Album Cover Research.

I have decided to explore into CD covers and their historical background. From personal experience I can define how an album is used to attract buyers due to the artwork of the front cover, whether its simple or just effective, as Music, and CD's sell. I also know that they act as a protective sleeve for the CD.

The cover serves three main purposes:

1. The advertise and identify the contents of the music product.
2. To convey the artistic aspirations of the original artists
3. In reproductions of the artwork, to serve as a primary image in the promotional efforts surrounding the product, as an identifiable image associated with it.

Album covers have become increasingly important aspect to the music industry, with artists and producers designing new and better covers coerce with their music product. There are several different kinds of design associated with album covers, e.g portrait and type-based. 

Portrait - Particularly consistent o album covers promoting solo artists. The viewer i forced to look directly at the face on the cover, helping them to focus completely on them with no distraction. This cover from Lil Wayne shows the face of an innocent, cute looking young child (Lil Wayne as a child), however the child is sporting adult attributes such as tattoos. This supposedly entices the viewer into buying the record, as it is advertising something different, something you wouldn't see in real life. 

Type based - Some album cover designs are devoted entirely to writing. Paramore's 'Riot' album cover is a good example. Type based covers often nee no more than a powerful font. The Paramore cover prove this, as it is clearly states what the album is called, however at the same time the black panel showing the name of the band is clearly sufficient as an album cover.