CREATE.Digital Music
  • Home
  • Solutions
  • Sync
  • Music Library
  • Sound Design
  • Blog
  • Contact

Visually Unsatisfied - What Happened to the Art of Covers?

10/26/2012

6 Comments

 

Written by Amilcar 'PRO' Welton / Executive Director / CREATE.Digital Music

Picture
Picture
Picture
   Whatever happened to album cover "artwork"? This would include single covers, E.P. covers and even recent quality mixtape covers. Since day one of retail music consumption, covers have been one of the major attractions during the consumer music purchasing experience. Photographers, artists, and graphic designers were commissioned to make music lovers buy and cherish their physical units.  

    The perfect artwork along with popular music made for a complete music experience, especially before the invention of television. When entering a record store, potential buyers use to graze shelves and crates of releases for hours searching for music that they knew and music that they were willing to take a chance on. Eye catching covers helped you make that decision...a creative logo...an attractive man or woman...a tricked out car....big guns....partial nudity....all forced buyers into unexpected decisions. When the "music made easy" explosion in the late 1990's and early 2000's started, there was a substantial amount of people creating music for consumption by way of digital music production equipment and independent distribution outlets. In my opinion, this is when cover art was at its highest value. Just ask Percy "Master P" Miller and No Limit Records. Ask Sean "Diddy" Combs and Bad Boy Records. Their cover art helped propel their artists and constant flood of music releases above others. As an independent label during that time, your cover art had to jump off the shelves visually in order to even have a slight chance to sway a consumer's decision. Even as online music outlets were introduced, you needed to visually differentiate yourself from the millions of releases available as consumers "surfed" the internet.  
    
Picture
Picture
Picture
     I believe that the decline of the business and creative value of cover art began in the 1990's. Music creators, both independent and major, began to shift budgets into multi-million dollar music videos, extravagant tour sets, and exaggerated lifestyles for their artists. That along with the high volume of projects being released, adversely affected the dedication, creativity, and quality of on staff and outsourced graphic designers. Ask yourself, how can you have an artist post new photos from multiple photo shoots every other day yet they still end up with subpar cover art? I agree with the fact that music videos became the visual focus but cover art was not suppose to be written off like audio cassettes when the CD was introduced. I'm also not saying that the graphic designers didn't do their job but most did exactly that..."their job" and nothing more. They stopped believing in the impact of their creativity and influence on the music. They simply focused on being just another gear in the machine. For outsourced graphic designers it may also have been the fact that it took approximately 6 months to get their checks from the record labels, if they got them at all.

    Please don't take this organized rant as a blanket statement regarding all cover artwork, all record labels, all graphic designers, etc. I just wanted to express my disappointment in what I see on average and I see tons of music releases both independent and major. Just as people complain about a lack of feeling, effort, and creativity in music, the same goes for cover art. 

    What is the resolution? Well, it starts with the artists. It requires that independent attitude that has propelled music in recent years. The creators of music must hold themselves to a higher standard and include cover art in their musical revolution. Don't settle. Just as you would correct a bad note, an average mix, a dull lyric, challenge yourself to want more from your artwork. Challenge your team, management, graphic designer, and label. If you take a moment to think back to your favorite albums, I guarantee at least one of them had classic artwork.  
Picture
Picture
Picture
6 Comments
A&R's A&R
10/27/2012 03:33:59 am

It's funny I always I felt that way and nobody ever expresses their opinion on this subject. There is so much more to creating great music after you have the right songs. Crossing the T's and dotting the I's is a lost art. Complete bodies of work are what make classics and to me that includes impactful artwork.

Reply
Graphics Dude
10/31/2012 01:28:02 am

Trrrrruueeee! (2Chainz voice)

Reply
Darlene Fan
10/31/2012 01:30:00 am

That Ice T album cover brings back memories. People really forget how much Ice T contributed to the initial movement of "gansta rap." Darlene was so fine. Body perfect. Ice was bold enough to mix beauty with guns. Classic!

