I googled the average album cover scale today, some sites said 4"by4" for the front and 4"by4.25" for the back cover. However one with a net that reoccured is that shown below. I plan to use this one as it seems more common, plus cms are easier for me to work with as I use the metric system. I'll be able to put these measurements into Photoshop or Word to set the appropriate dimensions to fit my album case.



Album Artwork Research: Taylor Swift

Oasis Album Artwork

Conventions

Oasis' first album - Definitely Maybe, adheres to many of the central conventions expected of album artwork.

• The band themselves are feature.
• The band name is positioned at the top left.
• The album's name is also situated at the top.

Codes

Every aspect of this album cover can be subconsciously decoded to reveal an insight into the personality and intentions of the band - this is evidence of a good album cover.

• Sanded down wooden floors, fire place, leather sofa, plants - all exposes sophistication and class. Serious band.
• Red wine glasses, BNH cigarettes and a lighter - in the foreground. These objects decoded suggest that the band do follow the band stereotype by drinking and smoking, however they go full out and do things properly. This reinforces the upper class tone to the album cover.
• There are however some more working class props merged in - framed photograph of a Manchester City player - this implies that Oasis originate from Manchester. They are proud of where they came from which is obvious from their feature in the artwork, and although the band are now situated in more upper class surroundings, they still remember their roots.
• The positioning of the artists - is also incredibly important. From this alone, the audience can tell that the man in the central foreground, the lead vocalist, Liam Gallegar, is the central focus of the band. He's lying on the floor. This could be to implant the impression that he is high on drugs, or that he is rebellious - a trend setter. He's lying on the floor simply because he can. He's the only band member not facing the television, suggesting that he's isolated himself from the group - a code for arrogance and originality. He is trying to be unique. The next most important to the band is Noel, the lead guitarist. He is sat up on the sofa, initially raising his status already and his body language is relaxed over a guitar. When decoded, the musicality focus of the band is highlighted and strengthened. The fact that Noel looks so relaxed and laid back implies that song writing comes naturally to him - exposing the high quality of their music. The other three band members are in the background. One is positioned slightly closer to the camera than the others, however he is sat lower down, whereas one is sat on a chair, the other standing up; equalising the three. It seems that these three are the least important and impressionable, in fact these artists did leave the band and become replaced which backs up the code.
• The fact that the band are watching television - enforces a sense of realism. They seem like a family, emitting personality and spirit; which is essential for a band to make it on a large scale. Their potential audience and fans need to be able to connect with the band in order for them to be successful.
• Globe - can be decoded as the band's intentions - world domination, they're 'aiming big', worldwide, not just a small thing. The simple placement of a globe raises their own profile. The featuring of the globe has become iconic to Oasis' album artwork.
• Font: Oasis - has also become iconic. The bold black and white font can be decoded as simple, bubbly, serious, down to earth, low budget, sophisticated - which is what Oasis wanted to be perceived to be. There aren't any capital letters used, implying equality.
• Font: Definitely Maybe - the scribed font reveals more of a personal touch and exaggerates the band's input to their music, they write their own lyrics for example.
• The ideology of the album artwork is trying to get across the idea that although the band members are doing well and are much more well-off than they were, they're still the same people. They don't want to lose their original Mancunian fanbase.

Conventions
Oasis' third album: Be here now, differs greatly to previous albums. Most of the conventions are in fact broken.

• The band name is featured to the top-right of the cover - as opposed to the left, showing that they're a little bit different. The font used had already become iconic by this point, so it didn't need to follow the conventions.
• There is no title on the cover. This implies that they're arrogant - too big now for a title. The title itself: Be Here Now, is imperitive; it's strong and demanding, overpowering, reinforcing the idea of arrogance.
• The band are once again featured however; following a convention of album covers. Thisis unlikely to be for the purpose of being conventional, but in fact for the pure fact that they want to be on the cover of their album: implying arrogance and self-obsession; which is more likely.

