Digi-Pack Research

Front covers of a bands album can have different purposes depending of the band and how known they are amoungst the public. The main difference is whether they want to promote the band or promote the music, because if you're promoting the band then there will most likely be pictures of the band themselves or something like a band logo on the cover so that people recognise them as they pass by in shops. To promote the music of a band then they often opt for a more abstract image on the front or something that matches the genre/tone of the music.

An example of this is Muse's last album 'The Resistance'. I would say that this album cover is souly promoting the music because they have this big colourful image taking up most of the cover, and then they're name 'Muse' fairly small in comparison in the top left. This image of all the different colours could represent the eclecticism of the album as it has many different music styles within it like Progressive rock, symphonic rock, space rock and a lot of clear opera influences which is something interesting and therefore needs to be promted.

On the other hand, a good example of an artist promting themselves is Rihanna and her new album 'Loud'. Rihanna is a perfect example of an artist who is promoted more by herself and her image rather than her music, and this can be seen in the album cover below. It is simply a picture of her filling the whole cover, with the name of the album written across the bottom, this is because when people walk past in the shops this will catch their attention as someone they are familar with and are therfore more likely to pick up the album and buy it.