Does Album Art Affect Music Sales?

An artwork's relation with music is as  important as the song itself. Music and artworks have always been a very pivotal fragment of the music business. However, these are not only facts, there is science behind it. As a matter of fact, scientists have conducted researches which suggests the same. Likewise, try to recall a song that you've not heard in a while. You'll definitely recall a part of the visuals from the video. Go ahead, try it. In this article, we'll discuss the importance of artworks or album covers based on the same phenomenon. We'll discuss the transformation of album covers from the classic era to the digital world as well.

Alliance Between Music And Visuals

First and foremost, have you ever thought about the importance of a music video? Are music videos just a tool for entertainment? We reckon, not. However, music videos serves as a tool for telling stories to the viewer but that's just not the only purpose. Think of visuals like a place that you've never been to. You go to that place by traveling on different roads which goes through different landmarks. When you visit that place again, you make yourself sure by recalling those landmarks. That's the same purpose of the videos. A majority of people forgets the lyrics of the song as the time fades away. Music videos creates a bridge in the memory which connects you with the song. Subliminal messages or video-effects are purposely added in the videos to entertain you while leaving marks in your memory. Initially, artworks used to act as a gateway in the eye of the buyer. Artworks used to tell the content of the album by an image alone. Gradually, the time changed and importance of artworks is fading away. The above artwork from is from American-rapper 50 Cent's album Before I Self Destruct. Furthermore, the album cover describes the title visually. We all know that specific colors trigger a specific emotion when you look at them. For an instance, red has always been said to trigger the emotion of love or anger depending on the context. On the other hand, blue triggers relaxation. Colors are also a very important part of the visual side of the music. This is the same reason behind paintings catching eyes of the viewers. Digital platforms like Soundcloud and iTunes have made it mandatory for the user to upload an artwork along with the track. Do you seriously think artists care about that now?

Ground-Breaking Music And Iconic Album Covers

Abbey Road - the Beatles

The Abbey Road album cover has always been one of the most iconic album covers in the history of music. The year 1969 witnessed the release of Abbey Road by the Beatles. John, Ringo, Paul and George (From Right towards Left) had a walk over a zebra-crossing for this album cover. However, the album cover was not shot on the Abbey Road as the title suggests. The real crossing featured on the Abbey Road cover is actually 10 miles away from Abbey Road station in St John’s Wood. In fact, Apple Records founder suggested that the album should not have the title or the band's name anywhere on the copy. Distributors were not happy with the idea as they thought that the album won't sell without the information. Guess, who was wrong? The shot was sketched by Paul initially and the idea was later finalized. Iain Macmillan snapped the photograph on August 8, 1969 outside the EMI Studio's office on Abbey Road. The authorities gave them a short ten-minutes window which started at 11:35 am. Iain took six shots whilst standing on a step-ladder. A police officer was authorized to hold the traffic for ten minutes behind the camera. After the shots were taken, Paul examined each and every shot with a magnifying glass before settling down on to this shot. After the release of the album, the number plate (LMW 281F) was stolen several times just because it was featured on the album cover. A white Volkswagen Beetle was snapped behind the band on the left side of the crossing with this number plate and the world went crazy for it.

Nevermind - Nirvana

Nirvana made grunge a very popular name with the release of Nevermind in 1991. In addition to their music, the album cover caught the public eye and became an instant gossip. The cover had a 4-month-old, unclad, swimming towards a dollar bill attached to a fish hook. The photographer, Kirk Weddle, remembers the shot and Spencer Elden, the baby on the cover. On the other hand, Nirvana received a lot of public outrage for the cover as well. Robert Fisher, the art director of Geffen Records once suggested that Nirvana's front man Kurt Cobain, had seen a documentary based on babies getting born underwater. Since, the idea was too graphical for the album cover, the team decided to photograph a floating baby instead. Spencer had to drown in the pool five times before the final shot was taken. However, he was hired on a $250 per hour basis under no-name policy.

Artworks In Modern Era

Modern day music is highly influenced by Hip-Hop and R&B music. In addition, the market for albums has witnessed  a serious downfall in past few years. Since the market has shifted to singles, importance and impact of artwork should be more but sadly, this is not the case. Artists are collaborating with other artists on different projects to create consistency and a particular vibe. On the other hand, the increase in quantity of music coming out has increased and quality is going downhill. Artworks are not left out from this demise as well. A lot of modern age artworks are just images with the title of the songs. Despite the fact that artworks are presently reduced to a modest tile on our screens, it's still such an imperative part of the inventive procedure of making a world for a specific collection. In this way, keeping in mind the end goal to answer the subject of whether despite everything we require artworks, we'll abandon you with an idea: imagine what it would resemble, if the majority of the CD's, Vinyls, advanced collections you claim, didn't have any work of art on them.   Check out our next edition highlighting some Indian album artworks that made an impact around the fans.