Introduction to analysing album covers:

All music artists release albums for their fans to buy as merchandise and to establish credibility for the artist. Albums have different purposes for why they are released and all vary as they can be original, inventive, innovative, unique or conventional depending on what is sought.

The purposes of album covers are:

- To establish the credibility of the artist and the album itself

- To seek to attract the audiences attention through striking imagery

- They use codes and conventions to communicate with the audience

- To establish the identity of the artist

When I am analysing music album covers, I will identify if the album has the typical conventions that an album cover should have which is -

- There is a typical font that the audience can link to the artist

- There is the name of the album and the artist clearly positioned

- There is a central image on the cover, which is usually an image of the artist or an image that links to their message in the album.