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Selling the Artist

Album covers have been the center piece of a record and

marketing power behind major labels. The combination of powerful visuals and strategically

placed text is the driving force behind a successful selling album which can make it more

memorable in the minds of the audience as well as give each audience members a different

experience from each. An album has to be creative to help represent the artist that its made

for as well as symbolic of the music that it signifies. Popular cover art has also made a

significant transformation from its earlier history such as albums like Pink Floyds The Dark Side

of the Moon to more recent cover art such as Wiz Khalifas Rolling Papers. Through text and

visuals cover art can make or break how the album itself is represented.

Visuals of an album cover sets the story of what the album is about to showcase. They

are the illustration and the backbone of any successful bestselling album as that picture is what

symbolizes the album and makes it recognizable. Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon is an

older, more notable album due to its simple cover art design of light passing through a prism

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that all generations recognize as the iconic Pink Floyd album. The all black background looks as

if it were outer space within the picture with the white outline of the triangular prism in the

middle of the album. The beam of light that crosses from the left side through the prism and

out as a rainbow spectrum which might represent the liveliness or happiness of the music that

it covers. Unlike other cover art, this band also used simplicity to its advantage to symbolize its

style of music which corresponds with its album cover. Other memorable albums include

AC/DCs Highway to Hell album which shows the band but depicts the members as hellish

devils which best represents their style of music much like Pink Floyd did with their cover.

AC/DC, best known for their forever popular hard rock and roll style, was a fan favorite for all

listeners of all ages. In the cover art the band is pictured as dark and evil with a darker lighting

in the picture making each member seem more serious which mightve been used to help

reflect their music. The picture of the member and their physical appearance also helps in

showing the audience the time period this album was made in. The long flowing hair was a

trending style during the 1970s 80s which goes to show that this album was released

sometime during that time period. They created a persona for their music just through a visual

text.

Modern album covers now a day are increasingly used as artist advertisement rather

than album symbolize much like it did in the past. Becoming a solo artist is the way to go in the

music market these days and getting your name out there has become much more difficult in

this competitive market. So to make it easy for artist, album covers are becoming less visuals

and illustrations and more of a mini billboard for rising stars. Albums like Wiz Khalifas Rolling

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Papers is a prime example of the new method of album covers. Wiz Khalifa was a rising star in

the late 2000s and with his break through single Black and Yellow would become a top chart

artist. He would later release the album Rolling Papers which had a dark green background

with Wizs face on the front cover wearing classes with smoking rising around him. The visual

display of this album showed a lot about whom he is and what he supports through its

illustrations. The face of Wiz clearly shows who Wiz Khalifa is as everyone likes to put a face to

a name as a way to remember who an artist is. The smoke rising would respectfully describe his

support for marijuana which he clearly defines throughout his album.

The color scheme in any visual text has a big impact on how album cover art is

interpreted as well. Colors have an influential effect on mood and the use of specific colors can

also be a factor that is taken into consideration when making an album cover. The color scheme

used in Dark Side of the Moon contains all the simple colors on the color wheel but mostly

black and white which continues to emphasize the simplicity of the albums visuals. Another

example that holds true is Wizs use of green in his album Rolling Papers. The color green is

known to .represent nature, health, and tranquility. (Kendra Cherry. Color Psychology.

AboutEducation. 3Mar2015.) which Wiz raps about a lot within his songs. It also represents

Wizs use of marijuana that is also represented as a green leaf that he has used to build upon

his career.

Visual text is only half of what an audience sees when examining a new album cover.

Textual representation on an album hold just as much pull as the design of a album cover and

can say a lot about what a particular album is selling to an audience as well as give textual clues

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about what an album holds. An example of how text in an album cover helps identify an album

could be seen in Drakes newly dropped album If Youre Reading This Its Too Late which was a

major overnight hit worldwide. Visually the album has nothing but text of the name on the

albums cover but the font used can be interrupted and held to a different meaning to the

album itself. The text used was almost as if a man with Parkinsons disease wrote it. Its a very

sloppy handwriting as if scribbled and gives the audience an almost eerie feeling of what the

album might offer. Upon listening to the album the font used almost reflects on the beat and

flow that Drake uses within his songs such as Legend and 6 God. It successfully allows the

audience to predict what the style of music might bring to them. On the other hand, popular DJ

groups like Adventure Club and their album Superheroes Anonymous Vol.1 uses a more

upbeat and colorful font for its text on the album which reflects its style of music. Being a

popular electric/ house music group, its textual representation needs to be spontaneous and

eye catching much like the music that it plays. With colorful block letters that say the artists

name Adventure Club, it uses bright red and blue color to catch the attention of the listener

and want to entice the audience to want to listen to their music. The lettering almost resembles

lightning bolts which might describe the quick beats and bass drops that each song has.

