The Album Cover renaissance

How the Rebirth of the Album Cover has Reshaped Music and its Relationship with the Listener

Introduction

The original purpose of an album cover was merely to satisfy fundamental protective functions for the delicate vinyl record that was inside it (Medel, 2014). These covers were made of ‘drab heavy paper’ (Chilton, 2019) and were commonly, and rather fittingly, ‘referred to in the industry as tombstones’ (Heller, 2011) due to how albums were displayed in retail shops with very little to differentiate between them. However, this all changed in 1939 when Alex Steinweiss (1917-2011) from Columbia Records pioneered the first ever graphic album cover with the intention to ‘transmit the meaning of the music and to attract new customers.’ (Medel, 2014).

 This paper will explore how Steinweiss’ re-invention of the album cover fulfilled his intentions whilst also impacting on the commercialisation of the music industry. This revolutionised the music industry’s relationship with the design industry and reshaped the way we - the consumer - connect with the artists and instantly becoming more impactful than other visual elements such as concert posters. This paper will also discuss the counter-arguments to my claim such as how the introduction of music videos suggested the dominance of a new visual element within the music industry, as well as how modern technologies such as the Compact Disc and music streaming platforms became a threat to the importance of an album cover.

Point 1 – The Rise of the Record Sales 

Album artwork has had an astonishing impact on the commercialisation of the music industry. The seed for this was planted when Steinweiss landed the role as Art Director at Columbia Records after insisting to the management team that something needed to change about the way records were being sold (Reagan, 2009). Although illustrated album covers were not an entirely new concept, Steinweiss was the first to envision an album cover to combine imagery and typography into one composition and recognised this as a revolutionary opportunity to increase sales for Columbia Records (Reagan, 2009)(AIGA, 2004). Steinweiss fulfilled this prophecy and, as Kevin Reagan stated, ‘a revolution began in the record business’ (Reagan, 2009).

Steinweiss’ first album design was for a collection of songs by the duo Rodgers and Hart and he subsequently went on to design more than 850 albums. His genius invention had ‘immediately captivated the audience,’ (Medel, 2014) and helped to push record sales, and the record industry as a whole, to a whole new realm. Steinweiss’ cover for Columbia Records’ re-release of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, released in 1948, helped it achieve a staggering sales increase of 894% (Medel, 2014). After the success of Steinweiss’ innovation, the industry were quick to replace the ‘tombstone covers’ and they never looked back (Flora, 1990).

Graphic album covers increased sales in the record business because, as Ismael Lòpez Medel writes, they ‘became iconic representations of the music within.’(Medel, 2014). The graphics, that were now on album covers, acted as a window into what [music] was on the record. This meant that potential customers could now look at an album cover to decide whether they wanted to buy it based on their first impressions. Deep Shah, author of The Importance of Album Art, portrays album artwork as a ‘portal’ (Shah, 2016) to what can be expected of the album’s musicality, and also to give a glimpse of the musician behind the artwork. The album cover became the equivalent of the book cover, which has connotations with the axiom ‘do not judge a book by its cover.’ Realistically, however, book covers undoubtedly play a role in the consumer’s purchasing decision, and the same applies for record covers (Shah, 2016)(Melina, (2015). Shah suggests this idea further when he claims: ‘the first thing that will catch your attention, is the accompanying [album] cover art.’ (Shah, 2016).

Therefore, first impressions are crucial for an album’s success because - as suggested by Melina - an album could potentially be overlooked or even discarded if it has not got an attractive cover (Melina, 2015). Melina goes on to argue that the ‘overriding purpose’ of an album cover is ‘to attract listeners to your music’ (Melina, 2015). This supports Kevin Edge’s idea that ‘record sleeves were no longer insignificant, interchangeable bags of protection.’(Edge, 1991).

Thus, it is evident that album covers became crucial to the commercialisation of the music industry because, as suggested by the laws of physics - and as Rory Seydel wrote - ‘seeing will always be part of hearing.’ (Seydel, 2016)(Shah, 2016).