Codes

• There is a mansion towards the background, enforcing sophistication, and the dispersion of expensive items, eg. classic car, motorbike, moped - Vespa, Roles Royce, etc, suggests that they do in fact have more money than they can be sensible with. However, this isn't of course the preferred reading, the preferred reading would be that they are rebellious, unique individuals, and they have made it in the music industry successfully.
• There is a clock featured, though it has no hands. This portrays the idea that time no longer controls them. They're independent and manage their own time now: they're free - and the fact that they are outdoors with wide open green space and a blue sky, confirms that decoding freedom is correct. The clock may also be missing it's hand in a way that can be decoded as: time has stopped - it is their moment. This enforces their importance.
• There is a calender on the cover, displaying: August 21st - which is when the album was released. It's not neccessary, and unique. Oasis can do what they want now.
• The guitarist appears to be playing an extremely large key, once again reinforcing the idea that they are in control, in power, and of course unique.
• The greenhouse shows that they have much more money than ever before, they can spend it on really unneccessary modern items, but the abicus adds a touch of 'old school'. The director could have placed it there in order to keep the link between the band's original Mancunian fans and the band strengthened. The guitar, television and globe also add to the connection between the first album and the current one.
• The car in the pool presents their recklessness and rebellion - they don't care about or appreciate their money. They use it to pull big stunts, like this one, for publicity.
• The grammar phone subtley implies that Oasis want their fans to believe that they're going to be classics, like the grammar phone. They're going to go down in history.
• The telescope on the globe could be decoded as Oasis have to look through a telescope to see the rest of the world - they're so far above everyone else, they're 'out of this world'. All of this boosts their status just from people looking at the cover. The globe is also iconic to their album covers.

Album Cover Art Research

Cover Art Must:

• Establish the genre of music, the identity of the artists and credibility of the artist and the album itself.
• Involve striking imagery as a persuasive device to draw the targeted audience in, and strong codes and conventions in order to communicate with the audience.

Cover art can either be innovative or conventional depending on the genre involved.

Conventions of Cover Art

• Artist's name
• Album name
• Popular featured song tracks
• Artist/band
• Striking image
• Explicit sticker
• Barcode

Historical Context

• Prior to the 1950s album covers consisted of: landscapes, or serious images. The covers were functional rather than creative.
• During the 1950's Pop Art (-popular culture and high art) was introduced to album covers, originally by The Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, with Peter Blake as the artist.

Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Album Cover Art Analysis

Codes Decoded:
Flowers in the foreground - hippy, spirit- peace and love, drugs, nature, beauty.
Drum - reinforces seriousness of their musicality. Circus font and styling- fun, performance, entertainment, vibrant.
Costume - Performers, striking(note colours)- juxtaposes the military jackets- undermines. New, less serious than any previous cover album. Shocking.
Facial expressions - serious. Serious about their music.
Location - includes: palm tree, blue sky - happy, free, summer of love, hope, exotic, different - new. The iconic images of other artists are below the blue sky - they appear to be on the island - all in their own league.
The band - are central and in the foreground. They are infront of a large range of the biggest iconic singers ever recorded, placing their status before theirs - trying to subtley raise the audience's opinions of their popularity and status in the music league.

Nirvana - Nevermind

Codes Decoded:
Money on a hook - society taught to set out to achieve and recieve money from a young age - the baby is following the money blindly(can't see properly under water) - suggesting that society aren't seeing things clearly.
Water - can move any direction in water, nothing in sight to stop the baby/society but the baby still swims towards the money - follwing like sheep. Corrupting baby - Nirvana corrupting us? Revealing the truth?
Baby - new album, fresh, innocence, unique, undiscovered, under-developed - like Nirvana. New.
Money+Baby - Ideological album cover - juxtaposition - innocence and corrupt American(dollar bill) society. Materialistic, money-driven, political statement- serious band, unnatural.
Font - now iconic - black, bold, underlined, capitals - all make it striking. Simple - not superficial, sophisticated, serious(about their music). Tall font - proud. Same size - equality in society.

Rage Against the Machine

Codes Decoded:
Lingustics - Rage Against" - protest. "The Machine" - society - protest against society. Rebellious. (also tried (and succeeded) to take over Simon Cowell's almost guaranteed number one spot).
Context - Man coated himself in petrol and set himself on fire in a busy American street in protest to the Vietnamise war. Died. - If pragmatics are understood - instant impact. If not, the imagery does this anyway.
Colours - black, grey and white - newspaper print - serious, shock, impact, importance, realism.
Title - bold, cut-out-paper effect - again strengthening the newspaper code.
Self-titled band - serious about these specific issues.
Band doesn't feature - breaks convention. Not interested in the personal publicity, purely that of the cause. Serious artist. Serious on musicality.