Analysis of Album cover Art Work - Mrs Fisher

There are different connotations that can be picked up on throughout media techniques that are used within album cover artwork pieces. Some of these connotations include the body language of an artist, positioning as well as what the artist is wearing, along with facial expressions portraying what the artist is displaying to consumers. As well as this writing that is used on any album cover art work can determine what kind of genre the artist is based in. For example if an album cover shows 'curvy writing' then automatically it would lead consumers to associate that with a female artist. Having said that bold and simple text is usually used for male artists as it builds up an up front perception which many male artists like to portray. Colour also plays a big part in how the album cover will be perceived by consumers. The colours on an album cover need to reference or symbolise a link between the artist and the genre in which their music follows. For example Freddie McGregor, who is one of the artists I researched into while looking into the reggae genre. On one of his album covers the colours green, yellow and red are used. This symbolises Freddies heritage and what his music will reference as well as the type of genre his music is which is reggae. All of this needs to be taken into consideration when choosing the correct content for an album cover so it can be perceived correctly by the audience.

This may affect the audiences reading and understanding of the music and artist due to a misleading judgement being portrayed by the music industry on a particular artist. This may have an effect on record sales due to a false perception being shown about a certain artist that consumers can not relate to. This will then mean that consumers will feel cheated because they have bought a CD of their favourite artist, who was perceived to be someone else rather than who they really are. An example of an artist who may be perceived in this way could be Britney Spears. As she first started out she appealed to a wide target audience, this was because of her innocence and the link between herself and other young girls of her age who aspired to be like her. In conclusion to this as her image has increasingly gone in the opposite direction towards a good girl gone bad perception means that consumers have lost the link between her and her music in comparison with the amount she has changed over a short period of time.

There are a number of different conventions that can be identified from album cover artwork that the audience have been shown. Again from all the colours and the main image of the artist the audience are able to see what kind of image and representation can be made with a specific artist as well as what they represent. Conventions are defined as items that you would find likely to see somewhere and in this case it is what you are likely to see on the cover of an album. Different aspects such as text displaying the name of the artist as well as the album name are expected to be shown on the front cover. As well as this artists and their music organisations often choose to have the artist as the main focus on any album cover. However some album covers use images that relate to some of the referencing in the songs or about the artist to display that on their artwork, rather than having photographs taken of the actual artist/artists themselves. Moreover depending on the type of genre the artist supports will also determine what consumers have come to expect from artists and their artwork. As Shani is a reggae artist in my opinion it is important to display some aspects that show her heritage as well as what her music references.