Art work for your album, what is killing it for us

[IB_Staff]

I like artwork on albums. Call me old School. I also like themes. So when we did our first album, "Space Elevator", we looked around, asked people, beg people and generally beat our heads trying to get someone to work with us.
We wound up paying Paul Whitehead, the guy who has done many album covers, a lot of cash to use one of his art works that was meant for another band, in this case Earth, Wind and Fire. It fits what we did music wise. Money well spent. BUT
Did we see a return in CD sales, downloads to make up for that cash spent? Nope. We get some nice thoughts, comments and such, those are very much appreciated here but kind words do not pay the rent, bills or put food on the table.

Talking to other Indies types, they either do it themselves, often not so good or not at all. Thinking about the downloads that sell more than CDs. They do in our case.

Then there is the cost of 4-color process, extra panels and other things you have to do to your cd to make it look right with artwork like this.

Artiest also started asking for pay up front, not even considering taking in a percent of the sales if any. Why? They have been stiffed by Indies due to cost and lack of sales afterwards. Many art types refuse to work with album artwork requests.

So what does all this mean?
Well if you don’t have a decent CD or something to display for your downloads, why would anyone want to even stop on the surfing to check you out? Decent artwork cost an arm and leg; especially well known types, why spend the case there? ARE CD sales really going to make you? Did you know, most of those around me, if they buy a CD, that means it was cheap, real cheap, they then rip the music off and toss the CD to the trashcan. Where is your artwork not? Odds are, they did not even buy that CD legit like either.
What is means is, you need to look at what others are doing in your styles. Forget the ego thing; keep it sealed in your wallet. Sure a nice CD is very cool but those who buy it, will they think the same? Will it help you sell your music?

Demos
You can print your own CDRs and send out to the radio, TV or what ever. Some do note that they will only take CDs. Examine that need before you go out there and make 1000’s of CD for mucho money. Most times, we find we can email our waves, allow the requestor a ftp site to get the album, place web links on a stand alone web page, then remove that page, change that password on FTP and so on, after they got the waves or mp3’s. Don’t get me started on quality, especially mp3s. They are not. Simple.
Printing a CDR, use the ink jet printable blanks, use a printer like the Epson R200 or similar. You can burn, print and shrink wrap each one in about a 5 mintue cycle. Good enough for a few to get out there and then see if you can sell any or not. Also gets you feed back faster.

What you should focus on if you can is just making the best music you can. Keep it very simple on the artwork unless you know you can break even or your ego needs that stoking. If you do sell more CDs than downloads, you should talk to someone about mastering. Mp3s, less so.

Does this mean disk master, oasys (my fav there) and others are worthless? Nope, not at all. If you got the sales, fans and demand, better use one of those to get the ob done. You need to get back to making music.

Dale

[julessparkles]

The artwork is an ivestment as such it may be incremental at later time for an estimated valuation of the band assets.Your catalogue may be constructed of all things pertaining to the band,artwork owned,logos,trademarks etc,its a longterm thing.And theres always those obscure collectors.

[manzanitafire]

It sucks that there are so many impediments to bands using art these days. For those of us who grew up with albums, art tied to music is an essential part of the experience. Who can forget the cover of Santana's Abraxas?

Also, it seems like great art might be an inducement for people to actually buy the CD, rather than just illegally copy n download, etc.