Point 2 – When Music Met Art

The requirement for imagery to accompany music led to what was one of the biggest revolutions that the album cover made to the music industry: its new relationship with the design industry. Album covers were ‘born out of the necessity to translate the messages of the music into visual elements’ (Medel,2014) which had a colossal impact on the graphic design industry. This new design format and market launched the careers of many iconic designers, such as AndyWarhol (1928-1987), who ‘produced great milestones of the 20th Century,’(Medel, 2014) and are thought to have delivered ‘some of the finest examples of graphic design in history.’(Rivers, 2003)(Chilton,2019). Although this new partnership heavily impacted the graphic design industry by giving it a new medium, it was very much a mutual exchange. There were numerous graphic designers throughout the decades who broke the mould and revolutionised album art and, thus, the music industry. 

The 1950s saw a wave of new designers which led to growing competitiveness and a stronger desire for experimentation and revolution (Medel, 2014). Reid Miles (1927-1993) was one these designers; his debut designs for Blue Note Records, and the impact that they made on the company, are considered ‘immense.’ (Medel, 2014)(Chilton, 2019). This is because, regardless of the process Miles took, he was always able to make ‘the cover sound like it knew what lay in store for the listener,’ and always knew how to convey the correct moods and tones (Marsh and Callingham, 1997).

However, it was the eruption of the Rock and Roll genre in the 1960s that really took album art to a new level. Musicians became idols to society’s youth, and with their inevitable increase in popularity, rock groups such as Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd grew bigger and wealthier. This led to bands gaining control over their album artwork: ‘it became fashionable for bands to commission covers from artists.’ (Chilton, 2019)(Powell, 2017)(Medel, 2014). This new trend launched the careers of Storm Thorgerson (1944-2013) and Aubrey Powell (b. 1946): a radical duo of graphic designers who conceptualised album art for the industry with their design firm Hipgnosis (Chilton, 2019). Hipgnosis were often employed directly by the bands, soon becoming known in the industry as ‘the album cover guys’ (Powell, 2017).

The duo acknowledged that the more famous a band became, the more emphasis and attention was given to the album cover as they became well aware of how influential the album cover could be to their success. They also knew that innovative and alternative approaches to album covers were crucial to the growing success of their clients and their company: ‘[Hipgnosis] were competitive at the time when record stores were enormous emporiums filled with racks of vinyl; to stand out in the crowd was paramount.’ (Powell, 2017). With this, the mantra that Hipgnosis worked with was that ‘a good design would always create interest […] as long as it was eye-catching,’ (Powell, 2017) and from then on, they strived to be different and made ‘sincere attempts to be original’ (Powell, 2017).

They steered away from the norm of using portraiture in their album covers as they believed that portraiture only portrayed what the band looked like and not the emotions, feelings or themes of the album (Chilton 2019,)(Powell, 2017). Instead, they used more conceptual photographic images, for example: Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moondepicts a single prism refracting light, without including the band name or the album title. Although, record companies did not approve of the unusual compositions, the bands supported this concept and Hipgnosis’ theory that ‘a striking image will create curiosity,’(Powell, 2017) and it did exactly that; the consumers really enjoyed the element of mystery and being able to interpret the artwork for themselves. Subsequently, this produced a lot more excitement and attention towards albums and their release dates which also lead to remarkable successes in the music industry: Dark Side of the Moon spent over 15 years in the charts and sold over 50 Million copies (Powell, 2017)(Ochs, 1996). With their huge triumph in shaping the music industry’s approach to album art in the 1960s and 1970s it is suggested that ‘Hipgnosis became key artistic inspirations in that era’ as it is believed that ‘their designs became symbols of music in the 20th Century.’ (Chilton, 2019).

To summarise, it is evident that the graphic design industry reshaped the music industry as designers such as Miles and Hipgnosis were able to break the norms of the album cover. Furthermore, as musicians became an influence on society, so did their cover art which quickly became crucial to the success of an album. Nevertheless, it is clear that Steinweiss’ aim to alter the way that music was seen was achieved: ‘[Steinweiss] revolutionised the way that music was visualised.’(Reagan, 2009).

