Research; Album Covers

Album Cover; Discolights The Album, Ultrabeat















- This album cover does not follow the typical codes and conventions of a dance album, such as the ‘Darren Styles, Skydivin’’ album. Typical conventions such as a provocative female model are not used on the front of the album and the colour scheme used lacks the upbeat and bright approach that comes with dance music.

- The main colour scheme used within the framing are blues and white, which connote a subtle and calm environment, which is the complete opposite to dance music, which could portray this album cover has been created for the soul purpose of commercialisation and less related to what the genre of dance music is about.

- The copy within the album cover is positioned in the bottom half of the frame, below the artists’, and is spread across the how album cover. By having a large and capitalised title for the album, this links to the typical conventions of dance albums as the title copy tends to be very eye catching. By having the title of the artists’ slightly larger than the album name, it allows higher commercialisation as audiences would recognise artists’ names easier that album titles.

- The use of a fade colour from blue to white on the album copy of ‘ULTRABEAT’ portrays the feel of day to night, suggesting that the album suits any point within the day, or night. It also fits with the overall colour scheme of the album cover of the blue and white.

- The format of the album is very structured and set out very clearly to portray the main purpose of the album. This challenges the conventions of a dance album, such as ‘CLUBLAND’ as they create there album covers to look hectic and chaotic.

- The lighting used within the album cover linking into the typical codes and conventions of a dance album as they convey a nightclub scene, from the use of blue strobe lighting across the frame. The use of high key lighting upon the two artists’ faces allows the audience to clearly see the artists’ and possible recognise them, intriguing the audience towards the album.

- The facial expressions, gesture and movement of the artists’ on the front cover of the album challenge the stereotype of dance music. The man on the right conveys a bored and unexciting look across his face and this is reinforced by the leaning and resting his hand on his head, which is typically done when bored. This is the opposite to what dance music is all about which could confuse the audience on first glance of the genre of the music.

- The man positioned in the left of the frame looks intrigued but somewhat sarcastic as his expression seems over performed, therefore does not seem believable and genuine to the audience. However, the positioning of the two artists’ conforms to the rule of thirds and portrays to the audience that they are important and key with the creation of the album.

- The two artists’ are not hugely attractive either, which would not gain the audiences attention when viewing the album, therefore failing in this area and showing its ineffectiveness. There is not a clear view of the persuasive techniques used to sell this album, it seems more based on the audience recognising the artists’ and linking to their liking.

- This album portrays somewhat of a contradicting view towards the audience as they are trying to sell a dance album, yet there look do not fit the genre of music, which may confuse there target demographic, meaning in the loss of audience.