Picture Worth a Thousand Songs?

Source: By Bryan Borzykowski

Posted: 08/08/07 12:04PM

Filed Under: Music

When Aaron Katchen stopped buying compact discs four years ago, he was forced to abandon one of his favourite time killers—flipping through CD booklets. The London, England-based Rabbi used to spend hours with his Grateful Dead and Phish records, checking out band photos and delving into the lyrics. Now, when Katchen purchases albums from iTunes he's given a graphic of the cover art that he can stare at on his iPod. "I do miss the liner notes," he says, "but I don't own a CD player anymore."

Katchen's not the only one trading in his record collection for digital tracks. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the music industry made $2 billion on legal downloads last year, and that number will only grow. While that's good for business, the picture's less rosy for album art lovers.

"If you're looking at music en masse, artwork probably doesn't fit into people's listening equation," says Allan Mamaril, director of consumer products, retail at Puretracks.com. "For many, their listening devices may not even display artwork."

For older music fans who grew up on 'Dark Side of The Moon,' 'Sgt. Pepper's' or even Nirvana's 'Nevermind,' the prospect of a future with no album artwork is troubling. But the majority of music buyers "“ a.k.a. teenagers "“ aren't that bothered.

"People who download are predominantly of a younger generation," says Vincent Ho, a professor of popular music at the University of Alberta. "They don't want to spend $20 on a CD, and at that age, how many are interested in art at all?"

That's a question graphic designer Patrick Duffy has had to wrestle with. He's been creating CD booklets for 15 years and names such luminaries as Blue Rodeo, Paul Brandt and The Sadies among his many clients. So when downloading really took off, he was naturally concerned that business would suffer. "I was very alarmed," he says, "but the phone hasn't stopped ringing."

In fact, Duffy says he's busier than ever, with a dozen projects already completed this year. He explains that the upswing in business is due to indie musicians who haven't "received the memo that you're not supposed to release CDs anymore."

It's musicians like Arcade Fire that are keeping artwork alive. In the States, 92,000 copies of the band's last album, Neon Bible, were snapped up in its first week of release, proving there's still a viable market for physical records. Duffy thinks people still want to buy a tangible product, one that comes complete with photos, lyrics and notes. "People are still attached to artwork as part of the emotional experience of hearing music," he says.

But because of cost cutting or, more likely, to appeal to the lowest common denominator, major labels have all but forgotten how important cover art can be. When compact discs became the de facto way of getting music to the masses, artwork became an afterthought. "The label system has never been a fertile ground for creativity on the artwork side of things," says Duffy. "All they really like is a big picture of the artist smiling and happy with type as big as possible announcing who the record is by."

Gone are the days of psychedelic covers à la Yes, or the stoner-approved artwork that was synonymous with Pink Floyd. Now, a picture of Beyoncé in a tank top passes for great visuals. "I'm sorry to say, but when was the last time you heard anything about good album art?" wonders Ho, whose job is to study popular music. "I haven't seen anything with a great cover in the last 10 years."

With the mainstream record industry already diminishing artwork's relevance, by the time everything goes digital there's a good chance cover art could disappear altogether.

But labels still need a way to communicate that their artist has an album out, otherwise a new collection of songs becomes a series of random tracks. So what does the future hold? "More editorial shots," says Maramil. "An image of the White Stripes isn't necessarily what the cover of an album looks like. It could be all the press they've done for different magazines." So, instead of hearing The Beatles and remembering the Sgt. Pepper's cover, you'll think nude Blender cover photo when you hear an Avril Lavigne song.

That's not all. Multimedia will play an even larger role than it does now, as will product endorsements, TV show guest spots and pretty much anything else that will help showcase an artist. "The movement for the artist to become more of a brand has definitely increased," explains Maramil. "Artists will be able to utilize a wide array of media including videos, press kits, and interviews."

And it won't be solely up to the artist or their label to get that identifiable picture to fans. Puretracks has put band photos on their pre-paid cards and handed out post cards with Beyoncé's mug on it, all in the attempt to put forth a particular image to the consumer.

What's really at stake, though, isn't brilliant designs or thought-provoking photos, it's the pastime of throwing on a record, carefully removing the booklet from the jewel case (or vinyl LP sleeves for old-schoolers) and spending a half-hour reading about the producer, the songwriters, where the disc was made and even who the band thanked.

If music was just about the songs, would we have ever heard of George Martin, Van Dyke Parks or Steve Albini? And how successful would Pink Floyd have been if you couldn't get high and stare at that giant prism while "Breathe" played in the background? "What would the world be like without artwork?" wonders Patrick Duffy, appalled at even the thought of an artless future. "Hell, I would imagine."