Conclusion

In conclusion, originality proves to be an elusive, yet prominent social and cultural construct, shown by the variance in its concepts to the West and the Chinese. Therefore it ascertains itself to be a subjective value system on both an individual and collective scale due to cultural influences and personal tastes and knowledge. Thus, the emphasis on originality in music could be considered a farce, since it may be argued, due to its subjective nature, that it does not truly exist. However, this emphasis exists due to issues of ownership and authorship through copyright and intellectual property laws, which, along with the engrained snobbery towards unoriginality in Western societies has created negative backlash to the cover version. In spite of this, covers are integral, even being considered an “art”, having numerous justifications for their existence such as prolonging, or resurrecting songs of yesteryear, expanding their audience, and most significantly helping to establish the Hong Kong music industry. Therefore, cover versions, whether thought to be original or unoriginal are just as important as their originals, and will continue to be, particularly in China and its territories.

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