![]() ![]() "Last year our business grew 38 percent," said Freiberg, who has shipped frames across the world.Ī good album cover features interesting images that fit the music they represent. ![]() Even though vinyl records are well past their prime, his business is booming. If it's really good, it might be displayed as art.įreiberg's business, Rock Art Picture Show, sells frames for vinyl records. If it's good enough, an album cover might at least get a consumer to pick up the album and look at its track listings. And more popular ones, like U2, are willing to experiment, knowing their records will still sell. Today, Cartwright said, an image-conscious performer might have the art department touch up a photo 12 times before giving it his or her final approval. "A guy like Woody Herman wouldn't know what to tell you," Steinweiss said. Previously, musicians had little or no input. And it was significant because it marked the beginning of performers taking more control over their cover art. The Beatles' 1967 classic -featuring cutouts of celebrities behind the brightly dressed band - is often cited as the best album cover of all time. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" would become the most influential ever, Freiberg said. But album art changed dramatically in the 1960s. In the early phases of album art, brightly colored and stylish jazz covers were considered the most creative. "So I designed things that would attract the average person." "People weren't conscious of records those days unless they were heavyweight music lovers," said Steinweiss, who created roughly 800 covers during his career. The first album featuring art - "Smash Song Hits by Rodgers and Hart" - was a huge success, paving the way for the future of music marketing. Steinweiss talked Columbia into allowing him to create cover art. "I thought, how can you sell music with no design on it?" "When I got there, I was horrified," said Steinweiss, 89, of Sarasota. When graphic artist Alex Steinweiss started working with Columbia Records at that time, 78 RPM records were wrapped in drab paper-bag-like covers with the title of the work printed in serif or gothic fonts. The worst - say, Poison's "Look What the Cat Dragged In" - are often indicative of the music.īefore 1939, album art didn't exist. Some of the best album covers - Led Zeppelin's "Houses of the Holy," for example - become almost as memorable as the bands they promote. "I've been in marketing meetings where we spent more time on the artwork than listening to the music," said Tom Cartwright, a former product manager with Capitol Records, who now runs RNB Entertainment Group. As a marketing tool, it helps grab the consumer's eye. From an artistic standpoint, the cover represents the performer who created the music. Whether the product was a vinyl record, cassette or a CD, much attention has been given to the artwork that decorates an album package. "There's a lot of history presented in album covers," said Freiberg, of Los Osos, who hopes to make posters of the mural to promote Vinyl Record Day in August. Gary Freiberg recently created a 30foot mural of album covers, showing how the artwork reflects changes in politics, race relations and - last but not least -hairstyles. ![]()
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