In its current use, it can sometimes have a pejorative meaning â€” implying that the original recording should be regarded as the definitive version, usually in the sense of an "authentic" rendition, and all others are merely lesser competitors, alternatives or tributes (no matter how popular). However, Billboard â€” and other magazines recording the popularity of the musical artists and hit tunes â€” originally measured the sales success of the published tune, not just recordings of it, or later the airplay that it also managed to achieve. In that context, the greater the number of cover versions, the more successful the song.

The present view of popular music starts with the recording artists and their material, not the published tune (in search of a popular artist to record it, e.g. from Tin Pan Alley in New York or Denmark Street in London). It is, then, in the light of an earlier, autonomous, poetic minstrel tradition that late twentieth/early twenty-first century singer-songwriter fixations may best be viewed. And with this, the prevailing distaste for artists who perform another's material as cover versions or compositions for produced artists in the Brill Building style (which produced very many tunes that were â€” and are still â€” widely covered by many artists in a variety of styles).

The term cover version originally implied a rival version of a tune recorded by an artist subsequent to an original version, e.g. Paul Williams's 1949 hit tune "The Hucklebuck" or Hank Williams' 1952 smash Jambalaya (On the Bayou), both crossed over to the popular Hit Parade and had numerous hit versions. Prior to the mid-20th century the notion of an original version of a popular tune would, of course, have seemed slightly odd â€” the production of musical entertainment being seen essentially as a live event, even if one that was reproduced at home via a copy of the sheet music, learned by heart, or captured on a shellac recording disc. Popular musicians (and especially modern listeners) have now begun to use the word "cover" to refer to any remake of a previously recorded tune.

Musicians now play what they call "cover versions" (e.g. the reworking, updating or interpretation) of songs as a tribute to the original performer or group. Using familiar material (e.g. evergreen hits, standard tunes or classic recordings) is an important method in learning various styles of music. Most albums, or long playing records , up until the mid-1960s usually contained a large number of evergreens or standards to present a fuller range of the artist's abilities and style . Artists might also perform interpretations ("covers") of a favorite artist's hit tunes for the simple pleasure of playing a familiar song or collection of tunes . A cover band plays such "cover versions" exclusively.