The "VS" in dance/techno/pop music credits

Cafe Society
1

What the heck is this? It’s been around for years, but I’ve never exactly understood. For example, the credit for the remake of “A Little Less Conversation” is

Elvis Vs JXL

I was listening to a Hungarian song recently, and it was credited to Asian Dub Foundation Vs Anima Sound System.

Whenever I look at techno compilations, it’s full of this stuff. From what I can figure, it’s just two bands putting out one song. It doesn’t necessarily imply any sort of competition, right? How do you say it out loud? Is it “Vee-Ess.” Or “versus.” Or something altogether different? And how does this differ from the simple “Feat.” Does “featuring” only apply to one person? Or is “feat” more like a cameo appearance while “VS” is a shared credit?

Please elucidate. This has been bugging me for years.

2

Featuring is usually a cameo appearance, although not necessarily by anyone famous – in my experience it’s often an instrumental act with a guest session singer for that particular track.

I think “vs” (versus) is just a gimmick to make it sound cooler; it usually just indicates a track that’s been remixed.

3

It’s versus. And Crusoe is correct. It means the one artist remixed the others work.

4

Yup.

You pretty much answered your own question. The only thing I would add is: Typically in vs. mixes, the two bands have seperate takes on the same song, but they put them together into one track adding a transition between the two. And occasionally using elements of both mixes for a collaboration at the end.