Reply
Honey
10/31/2012 01:33:55 am

The 2 live Crew cover should remind us all of a time when black women had really nice full backsides and bodies without paying for them. I use to sweat my hair out in the club dancing to 2 Live Crew wishing I was one of the girls from their covers. In a twisted way those covers back then inspired me but I always kept it all 100% natural.

Reply
Point Made
10/31/2012 01:35:02 am

Graphic Designer or Graphic Artist? I'm a Graphic Artist...enough said.

Reply
DJ Massive
11/8/2012 04:01:45 am

Good cover choices. There are a ton of dope ones but I can definitely agree with those. All of the battle DJ's had some classics too.

Reply



Leave a Reply.


    MISSION
    The purpose of the CREATE.Digital Blog is to provide an interactive knowledgebase & promotional platform focused on quality not quantity.
    AUTHORS
    Contributors to the CREATE.Digital Music Blog will include internal staff & a variety of professional, qualified, opinionated, diverse, & experienced guests.

    ARCHIVES

    November 2022
    October 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    November 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    November 2012
    October 2012

    CATEGORIES

    All
    420
    Actor
    Album
    Album Credits
    Amilcar Pro Welton
    Amilcar Welton
    Artista
    Artists
    Audio Engineers
    Barelybuffboyz
    Beatmakers
    Beat Makers
    Be Majestic
    Blog
    Blogs
    Board Member
    Boys And Girls Clubs
    Cannabis
    Chanelle Gray
    Chroinic
    Compositora
    Create Digital Music
    Damire Major
    Dawson
    Dj
    Dj G Minor
    Dom Chronicles
    Drum Kits
    Drums
    Edm
    Estoy Caliente
    Events
    Got Me Some Love
    Grammys
    Grammy Week
    Greenleaf
    Healing
    Hip Hop
    Hold It Down
    Hurt People
    Inglewood
    Inland Empire
    Jazz
    Julian Brittano
    Kansas City
    Kc
    Kemet Creative
    LA
    Landr
    Last Friday
    Las Vegas
    Latin
    Live Music
    Look Alive
    Maimi
    Managers
    Manifest Academy
    Marijuana
    Marketing
    Mr Hot Jam
    Music
    Music Blog
    Music Business
    Music Festival
    Musicians
    Music Industry Forum
    Music Producers
    Music Videos
    N4N
    Native Instruments
    News
    New York
    Noa James
    Notes For Notes
    Oh That's Filthy
    Open Mic
    Oprah
    Oye Mala
    Piano
    Playlist
    Playlists
    Pop Smoke
    Pride
    Pridexr
    Puerto Rico
    Pull Up
    Raneraps
    Rap
    Rapido
    R&B
    Recording Studios
    Relationships
    Rhodes
    Sample Kits
    Sir Michael Rocks
    Smoke
    Songwriters
    Sound
    Sound Design
    Sounds
    Spanish
    Sptlght
    Starbase
    Sync
    Synth
    The Cool Kids
    Tribe Unity
    Troostival
    Virtual Reality
    Vocals
    We The People
    Youth Development


    DISCLAIMER

    PLEASE READ
    All the contents of the CREATE.Digital Blog, except for comments, constitute  personal opinions. Blog content may contain inaccuracies or errors, and discretion should be exercised in the use information obtained from the blog. Blog content is provided for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for advice from qualified professionals. All blog content comes without warranties, representations, or guarantees of any kind. You agree that any use you make of blog content is at your own risk. You also agree that CREATE.Digital Music is not responsible for any losses resulting from your reliance on any blog content. We also reserve the right to revise any and all content on the blog at any time. 


    If you report offensive or inappropriate comments to CREATE.Digital Music, We will generally investigate and remove comments if required.

    All blog content, including all information, text, graphics, photos, images, logos, and site design, is our intellectual property, and is protected by copyright and applicable intellectual property law.



    RSS Feed

COMPANY 

Home
Solutions
Blog
Sound Design
​Sync
​
Music Library

CONTACT

Contact Us
Follow Us
​Client Support


Picture
© 2023 CREATE.Digital Music. All Rights Reserved.
  • Home
  • Solutions
  • Sync
  • Music Library
  • Sound Design
  • Blog
  • Contact