What's going to happen to album art?

With music straying away from the disc format, it makes me wonder what's going to happen to all the great artwork of records and CDs (to a lesser extent). When I was a kid, my dad must have had hundreds of records. I used to spend hours just looking at the art and letting my imagination run free. Like his copy of "Tommy" which had a book that was filled with pictures of pinball machines in all these crazy places. Or the cover of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here," where two dudes are shaking hands in what looks like a movie studio and one of them is on fire. When I finally heard those albums years later, it made them that much more interesting.

I deal with CD art everyday at Revolve. I had to teach myself graphic design and learn the specifications of print and what needs to happen. I gladly do that to help people get it right. Things like low resolution art, wrong specifications, no bleed and bad formats are commonplace. Templates help but do not solve the problem. So I'm glad that I can help.

It seems like downloading music takes two things away. The first is the album concept. I can't name how many albums are best experienced as whole works. How can you get the message of albums like Frank Zappa's "We're Only in it For the Money," or Radiohead's "OK Computer" when you download pieces of it or listen to it as an incomplete piece or not in its intended running order. The second is the whole aesthetic piece of the album art. How many times have you rummaged through discs at the record store taking in the album art and wondering whats inside?

On the other hand, the digital age enables album art to no longer be limited to the constraints of paper. It can be anything. Putting it together with the music will be a task, but I can see that being a cool thing. I tell the artists that work with me that a way to save money is to minimize their printed art and have the full art in digital format on their web site or MySpace. Also, we can make them a CD-Extra master with the art as a file on the disc that they can download.

Its tough to replace the touch and feel of the album. You can't have EVERYTHING behind a screen. I hope my one month old will go through my albums and CDs one day with that same sense of wonder. It might be like going through antiques at a thrift store, but the joy should still be there.

Until next time.

-Zack

The state of the audio CD

I have often wondered about the "ghost towns" of the web. Abandoned web sites and blogs that were written and then deserted. This one almost became one of those. Back in November, I wrote a true story about Comcast and their cancellation fees. They were sending me to collections because I moved a total of 2 miles away and they could not provide service in that one small stretch of road. Anyway, they called a few days after I wrote that blog and said they were waiving the fee. I was supposed to get a letter confirming that. I still have not. As far as I know, they let me out of it.

If I had to give advice to fellow bootstrappers and those running startups, I'd say avoid contracts where you can. Especially in this economy.

So anyway, did I ever talk about what Revolve does? We duplicate and print CDs and DVDs and transfer video. revolve-cd.com We've done OK so far but the economy has not helped as of late.

As a business owner, I obviously need to be on top of changing technology. So, for the last year or so, I've been preparing for the fall of the audio CD. You keep hearing reports about CD sales going in the tank. I thought that it would be inevitable that I would have to change focus which is sort of a drag considering the whole reason I started doing this was to get to work with musicians and hear great music. So you can imagine my surprise as we recorded steady audio CD sales for Jan. and Feb. Then I saw this: Online Retailer Sees Growth in CD Sales.

Once I read this, it seemed to make sense. Of course CD sales are falling for the major labels who have all that overhead and charge $15-20 a CD. But its a winner for the independent artist who depends upon gigs to get heard. Having a CD to sell at shows or handout as a promo helps the independent artist get the music out there.

I think artists can keep their CD duplication costs down by keeping the runs at less than 500, printing minimal art and having their songs available also for download. They can still sell the CDs for as much as $10 with duplication costs often no more than $2-3 per disc with full color art. They can also have more extensive art in digital format that can be printed if the recipient desires. The artist does not have to assume this cost. Basically, use the old medium of the CD tied in with digital downloads to maximize old and new to be on the cutting edge.

My line of work is bridging old and new technology. The CD is getting old fast, but I don't think its dead yet. In 2012, we'll talk about this again. But with the CD still accounting for 80% of music sales, I think its safe to start thinking about funeral plans, but not necessarily filling the grave and leaving flowers.

Thanks for reading. Until next time (which I certainly hope is sooner)...

Zack