Point 3 – The Emotional Impact on the Listener

Besides Steinweiss’ intentions of changing the way that music is sold as well as the way it is visualised, it is clear that the modern album cover has also drastically influenced the music industry by forming a stronger connection between the listener and the music.

Due to musicians gaining more control and freedom over their album art, record covers became strong vehicles for self-expression: ‘your album art should also display your individuality.’(Melina, 2015). Therefore, it became common for musicians to use their album art to emphasise the mood and themes within the music. It is hinted that the imagery is able to give a more tactile meaning to the music and by using artwork to visually represent the music, ‘the album becomes more effective in its purpose to capture a specific mood or feeling,’ and that ‘by transposing an album to a visual realm, a mood and tone is set for the listener, as well as a clarification of the aritsitc intent behind the album.’ (Bolot, 2019). Powell supports this argument when he describes the experience of listening to a vinyl album: ‘You sat back, enjoyed the sounds and studied the one connection between you and the band: the cover.” (Powell, 2017). Shah believes that music is more than just an auditory experience but is a ‘multi-sensory affair which triggers all kinds of feelings and emotion.’ He continues by saying, ‘When we listen to music we want […] to be transported to an entirely different place, and an album’s sleeve, can help do that.’ (Shah, 2016). This is considered to be true as a lot of musicians use their album covers to emphasise the mood and theme of their music and to further immerse the listener into it. The famously independent musician, Grimes, is a solid example of this because she creates all of her album art work herself, ‘generating an expanded visual element of her auditory creations.’ (Bolot, 2019). With them being created solely by herself, Grimes’ albums become almost a true part of herself, ‘rather than a collectively manufactured piece.’ (Bolot, 2019).

Alongside the idea that album covers allow the listener to feel a stronger connection to the musician through the art, it is also indicated that the album covers that we purchase define who you are, particularly vinyl covers: ‘the covers gave an inkling of your personality, your musical taste and preferences, and just how hip and up to date you were.’ (Powell, 2017).

Because of this concept, album covers developed into things of tremendous sentimental value to the consumer: ‘I remember hanging records on my wall when I was a kid. The art on the covers created a magical little world […] Albums were sacred objects that I cherished.’ (Seydel, 2016). This suggests that the purpose of the graphic album cover was not only to act as a window into the music inside the sleeve but also as a window into who the consumer was, Powell explains: ‘Vinyl occupied a large space in any home and often took pride of place on a sitting-room shelf [...] what kind of music you bought told others what kind of person you were.’ (Powell, 2017).

Thus, it is clear that the invention of the modern album cover has reshaped the relationship between the listener and the musician, the album and its accompanying artwork. This is because the albums become ‘more intertwined with the artist,’ (Bolot, 2019) which causes a greater representation of the intended mood and atmosphere of the album, creating a stronger emotional relationship between the musician and the listener. This led to the listener holding stronger sentimental value towards the albums they invested in. Subsequently, album covers began to reflect who you are as a person and were a fragment of your identity (Powell, 2017)(Seydel, 2016).

Counter – The Threat of Modern Technology

However, it is argued that the introduction of new technologies have taken the emotional and promotional qualities away from album covers, which questions the purpose of the album cover and its future.

The first was the creation of another highly influential visual element: the music video. On the 1st of August 1981, with their first debut, music videos became available to watch at home 24 hours a day (Medel, 2014)(Ochs, 1996). Its impact on the music industry was instantaneous: MTV’s subscribers nearly quadrupled, going from 2.5 million to 9.6 million in just one year (Medel, 2014). It was clear that ‘the music [business] had moved on,’ and that ‘music videos had become the new master of promotion,’ (Powell, 2017) as the record companies were now devoting their budgets to the music videos and were ‘spending millions on extravagant films.’ (Powell, 2017)(Medel, 2014). This also meant that ‘music videos became the primary visual companion to the music,’ and had replaced the album cover as the dominant visual element (Medel, 2014).

