Album Cover process

I have been asking my class mates for feedback on my album covers and multiple times i have been asked how i created those arrows so below is a picture of the Adobe Illustrator file that i used to create that pattern,

Album cover update

This is my second draft for my back cover design. I have added some more arrows, slanted the text across the page to take up more room and generally filled out more of the empty spaces i had before. I definitely think this is an improvement on my first design but i think i can still add to it yet.

Genre, Context & Audience

Everyone has their own tastes in music and there is a genre of music for everyone, all of which originate from different backgrounds and have evolved into something new caused by music fusions. These fusions and genres have mainly come about from ancient times across all four corners of the globe; Africa, India, America and Europe. Their music styles have been crossed and coupled with technology to create thousands of music genres and it's now got to the stage where music can barely even be put into a genre.

Bands have realised this and are now taking pride in breaking music genres pointless boundaries. However this does mean that there is something for everyone out there.

However in spite of this, bands still target a specific audience with their music, without an audience, there is no one to listen to their work and therefore no reason to do it. They will create their music to please their audience but unfortunately there is such thing as main stream. This means a style of music which can be listened to by literally anyone which is good for the artist as they have a huge fan base, and it brings different audiences together, however these artists normally get ahead of themselves and abuse their power and then create what main stream actually is; music becomes what they want it to be. Also to people who care about the music industry, they judge them as being "sell-outs" which in many cases is true; some artists are just in it for the money and the life style that comes with it.

I personally think that the best artists are the ones that stay true to themselves, they produce music they care about, they please their audience and they don't do literally anything just to get famous or to make money. For example Mumford And Sons. They are to true to their own music and have some form of morals and self respect and they gain my respect; I just wish there were more bands around like them and maybe this would save the tragic state of the music industry which I have mentioned in another post (Changes in the music industry)

Why I chose this artwork design...

The whole wild arrow design has just been a design the band have been using in as an icon to themselves; not a logo as such but an iconic design symbolising their name. Therefore i tried to incorporate that into the artwork for the album. I also felt the design was more important than the words which is why i kept that relatively small, but clear enough to read; I have seen alot of covers like this before so there is some logic behind it. The bright, vibrant colours will make it stand out on a shelf and catch consumers eyes.

The back cover i have just made much more simple, but carrying on the same theme. A few of the arrows are scattered about the border over the same colour background. The track list is set at a slant so it fills out more of the back; without it, an annoyingly big gap is left in the middle. I have included the legal statements and barcode which is needed and a small rabbit in the corner which is actually the bands logo.

Overall i think it includes much of what represents the band, and its style mirrors that of the bands music. At this stage I am pleased with it.

Star Image - Slash

Star Image - Slash

Album Back Cover - First idea

This is my first idea for the back cover. I don't think I'm as happy with it as the front cover but it is definitely a good place to start. I think a few more arrows around the outside would look cool. I have everything that is required on the back of an album such as the bar code, the legal statement and the track listings and from what i have seen, most album back covers are fairly bland, probably because thats not what is seen on the shelf in a shop. I think I shall get some feedback from friends and teachers and see what they say about it and then make the adjustments.

Album Cover - first design

This is my first finished design for my album cover. I am generally quite pleased with it all in all. I really like the wacky arrow design which i created in Adobe Illustrator. However I'm not too sure whether or not I like the font or the font colour; with so many colours going on in the background it is hard to find a colour which stands out. But with a few more attempts I'm sure I'll find something I like.

Changes In The Music Industry.

Music has come a long way over the years and like most things in today's society, it is because of technology. Once upon a time, music was created by monks, or by African slaves whilst working. Now it's evolved into a business opportunity for big corporate businesses enabling them to create an idol for people like to look up to. How has this happened?

Well jumping forward a few years, the invention of the radio had a massive impact on the music industry and still does today. Some people actually say that the radio can make or breaks an artists career. With thousands of people tuned in to one radio station at once, one play of a track to these listeners can set the artist up for life. Venues, clubs, bars and opera houses still continued to make music but the sheer power of the radio meant that the most obscure bands could make a name for themselves; thus the radio should be credited for the massive array of genres we have today.

At the same time "record labels" started to appear; businesses offering artists money for their music, it was every musicians dream. Before long, the industry was dominated by "the big 6" EMI, CBS, BMG, PolyGram, WEA and MCA. After a few more years of merges and takeovers, it finally became "the big 4". At the same time, artist were setting up their own labels known as "indie" labels so that they could keep all of the royalties and their rights, despite the financial support from a major label.

Come the 21st century, sales of music in every format fell greatly. This was due to the invention of the internet. The internet allowed pirates to leak music and allow other people to download it for free. This meant the artist was getting nothing out of it and the record labels were losing money. However some artists realised that they could actually use this to their advantage. If people could easily download some of their tracks for free off of their website then their popularity would increase. For example "Arctic Monkeys" started by just giving the first few tracks away for free in order to build up a fan base for the release of the album which turned out to be the fastest selling début album of all time. Now days a lot of artists rely on money from live shows and merchandise the majority of the time.

Also now there is even relatively cheap recording hardware and software, allowing artists to release fairy decent sounding tracks from their own bedroom; this means big trouble for recording studios, record producers and audio engineers.

These constant changes in the music industry now allow consumers to find music of any genre and obtain it for next to nothing, or most of the time, nothing at all. However the producers of audio hardware and software are doing very well and this could open up new opportunities in the future.

Music videos analysis

This is the music video for Enter Shikari's "No Sleep Tonight" released in August 2010. The song is about how big business men are using oil companies to make money when actually the world has sufficient technology to carry on without it. Therefor they are just using them to make money when they causing a ridiculous amount of pollution. The band is questioning how these business men can sleep at night; hence the title "No Sleep Tonight". This is just my opinion but it is widely shared when the song uses lyrics such as "The sun and see could power us, no longer cowled in oil lust."

The video shows mostly the narrative of a big important oil baron who is being followed by the lead singer. By the end of the video, the whole band plus a lot of extras are outside the business mans house and keeping awake by shouting the chorus at him.

At the start we see the lead singer walking past the business man and he barges past to display his importance and lack of respect for other people. This sets up the characteristics of this character for the audience; the probably have taken a disliking to him already. It is this man that is going to be the main source of attraction through out the video.

A little while later during the first chorus, amongst the band playing live, there is a scene where the business man pushes his wife away because he is on the phone making "an important call". This shows he's extreme selfishness and his ignorance to what really matters. He would rather make an extra pound than have the love of his wife. Another example of his self centered ego is when he is working out in front of the mirror and smiles at himself.

The next message given through the video is when the man is walking down the corridor in his house. He has various canvas photos on his wall of disasters over the world caused by his actions. He looks at at them and smiles as if to say he is proud of what he has done; but the song is asking him how on earth can you sleep at night? He then turns round to see hundreds of people outside his house asking him the same question. It gradually turns him insane as he realises that he in fact isn't getting any sleep. The band are definitely having a go at big oil companies who only think about short term profit, and how they are basically paying scientists to speak out and say that climate change and global warming isn't really and it isn't happening and that we should just carry on as we are. Thus they wonder how these people sleep at night. Personally i agree with the band; it is behavior like that that has caused the current state of our planet.