The power of album visuals

No matter how well an album paints a picture, it still needs a defining first stroke. A world without album covers seems difficult to imagine. But with the death of the physical distribution of music and more media available to use for advertising, that thought doesn’t seem that far off.

It begs the question: does music still need album covers?

In the early days of music distribution, black vinyl was merely put in monotone grey sleeves. The only intriguing part of any record was the music itself. There was no way of finding out how the record might sound like or feel except to listen to it for yourself.

However, that all changed when Columbia Records’ first art director, Alex Steinweiss, came up with a way to boost vinyl sales. He pioneered the idea of an album having its own cover to better capture a potential listener’s attention. Taking a photographer with him, they went to New York’s Imperial Theatre to photograph letters that spelled out ‘Smash Song Hits by Rodgers & Hart'. This turned out to be the first album cover recorded in world history.

Soon enough, album covers evolved into another way for musicians to market their own works and draw an audience to them. Besides being a marketing tool, album covers represent the musical experience or sound offered in the album. “Sometimes the cover shows the album’s genre, or even the era it was made in,” record store owner and music hobbyist Samson Pho explained.

“For example, artwork for jazz albums are usually monochrome and have a closeup of the musician, while genres such as rock or metal have more horror elements and brighter colours.”

This can be seen in the records released under Bluenote, whose covers usually only incorporate two or three colours and portraits of jazz musicians. Other genres, such as hip-hop and RnB, often use abstract and eccentric typography or grafitti, which can be seen on the album covers of MF DOOM, Outkast and D’Angelo.

Album covers help guide listeners into the right state of mind, and set the overall mood of the record. They create a relationship using visual and auditory output to aid in visualsing sound. To get a better understanding of how that relationship is fostered, TFR spoke to photographer and designer Mikael Aldo about his experience working with artists and the creative process behind album artworks.

Working with many musicians across various genres, it comes as no surprise that each approach would have to be different. From pop artists such as Sheryl Sheinafia to rock bands such as .Feast and Barasuara, each process relies on Aldo’s personal take and his interpretation of each album.

“It’s always different for every musician I’ve ever worked with. There are those who already have a clear visualisation of their music, and there are those who haven’t. There are times where I need to listen to the demo first, but there are times where the listening comes after a discussion with the musician,” he added.

After determining the main theme, Aldo uses his own interpretations to translate the themes into a visual masterpiece. Afterwards, the outcome will determine how Aldo will execute the artwork from pre-production to post-production. This factor is what makes each artwork unique across different musicians and genres.

Even though the process can differ, the common thread of them all is to find out what the music is saying and the message the musician tries to deliver. These messages can then be reflected on the album cover through the use of symbols, colours and other distinct elements. Some elements may even be in the form of an enigma the audience is left to decode.

For example, Coldplay’s third album cover consists of an assorted selection of colourful square blocks on a dark blue background. One may think it was merely an aesthetic choice; however, those squares are actually a visual representation of the Baudot code, or an early telegraph communication system. Neither the way the squares were designed nor their arrangement was random. The different sizes and shapes of the blocks spell out the album's title.

Not all album covers get to have an extensive creative process. As much as music is a means of self-expression, it is also a commodity. Some album artworks don’t have anything to do with the music on the album – but they do cater to the demand of a certain audience, or a third party involved with the release of the record.

According to Samson, there isn’t a blanket statement when it comes to the purpose of album covers. “Back in the days, record labels were in charge of deciding which designs they will be using, because the decision they make will greatly affect sales.”

“Take Jimi Hendrix, for example. He never knew what the album covers would look like until they were released.”

However, in a growing digital world, the need for an album cover for whatever reason proves to be less and less prevalent. Music isn’t as ambiguous as it once was. Now, people don’t have to rely on album covers for a first impression of an artist.

Thanks to the evolution of technology, labels and musicians look at more interactive methods to advertise their works, using media such as 3D graphics, music videos, teasers and visualisers. For example, digital music platforms such as iTunes offer users 30-second snippets of songs.

With so many options available, the attention span of consumers gets increasingly shorter, which makes a 2D or manual approach a less preferred option.

Although people still have to upload album covers to accompany musical releases on digital streaming services, album covers aren’t as impactful as they used to be because there are other ways of promoting and advertising music.

However, Aldo argued that album covers are still one of the most important visual companions to music. “Even though nowadays there is a more varied selection of visual media, such as music videos, 3D art, etc., album covers will always be embedded in streaming platforms, press releases, or any publishing media.”

“Additionally, with the ever changing nature of our relationship with music, it’s a fact that people no longer consume certain music for the music only: we too, consume and appreciate objects that surround the music.”

Samson shared the same sentiment, stating that album covers are not just for marketing, but have become an artist’s niche. “For those who are suckers for details, sometimes when you see the image, you already know which band or musician it belongs to.”

Although album covers weren't as impactful as they once were and although the motive behind them are subjected to more vulnerability, their overall purpose of being a visual representation of an album remains. They may not be the first thing that comes to mind when advertising music, but there is a nostalgic and sentimental quality to them that makes album covers irreplaceable and forever relevant.