ALBUM COVERS

PAOLO NUTINI: THESE STREETS



In my opinion I consider this to be a "good" album cover. The idea is incredibly simple yet not boring at all. The bright colours and original title font make it incredibly eye catching.

The cover uses just 4 simple shots of Paolo Nutini and by making them black and white the cover still looks arty and modern yet was quite simple to produce. I think this is a good source of inspiration for my group's project.

DECONSTRUCTION NOTES
Images Used: Four seperate images of the artist all in black, each one is placed on a different brightly coloured panel. The bright colours imply that the target audience may be quite young and vibrant. Poses are all very casual and relaxed implying that the album is quite chilled out and easy listening. Artist is dressed smart/casual which also connotes the music style.

Text: The artist's name is in a curly font which is also typically recognisable with his name. This is larger and above the album title "these streets" which is in a simpler font and in lower case which denotes the casual attitude of the album.

Relationship between text & image: The text and images are quite seperate but are both black which links them.

Iconography: guitar, pointy shoes, blazer, unbuttoned collar, poses --> these are all very indie/pop.

Function: Gives clearer image of the artist and the general vibe of the album.

LILY ALLEN: ALRIGHT STILL



I love the cover artwork for Lily Allen's "Alright Still" album. By using a combination of photography and animation the cover has a very contemporary look and is incredibly eye-catching and interesting.

This cover is quite "busy" as there are a lot or random images all clumped together so the audience takes the time to have a good look at it.

MYSPACE ARTISTS

REGINA SPEKTOR
(www.myspace.com/reginaspektor)



The phenomena that is MySpace is allowing music artists such as Regina Spektor to help further promote their music.

Regina's MySpace allows the audience to listen to four of her tracks ("Samson", "Fidelity", "Hotel Song" and "Us") as well as giving them a schedule of all shows being played and the chance to leave her comments about her pictures or just general feedback about her and her music. Regina Spektor has also left several personal blogs for the audience to read which leads in to the idea of interactivity and its benefits.

The audience feel more important and part of a group by adding her page to their "Friend's List". This is what enables them to leave comments and also receive bulletin updates on the MySpace homepage meaning the audience is constantly informed on the artist.

This interactivity aids the promotion of her music and all for free. Her MySpace also provides links to:
- a mailing list for fans both in America and the UK
- join the cell phone list and get updates via text
- visit a website to listen to her album "Soviet Kitsch"
- add her music videos to your own MySpace page
- buy her latest album "Begin To Hope"

This research is helpful as it shows that an artist page on MySpace can be incredibly beneficial especially considering that it is cost free. MySpace basically offers free advertising for artists which I should bear in mind when promoting my artist in the final project.