’s Free Fallen from Tom Petty is great. I love that one. Wild Horses by know, the Sunday’s doing Rolling Stones. I love their version. I think that’s better than the original. It’s more haunting.

The J-Man (1:12:43)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but the song,

Yeah.

Yeah. huh. Yeah.

What

was the girl that sang it? Mazzy Star did a great version of that song. Yeah.

Vince Marotte (1:13:10)
Bet she did. I don’t have that on there. Let’s see.

And then also, you and I knew the bass player of Sixth Plains, none the richer doing There She Goes. That’s a great one.

The J-Man (1:13:20)
Uh-huh. Yeah.

You know, when you said that Disturb did the song, you didn’t mention that they did Land of Confusion. Have you heard it? Have you heard it? It’s almost as bad. It’s almost as bad as the Pitbull Africa song. It’s almost as bad, dude. Anyway, it’ll make you laugh. Yeah.

Vince Marotte (1:13:33)
I don’t want to hear anything I can imagine.

The guy get somebody gave that guy an autotune machine and he went mental like just bro.

It’s it’s not not yours So yeah, some good honorable mentions in there. I think we’re due I think we’re due for like a really interesting cover, know, like we said Luke combs fast car It’s not way different than than the original. It’s it’s nice that some new people are being exposed to it. But man My number one pick Billie Jean bike by Cornell. I’m waiting for something like that. So I’m to just take

The J-Man (1:13:49)
Yeah.

Yeah. Right. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Vince Marotte (1:14:11)
Something that was like, you know a song that’s just pop culture Canon and make it something really different, you know, I’m curious to see If something can something can happen and in that space that’d cool to see other one on my on my list of Is hard to handle by the black crows. I’ll close with that honorable mention. So Also also a banger so black crows remember them Yeah, yeah, they can rock they can rock a festival so

The J-Man (1:14:18)
Yeah, yeah.

heck yeah!

Vince Marotte (1:14:41)
There we go! That’s the cover song draft. I love it. I love a good cover song. So we’ll catch you all next time. So I think we fixed our technical issues so John can now record. Hopefully I can get back to the rhythms of getting the podcast going here in this second part of the first half of the year. So see you guys next week. Later.

The J-Man (1:14:48)
Yeah buddy.

Heck yeah. Sweet man. Yeah, we’re good. We’re good. See y’all.

Suburban Kings

Slow down and smell the culture

Suburban Kings

The Cover Song Draft plus What’s Really Going On With Streaming Royalties for Musicians?

Watch

Listen

Show Notes

The Algorithm

Radio Airplay (Traditional AM/FM Radio)

Paid Streaming Services (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.)

Key Differences

Summary

1. Non-Interactive Streaming (Pandora Free, iHeartRadio, SiriusXM, etc.)

Who Gets Paid?

How the Money is Split?

2. On-Demand vs. Non-Interactive Streaming Payouts

3. Pandora Plus & Pandora Premium (Hybrid Model)

Key Takeaways

Cover Song Draft

Jon’s Picks

Vince’s Picks

Transcript

“Man only plays when he is in the fullest sense of the word a human being, and he is only fully a human being when he plays”
– Schiller

Slow down and smell the culture

Suburban Kings

The Cover Song Draft plus What’s Really Going On With Streaming Royalties for Musicians?

Watch

Listen

Show Notes

The Algorithm

Radio Airplay (Traditional AM/FM Radio)

Paid Streaming Services (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.)

Key Differences

Summary

1. Non-Interactive Streaming (Pandora Free, iHeartRadio, SiriusXM, etc.)

Who Gets Paid?

How the Money is Split?

2. On-Demand vs. Non-Interactive Streaming Payouts

3. Pandora Plus & Pandora Premium (Hybrid Model)

Key Takeaways

Cover Song Draft

Jon’s Picks

Vince’s Picks

Transcript

“Man only plays when he is in the fullest sense of the word a human being, and he is only fully a human being when he plays”– Schiller

“Man only plays when he is in the fullest sense of the word a human being, and he is only fully a human being when he plays”
– Schiller