Album Covers

I created a collage of album covers for inspiration which includes a majority of different album arts and genres. They range from the 1960s right up until the present. All the album covers I have chosen are all ones I like and feel represent the artist well. Train's album art for 'Save me, San Francisco' clearly tells us the artist name, in the font that is recognisable to them. They have avoided bright, bold colours which I have found with the majority of indie bands. The background image of San Francisco bridge and the city buildings is blurred and does not stand out, our attention is drawn to the bird, which is central.
The XX's album cover is very simple yet very effective. The only image we can see is the large white 'X' on a black background. These colours clearly stand out and draw attention. Just from seeing this image we know who the artist is.
Gary Jules's album cover makes good use of the camera. It is defocused on his face and focused on his fist which takes up the majority of the space, this could easily represent anger but then the star sort of says the opposite.
Franki Valli and the Four Season's album cover suggests not a lot of money was spent on it, a simple blue background with a cut out image of the artists. It is very simple and plain to look at.
Then you have others which are very busy, for example The Beatles' album cover which consists of a large group of people along with the artist name in flowers. The cover is full of bright, striking colours which stand out. All the people standing behind the band have all passed away, it suggests they were all an inspiration. 
Mumford and Sons' album cover is quite similar to one of the Oasis one's, both being rather naturalistic. The four men are standing with their instruments which suggests their life revolves around their music. Two of them are standing above the others which shows a hierarchy of importance. The bright, blue sky suggests happiness and freedom.

Band name and Album name

As a group we have decided on a band and album name which are as follows:

• Artist name: Canute
• Album name: Playing with Tides

Since creating my album cover prelims my group and I have decided to change the band name from 'Azura' to 'Canute', making reference to 'King Canute the Great'.
He was a Viking warrior turned english king, 'THE KING WHO COULD NOT STOP THE SEA BUT STEMMED THE VIKING TIDE ON ENGLAND'S SHORES'
Lengend says that he was so great, he could command the tides of the sea to go back but he, himself knew his limitation so he had his throne carried to the seashore and sat on it as the tide came in, commanding the waves to advance no further. When they didn't, he had made his point that, though the deeds of kings might appear 'great' in the minds of men, they were as nothing in the face of God's power.

With our album name being 'Playing with Tides' we thought this reference was a serious, celebration hommage to Canute himself. Everything has meaning behind it and this is ours

The music industry

For the last decade now, the music industry has begun facing a huge online revolution which is fast becoming a huge problem for the big record companies. Artists and bands are using something known as viral marketing as a way of informing, communicating and selling their music to their fans. For example, the duo Nizlopi hit a world wide phenoma with their track 'The JCB song' which started off in an email to just 20 people. These people would then show the song to their friends, it was placed online and extremely quickly sent around the world. The track cost the boys very little and went on to be in the top 10 songs of that year, yet Nizlopi were told by a record label that this song would never sell but they continued to believe it would, so ignoring the record companies and thanks to the internet it meant they did not need a huge marketing machine and went on to sell half a million copies of the track on their own label, 'FDM'.

There any many other artists and bands that also use viral marketing and is a massive key to their success. Gnarls Barkley's single 'crazy' was the first ever single to hit number 1 on internet downloads alone. Mick Hucknall from Simply Red has recently used the internet to start up his own record label 'simplyred.com' and back in 1994 created his own website which helped begin this entire revolution.

Many artists find that the internet is a massive way to keep them independent and more intimate with their fans, more often now artists do not want to be a part of a record label and want to 'go at it alone'. The Artic Monkeys a group from Sheffield found their fame through viral advertising and created their first CD, a demo sound track consisting of 17 songs and was released under the name of 'The Broadwalk'. The band copied a number of these CDs and gave them away to fans at gigs, these quickly made it onto the internet and were promptly 'file-shared' amongst fans. As the first sender shared the album they wanted to classify the CD and it was named 'Beneath the Boardwalk'.
The band got offers from various record labels but rejected each and everyone of them, refusing to change their 'sound' and 'look' but in 2005 they joint record company 'Domino' which was ran from the owners flat. They were attracted to the 'DIY ethic' and wouldn't change for anyone.


