Remember the album sleeve?
What a difference a decade makes, especially in the ever changing world of technology. The last ten years have seen the music industry revolutionised by technology to such an extent that traditional music formats are in danger of becoming relics of the past.
Access to online music has meant that our record collections have become invisible! Well, almost invisible. In a previous era, you could tell a lot about a person by the CDs they had piled high in their bedroom or living room, whereas these days you’d have to rifle through the files on their laptop or PC to find out whether or not you were musically compatible.
Sales of online music have also resulted in the decline of record sleeve artwork and design. In the past, CD sleeve design was a crucial part of the marketing behind an album, whereas nowadays many people will download music and never know what the original artwork looked like. Of course, lots of online music sites will show thumbnails of the album sleeve beside the MP3 link, but it’s not quite the same as being able to read through the sleeve notes and thank yous that are part and parcel of CD and vinyl sleeve design.
Some online music stores are doing their best to combat this by including links on their sites where you can download the album artwork if you like, and this should ensure that graphic designers and artists are never made entirely redundant from the music industry. However, this is a practice only employed by legal online music sites, so anyone acquiring their music from file sharing or other illegal download sites is unlikely to get the full package as it was intended by the artist and record label.
The next time you’re buying online music, do take a look at the artwork that goes with it. Someone poured their heart and soul into it, and at the end of the day, we all like to know that our work is appreciated!
