By joining the community, you can build custom digital crates, bookmark your favorite covers, and submit new data or corrections to help the database grow. The Evolution of the Cover Song
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In the vast, chaotic ocean of music streaming, it is easy to assume that a song you love is a wholly original piece of art. But music, like language, is a conversation across time. That massive hit from 2023? It might contain a guitar riff from a 1992 indie track, which itself was a cover of a 1967 jazz standard, which was originally a 19th-century folk hymn.
Launched in 2003 by Dutch music enthusiast Arnoud Raskin, is a user-built website dedicated to tracking the origin and evolution of songs. Unlike traditional music databases (like AllMusic or Discogs) that focus on albums and artists, SecondHandSongs focuses exclusively on the song as a living entity.
The Second Hand Songs project was founded in early 2003 by Bastien De Zutter, Mathieu De Zutter and Denis Monsieur, who shared a passion for uncovering the roots of popular music. At the time, there was no centralized resource that could reliably answer which artist first recorded a particular song. Inspired by their love of cover songs and the desire to create a definitive reference, the founders launched a collaborative website that would eventually become the go-to database for cover songs worldwide. secondhandsongs
Versions of the song that feature significant changes, most notably translations into other languages or altered lyrics (such as parodies).
: One of its most covered compositions is "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht" ("Silent Night"), which has over 4,200 documented versions . Participation for Users
Is "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" a Cyndi Lauper original? (No, it was written and first recorded by Robert Hazard). Did Jimi Hendrix write "Hey Joe"? (No, Billy Roberts holds the copyright). SecondHandSongs provides the verified data needed to settle historic musical debates using physical release evidence. Preservation of Obscure Music History
The site provides insights into how different genres, such as Jazz and Pop/Rock, have historically utilized cover versions as forms of tribute or reinterpretation. Why Cover Songs Matter: The SecondHandSongs Perspective By joining the community, you can build custom
A: Yes. We do not host or distribute audio files. We only link to legal sources (YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music) and index metadata. Copyright ownership remains with the rights holders.
, the platform preserves the "versioning practices" that originated in the 1950s and 1960s, showing how layers of authorship are added to a song over time. A Tool for Modern Research
If you are interested in exploring the database or contributing your own musical knowledge, I can help guide your next steps. Let me know if you would like to know:
The platform treats music like a family tree. Every song has a "root" (the original work) and various "branches" (every recorded version that followed). By cataloging these connections with rigorous metadata, the site has grown into one of the most trusted musicological archives on the internet. Key Features and Functionality If you share with third parties, their policies apply
If you look up a song on SecondHandSongs—let’s say, "Hallelujah"—you are not seeing a list. You are seeing a map.
On November 5, 2025, the SecondHandSongs community gathered online to celebrate a milestone—and to underscore the importance of the work. The forum topic "20.000 topics created !!!" captured the collective achievement of thousands of contributors building a definitive record of musical influence.
One of the site’s quirkiest and most delightful features is the tab. Because copyright law treats translations differently from straight covers, SecondHandSongs tracks them meticulously.
Enter .
Modern music, particularly hip-hop and electronic dance music, relies heavily on sampling. SecondHandSongs documents these instances, showing exactly which portion of an original track was sampled into a new creation. It also deconstructs medleys, listing the individual songs embedded within a continuous mix. 4. Advanced Search and Filters
One of the most distinctive features of SecondHandSongs is its nuanced approach to defining what constitutes an "original" version of a song. Unlike many music databases that treat the first commercial release as the definitive original, SecondHandSongs recognizes up to four different types of originals: