CONVENTIONS OF ALBUMS

Sacha Relf

FRONT COVER• There will always feature the artist/bands name on the front cover of the album to allow the

audience to know who's album it is and to accompany the main image of the album. • Another thing that is key on an album cover is the album title/name. This is to help the

audience to understand which the artist/band was thinking whilst writing the album or could even be the title of one of the songs that features on the album.

• A main image is also a main convention of an album cover, usually in the form of a portrait where close up shot is usually used of the artist. Direct address is often accompanied with the portrait to make a connection with the audience. It could also however be an artistic piece using text or colours or the artists/bands iconic symbol. Different genres use different types of main image, e.g. R&B/Pop uses a portrait main image where as an indie album may use a more creative main image.

• Age restrictions are sometimes used on album covers inform the audience that they must be a certain age to purchase the album due to the context of it. However artists place them in different places on the album for example, an artist like Rihanna may hide this restriction and put it on the back of the album. However, more well known artists like Eminem whom are known for their explicit music will place the restriction on the front.

BACK COVER• The back of albums always include a list of all the songs featured on that album which are either

numbered with the track number or not. • A barcode is also a convention of the back of the cover & is usually placed either at the bottom

right hand corner however this is not always the case and may just be placed neatly where there is space.

BACK COVERCredit is always on the back cover of an album and has to by law.

• Usually for the producers, but may also be for the artist, songwriters, musicians, producer, engineer and

others who helped put the album together• Songwriter credit should be given for each song, unless the same artist or the entire band wrote

all of thesongs, in which case “All songs written by [artist].” should be sufficient. Make sure to include thisinformation for cover versions and samples as well. *Publishing information “© [year] [publishing company name] ([ASCAP, BMI, etc.])” Copyright notices“© [year] [artist name]” – This denotes the copyright in the lyrics and music on the album. Thissymbol should be used whether or not you have registered the work with the U.S. Copyright Office.“(P) [year] [artist name or record label]” (the P should be in a circle just like the © symbol anddenotes a copyright in the sound recording) – This denotes the copyright in the sound recordings onthe album. This symbol should be used whether or not you have registered the work with the U.S.Copyright Office.• If the copyright in the lyrics and music and the sound recordings belong to the same person or

entity(which is often the case), the following should be put on the album “(P)(C) [year] [artist name orrecord label]”• All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.”

CD DESIGN• CD designs can be very different depending on the genre of music the album is for.

There are various different outcomes of cd designs which vary from being very simplistic to including artist name, album title and a track list as well as credit around the edges of the CD.

CD DESIGN

Plain CD with just album logo This CD is very simplistic with just a plain black background with the credit info in small text around the edge of the CD in inverted colours so it can be clearly seen. The CD also features the part of the album cover which is a orange cross, as you can see in the image below. Therefore relating the CD to the album cover. This is clever as the ‘+’ is in a way the album name. I like this approach to the CD design and may think about using a similar technique.

CD DESIGN

CD with artist name and titleThese CDs include the artist name and title of the album. The font used often reflects the type of album or star image the artist wants to convey. The Ke$ha album is in the pop genre and is very ‘party animal’ hence the placement of the title and artist on the CD and the font and colours used. However, the Adele album is a lot more calm and relaxed therefore there’s a more organised arrangement of font on the CD. The colours used are a lot softer and font goes well together. I also like this idea of the artist and title name as you can change the arrangement and fonts to fit the genre of the CD.

CD DESIGN

CD with artist name and title and track list This CD has a track list at the bottom, below the album title and artist name. I like this design however, only for this specific genre which is pop. Nevertheless, I would not like to use this on my own CD cover design as I would like it to be simplistic but still relate to the album cover. The consistency of the font style of the track list and artist name looks very professional and compatibility with the album title works really well. However I do not like the colour of the cd and think it would be better with a coloured background such as black, white or grey.