Album Artwork Is Back

With the release of iTunes 7.0 I do believe that we have re-entered the age of album artwork. Albeit digital, for the past several years we have seen the demise of album artwork. For those who chose to download, rip and burn, it is rare that the once heralded album artowrk is held  and studied, much less even seen.

In the dawn of the 12" album artwork was god. This was a place for the designer to explore and get radical with liberal communication that often subverted mainstream design, while still agressively achieving its goal of promoting bands and moving records.

Tape cassettes shrunk down the format, CD's reverted back to the squared format, but with the introduction of MP3's we pretty much said goodbye to album art. Well, iTunes has provided a new realm for this artwork of yore, the iTunes visual gallery. For the first time it's a practical venue for music's natural visual companion. Granted, it falls far short of the classic printed material, but at the very least we get to see the artwork once again. Thank god.   

Comments

[blacvoice]

thats awesome

[Lu]

wait wait. It's not just little album art it's also little movies. Yup a new design area ripe for exploitation.

[cameron ewing]

waiiiiiiiit. really? you can have movies in itunes? like music vids? i must investigate!

[cladzine]

and tv shows too!

[Kristen Coogan]

album artwork has been replaced by motion reels / digi video. an album's--and an artist's--identity is now defined in motion rather than in print.

[cameron ewing]

are you suggesting that the static is dead? i have to disagree completely. i will concede that a digital component is now mandatory (just everything that is printed is represented or indexed somewhere on the internet). but the same does not hold true for motion. it's just not true that album artwork now lives exclusively in the motion world, regardless of how pervasive the field has become.

[Terby]

CD-ROM album releases have always felt kind of dorky to me. Pop music is conservative. Plus since music is already time-based, a still image can be a nice counterpoint. A static image tickles your memory in an unique way. At least for people of my/our generation, I think the static image retains a distinct power to be evocative. Looking at photos of people vs. quicktimes of them.

On the other hand, Weeds Season 1, there's a powerful scene where Shane starts to carry around a camcorder with a tape of his Dad (recently deceased). One night, Nancy (wife of deceased, mother of Shane) finds it and after watching a couple seconds of the tape, smashes the camera against a wall and breaks down in tears. Images (moving or still) can hold so much power. Pornography, religion, the idea of the icon. With digital archiving and more affordable capturing tools, we are beginning to simulacricize ourselves into a savvy new zombie race.

[Kristen Coogan]

No, I am not saying that the static is dead. Or that album artwork lives Exclusively in the digital realm. I AM saying that in terms of branding and forming an identity for an artist, the medium of choice is motion. Less and less people are buying the albums themselves and therefore this format cannot be relied upon to function in the same way it has in the past. The static (album art work) will eventually become obsolete.

In this post on D.O. about the new BECK album with interactive CD cover art, the 'don't buy CDs anymore' trend is revealed.

http://www.designobserver.com/archives/018186.html#more

[cameron ewing]

touche. the form of album art is certainly shifting. however, it's living in SOME space, digital or print. the article seems to paint the artwork as more of a 'bonus' these days, rather than playing up any delve into extinction. the challenge is going to be for the designer to MAKE it relavent. a la the interactivity found in beck, Towa Tei, and Alchimia's Unfinished Furniture albums (which all have an interactive component to them).