Wajeeha Abbasi Disertation - Indus Valley School of Art

Transcription

Branding of Music:
The Future of Album Art in Pakistani Music
Industry
By
Wajeeha Abbasi
Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture
2012
Branding of Music:
The Future of Album Art in Pakistani Music Industry
By
Wajeeha Abbasi
This Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
BACHELOR OF COMMUNICATION DESIGN, from Indus Valley School of
Art and Architecture.
Internal Advisor
:
Mahroosh Ali
Gemma Sharpe
Arshad Farooqui
External Advisor
:
DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION DESIGN
INDUS VALLEY SCHOOL OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE
KARACHI PAKISTAN
2012
ABSTRACT
Album art is a medium of communication which connects the audience with the musician and
his or her music visually. By playing a significant role in both the packaging and advertising
of a record, album art functions as ‘branding’ of music. Internationally, we see an industry
dedicated to music design but in Pakistan, album art is not given its due importance because
of a number of factors which have been explored in this dissertation. There are three major
research strategies used: (i) a quantitative survey for the audience’s perspective (ii) interviews
conducted in person with musicians and designers (iii) Data collected from newspaper
articles, websites, archives, books, documentaries and other published material relevant to the
topic. The dissertation questions, what is the future of album art in Pakistani music industry?
It focuses on the importance of album art for the musician, the designer and its significance
for the audience and examines how it connects the three in the Pakistani music industry.
Further on it explores the illustration versus photography based cover debate and talks about
its potential in the future with the rise of internet.
Album art, if done properly, can prove to be effective in the popularity of the musician, better
sales and also contribute to the overall music listening experience.
This dissertation is dedicated to the Pakistani music industry which has provided hope,
positivity and entertainment to the people of Pakistan, even in the hardest of times.
I sincerely thank the advisors who helped me in making this research possible. I am grateful
to all the interviewees who took out time from their busy schedules and shared their
knowledge and experience with me. Lastly, I would like to thank my family and friends who
kept me motivated throughout.
CONTENTS
1. ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... (I)
2. ACKNOWLEGEMENTS .................................................................................... (II)
3. CONTENTS .................................................................................................(III) (IV)
4. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1
5. LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................ 6

Album Art .................................................................................................................. 6

History of Album Art ................................................................................................. 8

Illustration versus Photography based album cover art ............................................. 18

Physical versus Digital Album cover art .................................................................. 20
6. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ......................................................................... 25
7. FINDINGS ............................................................................................................. 29

The importance of album art for Pakistani audience (Qualitative survey).................. 29
8. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION .......................................................................... 33
9. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................... 44
10. APPENDICES ....................................................................................................... 47

Interview with John Louis Gumby Pinto .................................................................. 47

Interview with Fawad Afzal Khan ........................................................................... 55

Interview with Shallum Xavier ................................................................................ 61

Interview with Usman Riaz .................................................................................... 69

Interview with Shariq Chhapra ................................................................................ 75

Interview with Amna Majid ..................................................................................... 83