When it comes to it, the combination of visuals and text fully complete what the artist is

trying to sell to the audience. An album's cover is the first impression a record has upon its

fan. This comes before the first note is played, and is just as important. (Robert Nicholson.

Sonicbids Blogs. 15Nov.2013.Web.3Mar.2015.) This emphasizes the importance of what a

successful album cover must have to be marketable. To be successful an album cover must pop

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out towards the consumer with full force making the consumer want to listen to what it holds.

A strong example would be Bostons Boston album that incorporated both the visual and

textual evidence needed to make it a popular album. Boston wanted to create an album that

illustrates the unique electric guitar style that it brings to its songs. The Boston album pictures

three brightly covered UFO looking spacecrafts with one main one in the middle and two

identical smaller ones on either side of it all behind an outer space background. The name of

the band Boston is written in large yellow letters that offsets the blue and red to make it

more prominent on the picture. The bright colors and someone out-of-this-world font thats

used gives the audience a more upbeat and unique rock-n-roll feel much like the style of music

that the band plays.

With each unique album cover comes a unique understanding that a person experiences

when they see the cover art for the first time. Almost all albums are different and express

something about them through their graphic message such as what genera of music they are or

what style of music they perform. In Pink Floyds album they express the simplicity of what an

album cover art can be making their album picture of a prism as iconic as the songs it features.

The creators intent of this mightve been to show that not every band has to be full of complex

notes just to become popular and catchy. The creators of AC/DCs Highway to Hell used a

different approach though that seemed more suitable for the type of genera that the band fell

in and for the band itself. Being more hard rock centered, the full picture of the band adds

emphasis on the band being a whole system and without one the other cant function. This

matters for the each band as its a way to help set the mood for what the audience is about to

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hear. If you were to switch the album cover art for each band the music wouldnt match with

what the text and visuals represent when compared to the songs that are within each album.

This holds true for the other album cover examples such as Wiz Khlaifas Rolling Papers and

Drakes If Youre Reading This Its To Late which can be comparable in genera of music but each

albums cover art gives off a different feeling than the other. Wizs album covers intent is to be

mellower and more of a good vibe type of music compared to Drakes album whos textual

support give off a more serious mood to his music. This matters to the audience experiencing

the text because its the first impression that is given to them before even listening to what the

music might hold almost like what a summary is to a book.

Album cover art is an important quality of music thats can make or break any bands

album all based on the way its set up. Its like the first impression of any bands or artists music

and we all know first impressions mean the most. Visual text creates symbolism between the

songs within the albums as well as play an important part as being the center of attention when

looking at any sort of album cover art. Feelings and emotions can be acquired all based on the

layout and design of the album cover just like AC/DCs Highway to Hell album which

expressed a more intense style of music such as the hard rock and roll and. Album cover text is

usually more supportive of the tone of what the music may be about such as Drakes album

where the text of the cover makes his music beat sound more eerie and less upbeat than past

albums. When both a creative visual art and proper text use is used together the albums cover

art becomes more in tuned to what the album and songs sound like and represent. Without

these elements album cover art wouldnt be as eye catchy and inventive as it is today.

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Work Cited:

7Cherry, Kendra. "Color Psychology: Can Color Really Change How You Feel and Act?" Color

Psychology. About Education, n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.

.

Nicholson, Robert. "What Makes a Great Album Cover?" What Makes a Great Album Cover?

Sonicbids Blogs, 12 Nov. 2013. Web. 06 Mar. 2015. .

"Pink Floyd." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2015.

.

Smith, Chris. "23 Album Covers That Changed Everything!" Mental Floss. Mangesh Hattikudar,

n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2015. .

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