Patricia Music Video Blog

• the main image is a large off centred image of artist with eyes closed, subtle make-up - creates a sense of calm and relaxation. She is wearing a dress of colourful feathers which is a reference to birds which can be seen as a symbol of freedom (especially in the US)

• Different shades of purple "mountains" in background, purple to white sky, clouds all adds to the calm feel of the album cover.
• Large "Broadway" font, white - "Alicia Keys"
• "the element of" purple font, different sizes, "element" is larger to show that it is the most important word.
• "freedom" purple, large, stylised calligraphy font.

For this music video project, I want to work with Catharrin.

The purpose of an album cover is to promote the album and sell the artist. It needs to have features that will appeal to the specific target audience and illustrate the genre but album covers usually have similar features:

• image of artist (depending on genre)
• artwork
• artist name
• album name

We had our presentations where we were able to listen to people's choices about their music and what music means to them. It was interesting to see where people's choices came from and the pleasures they associate with their music.

Most people listen to music on their own or with groups of friends and they consume the music in a variety of ways; ipod, internet, television, mobile phones.
The most common pleasures associated with music is emotion and there was a definate pattern in the choices of music; school trips, childhood memories, television, films, etc.

This exercise was relevant to our project because we were able to see how different music tastes are influenced and how music is usually consumed. It'll be really useful to use this information when deciding on our target audience.

1. What are the typical features that an album cover has?

• depending on the genre, they have an image of the artist.
• the artist name
• the album cover
• list of tracks on the back
• depending on the genre, imagery to do with the album
• name of album and artist on spine of album

2. How would you categorise the albums in front of you ? Are there any other ways of distinguishing between them other than generically?

By looking at the covers in front of me, it is quite easy to seperate them into different genres; R&B, hip-hop, soul, rock and pop. You can also tell which albums are more recent by looking at the imagery on the front cover; currently the style of albums has become darker and more edgy.

You can also tell the target audience of the albums; the "Girlicious" album is hot pink with large black font and the artists on the front which appeals to teenage girls. The "Linkin Park" and "Coldplay" album are targeted at the male audience who are fans of the bands. While Rihanna's "Rated R" album is aimed at audiences who like her new edgy persona.

3. Album covers serve many different functions. What do you think these are?

In my opinion, the main purpose of an album cover is to sell the artist's music; it must look appealing and attract the target audience. Most albums (especially the R&B albums) use the artist on the front cover to promote the music. Other genres use art on their front covers.