Album Poster analysis

Album Poster analysis

Album posters are ways that artists can promote both their new music but also create a brand identity. This advertising will make audiences wish to purchase the new album and provides them will all the relevant information to do so such as; the album name, the artist and its release date. 

Panic at the Disco!

There is very little difference between the album and the album poster, creating a continuity throughout the bands promotion of the album. The poster follows the conventions as it has "Available now" and the name of the album it is advertising, in this case it is "Too Weird To Live, To Rare To Die". The poster is in black and white other than the color of the rainbow smoke and the yellow of the release date. This makes it stand out so that an audience can easily recognize it and thus know when to but the product.  The black and white contradicts with the other colorful album posters they have had previously, this could suggest that this album has darker themes then the rest of their music and the bright smoke implies that there is some "color" in the album with happier songs. Another interpretation is that the rainbow relates to some of the LGBT songs within the album, such as girl/girls/boys in which he promotes the idea that "love is not a choice."

The bands front man is on the cover creating a brand identity as he is the most recognizable member. He is wearing a black suit that suggests that he is sophisticated this contradicts with the pop punk genre the band had perhaps suggesting that his music has become more sophisticated as there is a style change. 

The band name is in the top left hand corner in both the cover and the poster, this font is incorporated into one of their music videos showing how their style continues and creating a consistent identity. 

 

Jessie J

The focal point of the poster is a close up shot of the singer, the audience is drawn to her as she makes up a large percentage of the poster. She is looking directly into the camera suggesting confidence and power, her songs within the album relate to that theme. Her makeup is dark and quite unique which suggests that the artist and the album are quite rebellious. 

The poster is quite minimalistic for example, the background is just plain white in order to not draw any attention from the singer. The color scheme is gold and black, the gold used could symbolize wealth due to its connotations of riches and treasure. This could be used as a sense of irony when looking at the song "price tag" that is on the album as it is criticizing societies focus of wealth and obsession with money.  The dark colors she uses also subverts the conventional idea of a female pop singer, she shows how women can be different and thus makes her self into a role model and creates a star image, The name of the singer is also in bold gold as it stands out against the black clothing of the singer as well as being associated with hip hop music.

At the bottom of the poster there is her record and publishing companies logo, this gives credit to all of the people behind the album. The poster also contains the song that gained her recognition "price tag" as audiences will be able to identify this and be curious to listen to the rest of the album due to enjoying that song. 

Arctic Monkey's

For the release of their album "AM" Arctic monkey's released a simplistic and minimalist album poster. The black and white color scheme of the poster complies with the indie rock genre while also portraying the "retro" aesthetic the band typically convey, usually based around rock from the 1950's and 60's. 
They use one simple image of a soundwave, which has since become iconic in recognizing the band. The simplicity of this is what makes it effective as an audience can easily recognize and establish meaning to it. While also, contrasting with the dark black background enabling it to stand out and be visually pleasing for an audience.
There is informative text at the bottom of a poster showing the album name and release date, which is essential to promote the CD as the audience will know when it is available,