The second detrimental innovation to impact the album cover was the launch of the Compact Disc (CD) in 1981 which became an ‘immediate success,’ (Medel, 2014) and was considered ‘the biggest and most innovative trend in pop music.’ (Ochs, 1996); nearly 900 million CDs were sold in 2000 (Medel, 2014). However, album cover designers had taken a ‘creative hit’ (Browne, 2011) now only having a 4x4 inch canvas to work with rather than the 12x12” canvas they were used to with LPs which were now ‘a relic of the past.’ (Ochs, 1996)(Chilton, 2019). With less space to work with, album cover designs appeared to be ‘growing simpler and less detailed,’ (Browne, 2011) and lost their emotional and visual impact on the consumer.

Album art continued to decrease in emotional and visual impact with the dawn music streaming platforms; music no longer needed visual representation as ‘album art is often reduced to a small digital square no larger than a golf ball,’ (Seydel, 2016) but more often than not were ‘now roughly the size of a postage stamp,’ (Browne, 2011). In addition to this, tracks were now taken out of the album context and were often jumbled into a playlist alongside hundreds of other tracks where they are ‘all displayed in the same font, the same rows and the same view,’ making it a serious challenge for album covers to stand out from the others and attract the viewer’s attention (Seydel, 2016).

In summary, album covers no longer have the impacts they used to on the music industry or the audience. This is because new technologies such as music videos and music streaming platforms began to reshape the music industry and how music is listened to. Because of this, album covers decreased in size and no longer had such a prominent place in the success of an album or in the lives of the consumers.

Rebuttal – The Vinyl Revival

The first counter-argument is against the impact of online streaming services and how they have minimised album covers to a miniscule size (Medel, 2014). Although it has been suggested that it is now more difficult for album covers to stand out among all of their competitors due to their identical formats, it is believed that this makes the album art even more important than before; it is now the only thing that differentiates a track from its competitors (Seydel, 2016). Furthermore, if a track has been added to a public playlist it is the album cover that will be the ‘the listener’s first step to digging deeper,’ (Seydel, 2016). Seydel also believes that album art ‘is the bridge between liking a single song and learning more about an album.’ (Seydel, 2016). Thus, making the image vital to grabbing the attention of the listener and contextualising the song as it would’ve done during the LP’s reign (Seydel, 2016).

The second argument is that vinyl records have seen an enormous increase in sales since 2006, which has continued to rise ever since. n the United States alone, 9.2 million vinyl records were sold in 2015 which was a staggering 52% increase from 2014 (Seydel, 2016)(Medel, 2014). This was the case because of the tangibility of the 12x12” albums and their artwork which cannot be achieved by online streaming or even CDs (Seydel, 2016).

To summarise, it is evident that since the dawn of music streaming services, the need for attractive artwork has only increased: ‘streaming didn’t destroy the need for album art, it made it more important.’ (Seydel, 2016). Furthermore, with the phenomenal revival of vinyl, album art is returning to its initial use of being tactile visual representations of the music: ‘the renewed popularity of vinyl means a return of album art design in its original form.’ (Chilton, 2019). Although vinyl is currently only a ‘niche market’ (Browne, 2011) , it is suggested that consumers are longing for the immersive experience that record covers offer; ‘there’s something deeply personal about […] listening to an album whilst having the sleeve at hand.’ (Shah, 2016).

Conclusion

To conclude, although the rise in modern technology has strongly questioned the promotional and emotional impacts that album art once had, it cannot be disregarded that Steinweiss’ invention of the modern album cover has definitely made vast impacts: to how albums are sold, to the graphic design industry and to the relationship between the listener and the album. It is also evident that all of these impacts have greatly reshaped the music industry and will have lasting effects due to the rebirth of vinyl. It is believed that album covers ‘became a big part of the music industry,’ (Powell, 2017), thus, whether it is on a 12x12” canvas or one the size of a postage stamp, album artwork is ‘still such an important aspect of the creative process of creating a world for a particular album,’ (Shah, 2016) and that ‘music and art will always go hand in hand.’ (Chilton, 2019).

Bibliography

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