Creativity with Album Covers

Jason Landry, contributor

 

Chillhop Music, a lofi music label from Rotterdam, Netherlands think well in advance about their album cover designs. For the last few years, the music label issued an album each season with a colorful illustration on the cover. When you place the 2021 albums together like four giant puzzle pieces, they create an oversized illustration of a house. The final image was not known to the consumer until after the final one was released.

 

Cut to 2022 where Taylor Swift took it a step further. She released her album Midnights with four distinct covers and four different colored vinyl albums inside. When you place the four albums together, the back covers create an image of a clock. You were even able to buy the clock parts directly from her website to actually make it a working wall clock. Just what the Swifties needed, right?

 

In the case of the Chillhop albums, I find it to be a clever marketing concept. But regarding the Taylor Swift albums, for the most part, this is more of a cash grab. Many of the Swifties who purchase her physical albums may never even play them––they’re merely a collectable. In a time when vinyl is making a resurgence, and many of the vinyl pressing plants are backlogged with orders, this actually hurts the industry. Just take a look at the U.S. vinyl sales over the past few years to get an  idea:

41.7 million albums were sold in 2021

43.4 million in 2022

49.6 million in 2023

52 million in 2024.

 

Even though I do collect vinyl, I am not 100% fan of the reissued/remastered trend with multiple colored vinyl variants. Bands should just wait until there is an anniversary for each particular album and then maybe just do a black version and one colored variant. Doesn’t anyone agree?