Album poster analysis

Album poster analysis

Album posters are an essential way for artists to not only promote their new album, but also a way to promote their image and style of an artist to try and create an identity that audiences enjoy. If the audience admire an identity of an artist, they're more inclined to buy and listen to the music. Money is the main motive for artist, so album posters provide a great way to influence audiences to spend their money.

Below are some examples of album covers from artist of various genres:

Michael Jackson

The album cover for Bad by Michael Jackson is very minimalist. The fame he already had when this album was released meant the cover could be minimalist because he doesn't really need to advertise and promote himself to encourage people to buy and listen to the album. The fans he already accumulated will be willing to buy the album despite lack of interesting advertising.  The use of black and red link to Jackson's recognisable image and colour scheme. Framed to the left of the centre, the album follows the rules of photography and Michael Jackson becomes the main focus of the album, again linking to his success.  

The font used for the name is minimalistic and capitalised, to highlight Jackson's importance. . "BAD" is write in a font similar to graffiti which links to the word because graffiti is bad, therefore a rebellious image of Jackson is created. 

Lana Del Ray

On the album for Born to die, a medium shot of the artist is shown centre of the album, to highlight her vintage style and look. Therefore, its suggested her music follows a similar style to her image and promotes vintage music.

By not wearing revealing clothing, the artist is showing her importance as a female artist rather than falling back on generic and typical sexualised images, to encourage advertising. This image of women is not often created in the music industry so Del Ray has shown her difference as a female artist and therefore can generate a higher audience for her music by encouraging those who like different styles of music to listen and buy her album.

The natural sunlight further enhances the vintage look of the artist, despite the album being released in 2012.  

Blue has connotations of relaxation and calmness, so the blue colour scheme implies the music is soft and relaxing for listeners.

The size of the artists name and image shows her importance and fame as a solo artist. Del Ray is shown to be more important than the actual album, so the emphasis is on her rather than her music. This suggests that people listen to and buy her music because they appreciate and admire her rather than appreciate individual songs.

Imagine Dragons

The album poster for Night Visons by Imagine Dragons uses an extreme long shot of a man who is framed in the centre of the poster. Perhaps the man represents isolation which links to the dark colour theme within the poster because a grey colour palette can also suggest loneliness. Of course, a grey colour theme also links to night and the fact the album is called 'Night visions'. Based on the fact the band creates a hybrid of a rock, indie and rap genre of music and this genre usually focuses on themes of darkness, links can be made between the album poster and the genre of music.

An almost futuristic font has been used for the band and album name. The futuristic font links to the modern style of music the band have. Furthermore, the typical target audience of the band is teenagers so a modern theme would be appropriate to engage with this audience.

Including the sentence "Debut album available everywhere 9/4", helps promote the album, which is obviously relevant because the intended purpose of an album poster is to engage with an audience. If the poster is successful in promoting an album, the band make more money as a result and money is the main motive for the majority of artists.

Having no image f band members on the front implies their achieved star power status means they don't need to promote their image to help encourage audiences to buy their music. perhaps high levels of fame already gained means that audiences find the band instantly recognisable.