On Music Think Tank, Alex Holz lists several reasons for artists to play cover songs in his recent post. He compares cover songs to meeting new people via a mutual friend. A listener is usually more receptive to familiarity. Before you go out there and try to be discovered like Justin Bieber, make sure to secure a mechanical license.

Holz explains that: “Cover songs (a.k.a. “remakes”) provide an easy path to building audiences.  Releasing one is similar to getting introduced to a new person by way of mutual friend (the song) rather than through a chance encounter (an original tune found on a Bandcamp / MySpace page).”