How to Choose Cover Band Songs: Who Gets to Pick?
A cover band's repertoire is every song by other artists that the band is ready to play live. A setlist is the ordered list for one show; the repertoire is the pool you pick those lists from. How big that pool is, how balanced it is and how well it fits the band's sound decides which gigs you can realistically take.
In the cover bands we talk to, choosing songs usually starts in the group chat and stays there. Someone drops a link, two people react with a thumbs-up, someone says "not really our thing", and before anything is settled another link shows up. A few weeks later, nobody at rehearsal can say for sure which songs made the cut. In the end, the repertoire gets decided by whoever pushes hardest. This post is about turning song picks from an endless debate into an actual decision.
Why does picking songs cause so many arguments?
When we talk to bands about it, the problem is usually not taste. It is the lack of any rules. Three things tend to be missing:
- No written criteria. Everyone judges a song by their own yardstick. One person asks "will the crowd like it?", another asks "will I enjoy playing it?"
- No decision rule. Nobody knows how many yes votes it takes for a song to get in.
- No place to decide. Suggestions scroll away in the chat, and accepted songs never end up in one list.
Once those three are in place, you still disagree about songs, but the disagreement ends in a decision.
This matters even more for a cover band than for one playing originals. In an originals band, whoever wrote the song brings it in and the debate is about the arrangement. In a cover band, pretty much any song ever recorded is a candidate. With that many options, deciding without some way to filter is close to impossible.
What should a song be judged on?
Write the criteria down first, and the debate moves past "I like it" and "I don't". The table below pulls together the questions that help cover bands most.
| Criterion | Question to ask | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Venue and crowd | Will this land at the places we actually play? | A pub, a wedding and a festival react very differently to the same song |
| Vocals | Does the key suit our singer's vocal range? | A song the singer strains on will not sound good, however tight the band is |
| Playability | Can our current lineup play it without a missing instrument? | If a key part of the record is not covered by anyone, the song sounds hollow |
| Prep time | How many rehearsals until it is solid? | One hard song can eat several rehearsals on its own |
| Tempo and length | Where does it fit in the flow of a set? | Too many songs at the same tempo flatten a set |
| Band buy-in | How many of us actually want to play it? | A song nobody wants to play quietly drops out of the set |
Two terms worth unpacking here. Vocal range is the distance between the lowest and highest notes a singer can hit comfortably. The key is the note a song is built around. If a song's key does not suit your singer, it can be moved lower or higher. To work out your singer's range, see how to find your vocal range; to change the key, see what is transposing.
You do not have to weigh every criterion equally. For a band that mostly plays weddings, venue and crowd come first. For a band on the pub circuit, the band actually enjoying the song might count for more. Agree once on which criteria lead for you and write it down, and every vote after that gets easier.
How do you collect song suggestions?
Getting every suggestion into one place, in the same format, solves half the problem. Each suggestion should include four things:
- Song title and artist
- A reference recording, meaning a link to the version the band will base its cover on
- Why you are suggesting it, in one line
- Which of the criteria above it fits especially well
A cap helps too. For example, each member suggests no more than a few songs per round. That keeps one enthusiast from filling the list and makes everyone choosy. A link dropped in the chat does not count as a suggestion. A song added to the shared list does.
It also helps if whoever suggests a song has tried their own part once. That answers one question before the vote: how hard is this going to be for us? "Sounds easy" and "I tried it at home, two rehearsals tops" are very different things.
How should the band vote?
The point of voting is to count everyone equally and tie the decision to a date. A simple setup looks like this:
- Listening window: Once a song is on the list, everyone listens to the reference recording by a set deadline, say the next rehearsal.
- Vote: Everyone says yes or no. A no comes with a quick note on which criterion it fails.
- Decision rule: If most of the band says yes, it is in. Agree on the rule up front; a rule you argue about later means a fresh argument every time.
- Trial run: An accepted song gets tried out at one rehearsal first. If it turns out much harder than expected or just does not click, it goes back up for review.
The trial run matters, because a song can sound very different on the record than it does in your hands. The vote happens on paper; the real verdict comes in the rehearsal room.
Collecting votes in writing ahead of time, rather than by show of hands at rehearsal, also helps. In a room, the most enthusiastic person has outsized pull and the quieter members go along with the crowd. Voting separately and in advance brings out what people really think.
How should vetoes work?
Some objections cannot just be outvoted. If your singer says they cannot sing a song, four people voting yes does not change that. That is why plenty of bands allow a limited veto. For it to work, you need a few ground rules:
- A veto needs a reason. "I don't like it" is a no vote, not a veto. "That key is outside my range" or "I can't play that part with the gear I have" is a veto.
- Vetoes are limited. Each member gets a set number per round.
- Try turning a veto into a condition first. If there is a fix, like "I'll sing it if we drop the key" or "I can play it if we simplify that section", try that before the song gets thrown out.
Vetoes come up most often from the singer, which makes sense. But the veto does not belong to the singer alone. If the drummer says a tempo cannot be held for a whole set, or the keyboard player says the record has three keyboard parts and one person cannot cover them, that objection carries the same weight.
How do you keep the repertoire balanced?
Even when every song is a good pick on its own, the list as a whole can end up samey. Every so often, look at the whole list from these angles:
- Tempo: Is there a mix of fast, mid-tempo and slow songs?
- Era and genre: Is the list piled up in one decade or one style?
- Crowd-pleasers vs deep cuts: Do you have the songs everyone knows the words to, plus a few picks that set you apart from every other cover band in town?
- Vocal load: In a long set, can the songs that push the singer hardest be spread out?
- Instrument spotlight: Does every member get a few songs where their part really carries the track?
Jotting each song's tempo, era and vocal load next to it makes the gaps jump out on their own.
You look at the same balance when building each setlist. We cover how to go from repertoire to a gig-ready list in how to build a setlist.
When should you refresh the repertoire?
A song that gets into the repertoire does not have to stay there forever. A short review every few months keeps the list alive. Ask three questions: Which songs are not getting the reaction you hoped for? Which ones is the band bored of playing? Which new songs deserve a slot? Rather than deleting songs you drop, set them aside. It makes it easy to bring one back for a different kind of gig.
Factor in what the crowd tells you, too: which song fills the dance floor, which one sends people to the bar, which one keeps getting requested. None of that is hard data, but if the same thing happens with the same song over several gigs, it is a more reliable signal than any one member's taste.
In BandUp, the road into the repertoire runs through song idea voting. Every member gives a song idea a like or a dislike. Songs most of the band likes go into the repertoire with one click, and the rest get archived, so they can be restored later if you change your mind. The song's BPM and key sit right on the song card, and the reference recording link can go into the group notes everyone can see.
Once your repertoire is settled, it is worth knowing the copyright side of playing covers live; we cover that in cover song copyright.