The internet is threatening to overturn the classical ways of signing artists and buying music, for example, people are more often than not searching online for websites by which they can download their favourite tracks for free. It is quick, easier and cheaper than going into a store to buy albums. Who wants to buy an entire album if they only want a few tracks off it? The music industry is in a huge circle the more they try to keep up with the internet and illegal downloading the further away they get. New websites are being made all the time and the big record companies and finding it almost impossible to stop it. The majority of people now download illegally and very unlikely to go back to buying from stores. But there is no reason why the music industry cannot embrace this revolution and work with it. If they continue to sue they are then unable to channel these opportunities in a positive way. If they can challenge the pirates to create easier ways about downloading tracks they can win over the consumers.

Star Image, Train, Biffy Clyro

Train are a band from San Francisco, California, consisting of Pat Monahan, Jimmy Stafford and Scott Underwood. They formed in 1994 and their single 'Drops of Jupiter' was a grammy-award-winning song along with 'Calling all Angels' and 'Meet Virginia' topping the charts. They have found many ways of publicizing their music and building a fan base including television appearances, radio air time tours, intimate gigs and online pages on social networking sites etc.
Their audience are able to buy their singles and albums from stores such as HMV and download them from online stores such as itunes and spotify. Fans are also able to buy their products from amazon.co.uk and play.com and also from the bands official website.

• Band website: www.trainline.com 
• MySpace: www.myspace.com/train
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/train
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/train
• Youtube channel: TrainMusic

You can get to all of these web pages from their official website where fans are able to also look on the different pages they have for example, biography, music, news media, tour and shop. You can also join their mailing list which allows you to receive news and information first etc.

Biffy Clyro are a rock band originating from Scotland comprising Simon Neil, James Johnston and Ben Johnston. They formed in 1995 under the name of Screwfish and instead of James Johnston the band's third man was someone known as Barry, he was soon replaced by James. For two years after this the band spent time rehearsing and their first three albums 'Blackened Sky’, ‘The Vertigo Of Bliss’ and ‘Infinity Land' rightfully earned the band a small but loyalty fan base. But it was in 2007, when the release of their album, 'Puzzle' went gold in the UK and sold over 100,00 copies that the band's following grew exponentially. Their latest album 'Only Revolutions' in 2009 reached number 3 in the UK and very quickly went gold. it later went platinum in 2010 and was nominated by the Mercury Music Prize.


The bands official website biffyclyro.com allows fans to view images, videos, music, updates and tour dates etc. They can also visit the store when you can buy merchandise. From the website you can use the links to visit their facebook, myspace and twitter pages etc.


Official website: www.biffyclyro.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/biffyclyro1
MySpace: www.myspace.com/biffyclyro
Twitter: www.twitter.com/biffy_clyro
YouTube channel: biffyclyro

Target Audience and History

As a company we would like our artists to reach out to a wide, mainstream audience. The genre of indie allows us as managers, and the artist to branch out. Indie, rock originating from the U.K and the States in the 1980s inspires and interests people of generations since then. Many see the genre with a specific artistic aesthetic and would have originally been produced by bands working alone, with independent record labels for example Oasis and Creation Records but throughout the noughties this has become far more relaxed and led to further distorted meaning of the term 'indie rock'. In other words there has been far more genre boundary crossing and hybridity.


We aim for our target audience to be teenagers between 16 years and 21 years, both male and female. They are more than likely students, with a very low income. They are fascinated by fashion and music, which causes which and combining the two. They will enjoy 'hanging' out with friends, shopping and going to places such as Shoreditch, Brick Lane and Soho. 


We intend to use current fashion, trends and images inspired by the 80s to represent the band, fashion is a major influence in how our band is perceived. With fashion bringing back styles from an era of experimentalists and the increasing importance of designer brands, we aim to encode this edgy, retro look within us.

Album Cover Prelims

As a group I think we have decided on a band / artist name of 'Azura' and the album name 'Playing With Tides'. I have come up with few ideas and created some album covers..
As the genre we have chosen is indie/rock I had a look a some previous album covers such as:

• The London Suede - Dog Man Star, Suede
• Train - Save Me, San Francisco, Drops of Jupiter
• Oasis

Using these helped me when creating my own, they do not tend to be very busy (words and images are kept to a minimum) and are not extremely colourful. Oasis is an exception, they're covers are a lot more busy and use bright, bold colours.

Album Covers

Before creating any album cover I must realise and consider what they are used for and what should b included on it.
Why album covers are important:

• They promote the artist
• They draw attention
• Show the artists creativity
• Represents the artist
• Helps persuade people to buy the album
• Establish the genre

Codes and conventions of album covers:

• Artist name
• Album name
• Record label
• Song list
• Image of the artist or artist logo
• Copyright