Why Album Art Still Matters
Muse’s The Resistance has won Best Art Vinyl 2009, I just heard the news being discussed on The Today Show with Andrew Heep and Phil Manzanera (former lead guitarist for Roxy Music). The initial question from the interviewer was obvious, does album art still matter in the digital age?
It would be easy to argue that in this digital age of downloads, hard drives full of MP3 files and streaming music that artwork simply isn’t relevant anymore. But I’d make the case that it’s as relevant as ever, but for different reasons and in different ways.
Album artwork has had a bit of a bad deal in recent times. Everyone’s looking for ‘the new artwork’, the interactive CD-rom (remember those?!), the iPhone app, iTunes LP. Now these are all very cool but we shouldn’t forget that it all starts with the original album sleeve design.
A band’s artwork acts as an anchor for an entire campaign. And it’s not just the traditional square artwork we know and love (and of course all the other physical manifestations such as posters, t-shirts and other merch). It’s the interactive flash banners prompting customers to go buy at iTunes, it’s the backdrop to a ‘tweet for a track’ microsite, it’s an avatar, it’s an image reposted on a hundred blogs. It can underpin a band’s whole presence on the web. Perhaps this ceases to be album artwork and simply falls under the catch-all title of ‘art direction’. Perhaps it’s more the overall concept that matters nowadays, but surely it all stems from the one definitive piece of album art. Here’s an interesting piece from Beggars’ David Emery on the subject taking Vampire Weekend as a case study. Would love to know what your take on the matter is?
At SoundCloud we’ve introduced the artwork player for these very reasons. It’s your album artwork (or your logo, photo or whatever else you want to project) and a play button. What could be nicer? Check out the player below and also this rather lovely mosaic player collection.
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Dave - This is an excellent addition to Soundcloud! Great stuff!
This is an excellent article. Most musicians these days forget about Artwork to accompany their albums because they are being released digitally. But your points about art being used to brand the artist current work is fantastic and right on the money.
Album artwork is an important tool that seems to be dying out with the digital age. I completely agree with your assessment about “Album Art” taking on the role of “Art Direction”. Unfortunately, as we move away from “Album-Oriented Music” and more attention is paid to the Single, it’s understandable why Album Art has been lackluster to say the least. However, a band’s signature logo, backdrop, or mascot (Iron Maiden!) is equally important that can be used to brand an artist.
I think that album artwork is great! It definitely livens up the record!
I am a firm believer that audio and visuals completely compliment each other. Much as a illustrated cover helps to visualize a book, Album Artwork gives the listener some sort of direction of how to visualize the music they are listening to. It helps with marketing and becomes synonymous with the music. Keep it alive and well.
I miss LP’s I remember listening to the record and devouring the art and lyrics printed on the album, just not the same with a cd. CD is to damn small and computer screen just not personal enough.
I think the art needs to be more tangible, something you can touch hold, share with your friends and become personally attached to.
Visual art goes hand in hand with the art of music! Nothing like a great album cover and great art inside.
This is a great article! To throw my two cents in I gotta say this much… I play in a band called Vision to None(battleofthebands.com/visiontonone if anyone is curious to listen). Our first cd with rough recordings has album artwork and when ppl see it at shows they think like wow these guys must have it going on. Fact of the matter is it’s the first couple songs we ever wrote and they wern’t even to a click track (I play drums) so some of the songs are iffy at best. But right now we have out 3 new demos and to sell and we just burn em onto a cd that is just a blank cd from a case at wal-mart. We sell the cds as a package deal so we can sell the old one as well.But the burnt copy of songs is our better and more up to date songs and people don’t realize that til they listen to both. It’s all about the look and if you can catch someones eye enough to atleast get there attention they may listen to u regardless of what music u play just based on the fact your album artwork looks cool, trendy, or even crazy. Album artwork is a big deal and along with being “eye popping” you want to have your name displayed as well so they can see it easy. Who knows you get a good album cover you may just get people interested in your music even if it isn’t there kind of music. Plus if you have an iPOD it looks way cooler when you have album artwork on it as opposed to just having that stupid quarter note on a default album cover.
o yea and one other thing….THE ALBUM ARTWORK EXPRESSES THE RECORD HELLO!
This article ids great, everyone over looks the little things now adays in the music industry.. Well the way I see it, is the little things are what make the big things so every little detail for any band to do, should be well thought out and done to their best intentions. If the artist wants to be serious and go as big as possible, then every little detail such as Album Artwork should be considered!
With truely well thought out album art we can influece vast cultures, and inspire lives. Take the Beatles, 90% their album art has influenced generaltions, so much so that Frank Zappa spoofed almost identically the “Sgt. Pepper” cover on his “We’re Only In It For The Money”. Journey’s “Frontier”, Forigner “4″, any Peter Gabriel album cover. I tried to tie in the title of my album “Behind My Steel Blues” with the associated art work. (www.ilike.com/artist/henri+allen if your interested) to try and make my memorable mark.
As a marketing professional first, and a musician second, the “album” cover is an art icon and brand maker. Music without visual interpretation is simply a hollow shell. Love the artwork player!
Thanks for the article on album art. I agree, As a new singer/songwriter coming into the music scene I appreciate everything I can learn about the trade.
Ah man, I’m glad there’s others that feel like I do. I’m one of the only weirdos who has never ever had an MP3 player. I’d rather spend my money on collecting vinyl. I’ve never bought an album and NOT stared at the album cover my first listen through the album. I’ve spent most of my life looking at old CCR, Beatles, and Zeppelin albums, all the while dreaming up what my first album’s artwork will look like. The debut album from my band Hunter will be done this year. Check us out at myspace.com/hunterock
Album Artwork is an extension of the artists music. It is that visionary piece that catches the eye of the listener. With todays technology, there are endless possibilities!
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You can get higher interest from the art.
Was just going through my record collection and commented to a friend how no one really cares about the cover art anymore…It was such a huge part of vinyl and I hope to see a resurgence of it in the future.
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[...] Haynes, VP Business Development for SoundCloud says that “a band’s artwork acts as an anchor for an entire campaign.” And that “it all [...]
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