Danny Chadwick
YouTube Music is testing a new feature that tells you if the song you’re listening to is a cover. Spotted by a Reddit user last week, the new label appeared on the track “Jesus He Knows Me“ by Ghost. The song was originally released in 1991 by Genesis.
However, the new cover labeling system doesn’t seem to be rolled out widely yet. When we searched for various songs that are often covered (such as “Bad Medicine” by Bon Jovi, “Help” by The Beatles, and “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley), we couldn’t replicate the Reddit user’s experience.
Other publications, including Android Central and Android Police, were able to replicate the cover label with mixed success. Android Police could view cover labels for the song “Tainted Love” by Soft Cell. And Android Central could see the label on covers for the song “If Tomorrow Never Comes” by Garth Brooks. Review Geek was unable to replicate these findings either.
Should the test be successful and rolled out to all YouTube Music users, labeling cover songs would be a unique feature of YouTube Music. And it will go a long way to help people identify if a song is the one they want to listen to (or a cover) before they tap or click. It could also allow people to know that the music they love may have originated with another band and will enable them to discover the original artist.
If the test is successful and YouTube Music rolls it out to everyone, music streamers like Spotify and Apple Music should take note. Labeling covers seems like an obvious feature to have on music streaming platforms.
Sources: Android Central, Android Police
