June 05, 2009
500 Piece CD Duplication Special at Discmasters
This is a great deal for independent musicians, bands, etc. Discmasters has a 500 piece cd duplication deal that includes 500 full color discs packaged in color Propack sleeves, with a UPC barcode for just 99 cents each. That makes even an EP release a potential money maker, also an inexpensive way to spread a demo in professional packaging.
Posted by Rico | Permalink
May 21, 2009
Votable CD & Book Cover Design Gallery
CoverArts.com is a new site that lets visitors vote up cd and book cover designs. You can view covers by most recent additions or by highest rated. At least one new cover design is added every day. CD cover design has it's own unique design challenges - sometimes conceptual, other times it's creating a style for an artist photo or photos.
There is some excellent design work represented there. I check it out for inspiration (actually their rss feed sends me new covers as they are added). Each cover is tagged with genre or type, so you can search for just Rock or Hip/Hop covers with a simple click. Cool.
Posted by Rico | Permalink
April 28, 2009
The First CD Packages
Wilson Rothman published a neat article at Gizmodo about the ever shrinking packaging for music. I had almost forgotten the CD long box, the original packaging for compact discs. As he describes,
"They actually started shipping in long rectangular boxes, so they'd take up exactly 50% of the rack space of a vinyl album. I think this was on purpose, so record stores didn't have to retool their shelving. The upside was lots of surface area for cover art, and the early days of the CD were like a return of album art. These long skinny boxes had huge busts of Jim Morrison, huge prints of the famed Zeppelin explosion that launched a band into stardom. The boxes were also wrapped in easy-to-tear plastic, so getting into your CD, though it took a few steps, was pretty easy."
Continue reading "The First CD Packages"
Posted by Rico | Permalink
April 06, 2009
CD Cover Design Case Study
Ever wonder how a cd cover design comes together? Check out this case study from a talented young designer who blogs at a vector art site.
It's pretty cool, he breaks down the elements, showing the use of stock photos to create several variations on a Christian rock cover design.
Continue reading "CD Cover Design Case Study"
Posted by Rico | Permalink
April 02, 2009
Ghost in the Machine - Cassette Tape Art
Flickr member iri5 has found a cool way to recycle old cassette tapes, making portrait art of the magnetic tape.
His Flickr set includes portraits of Jim Morrison of The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Ian Curtis (of the now defunct Joy Division), Marilyn Monroe, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Robert Smith of The Cure and Ian Brown of Stone Roses. Great stuff!
The artist is working on Tom Waits and I saw a request for Frank Zappa. I would love to see that.
Continue reading "Ghost in the Machine - Cassette Tape Art"
Posted by Rico | Permalink
March 16, 2009
Bob Dylan "Together Through Life" Album Cover Art
Just unveiled, here is the album art for Bob Dylan's surprise release Together Through Life. He talks about the new release in this interview.