Pakistani Audiences Survey .................................................................................... 85
11. BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................. 88
INTRODUCTION
‘Album Art’ (commonly known as Album cover art) in music, refers to the visual stimuli of a
record that a musician puts forward to the public. It is packaging through which the audience
gets the first glimpse of what to expect from the record they are about to listen to. Like any
packaging, album art reflects the content inside the container, which usually displays the
visual based on the musician’s personality, the genre and his or her music. Traditionally, it
comprises of photography or illustration based artwork, acknowledgments and song list
whereas many musicians add other features such as song lyrics, illustrations and band photoshoots to make it more interesting. Album art, although not given much importance, plays its
part as a visual form of music.1 2
A great number of musicians creating new music need designers to establish the right image
and identity for themselves mainly through videos, posters, merchandise and the album art.
Album art decorates the package and works as a marketing tool and an artist’s expressions.
One can say that album art is ‘Branding of music’ for commercial use by using elements of
design which affects the sales of the record, making it an essential factor for musicians and
record labels. 3 4
1
Dave Haynes, Why Album Art still Matters (Personal blog article, 5th January 2010)
shttp://davehaynes.me/2010/01/why-album-art-still-matters/- Accessed 20th May 2012.
2
Teppo Hudson, Significance of Album cover art, Case Study: HIM (Dissertation paper by Teppo Hudson,
London Southbank University, April 2006) http://teppohudson.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/final.pdf –
Accessed on 24th May 2012.
3
London Southbank University, April 2006) http://teppohudson.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/final.pdf –
4
Dave Haynes, Why Album Art still Matters (Personal blog article, 5th January 2010)
shttp://davehaynes.me/2010/01/why-album-art-still-matters/- Accessed 20th May 2012.
Internationally, there is a significant market focusing on this design aspect with agencies
specifically doing music design and packaging.5 6 7 Freelance designers, photographers and
illustrators are hired to create the visual representation and packaging to promote the
musicians. Album art has certain hype even before the release of the record with musicians
putting forward designed merchandise for the enthusiastic fans. Designers are acknowledged
for their work in a many international music awards for best album art.8 Sometimes the album
art becomes a collector’s item for example The Beatles’ Stg. Pepper and the Lonely Hearts
Club Band (1967) and Michael Jackson’s Dangerous (1991)
9 10 11 12 13
Recently, Coldplay’s
Mylo Xyloto (2011) created hype because of its extra features with typeface, visuals and give
away items along with the album. 14 15 16
5
Unknown, Cover Stories (Computer Arts magazine, 9th January 2007)
http://www.computerarts.co.uk/features/cover-stories - Accessed on 21st October 2011.
6
Unknown, Design for Music (Computer Arts magazine, 18th October 2006)
http://www.computerarts.co.uk/features/design-music- Accessed on 21st October 2011.
7
Examples: ‘Big Active’ Design firm London (www.bigactive.com), Creative Allies website
(www.creativeallies.com) Red Designs (www.red-designs.co.uk).
8
Examples: NME awards, Best album artwork category (www.nme.com), Grammy awards, 54th category: Best
recording package (www.grammy.com).
9
Michael Jackson’s album Dangerous. http://www.michaeljackson.com/us/music/dangerous - Accessed: 21st
December 2011.
10
Michael Jackson’s album Dangerous, http://susanta.com/blog/meaning-of-the-michael-jacksons-dangerous-
album/ - Accessed: 21st Dec 2011.
11
Incubotic, Dangerous Album Review (Sputnik Music, 24th April 2006)
http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/6454/Michael-Jackson-Dangerous/ - Accessed on 21st May 2012.
12
News desk, Beatles sleeve is world's most valuable record cover (The Telegraph, 03 November 2011).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/the-beatles/8867469/Beatles-sleeve-is-worlds-most-valuable-recordcover.html- Accessed on 22nd May 2012.
13
The Rolling Stones Writers, Best Album artwork List (The Rolling Stones magazine, 14th November 1991).
http://rateyourmusic.com/list/fedderedder/rolling_stones_100_greatest_album_covers - Accessed 22 May 2012.
14
Customised artwork, Coldplay website: www.coldplay.com/mx.html. – Accessed on 12th February 2012.
15
Robbie Daw, Coldplay reveal Mylo Xyloto album cover, release date and next single (Idolator website, 12th
August 2011) http://idolator.com/5973982/colplay-xylo-myloto-album-cover-release-date - Accessed on 15th
May 2012.
In Pakistan, although we have a strong music industry, not enough importance is given to the
design aspect. The musicians spend a lot of time and energy creating original music so it
should be equally important to them that it is branded and packaged properly giving out the
right feel about the musician and his or her music. There are few artists who strive for it but it
is not given its due significance.
Album art, essentially a western concept17, came into the Pakistani music industry much later
with the rise of pop music in 1970s. Nusrat Fateh Ali and Noor Jahan did not have any
elaborate design but it started to develop when Alamgir18 19 20and Nazia and Zohaib Hassan
came into the industry.21 22 23 24 Vital Signs25 and Junoon26 further developed the visual
aspect of music with original videos and album art. It is generally believed by the people that
16
Kathy McCabe, Coldplay combine old school passion with new technology on Mylo Xyloto tour (The Herald
Sun, 24th May 2012) http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/music/coldplay-combines-old-schoolpassion-with-new-technology-on-latest-tour/story-e6frf9hf-1226365556305 - Accessed 24th May 2012.
17
Unknown, For the Record: the life and work of Alex Steinweiss (Princeton Architectural Press, October 2007)
http://www.alexsteinweiss.com/misc/AS_article_dwell.pdf -Accessed: 18th January 2012. 12:30 am.
18
Rafey Mahmood, Alamgir: Late Honours for a Legend (Express Tribune, 22nd March 2012)
http://tribune.com.pk/story/353650/alamgir-late-honours-for-a-legend/ -Accessed on 20th May 2012.
19
Alamgir’s official website: http://www.alamgirfanclub.com/id1.html- Accessed 20th May 2012
20
Ahmer Naqvi, Coming of Age: Pakistani Post Rock (Dawn News blog, 2nd October 2011)
http://blog.dawn.com/2011/02/10/the-coming-age-of-pakistani-%E2%80%98post-rock%E2%80%99/ Accessed on 25th May 2012.
21
Umar Cheema, Reminiscing Nazia (Jazba Magazine- Women of Pakistan, 2008)
http://www.jazbah.org/naziah1.php - Accessed on 19th May 2012.
22
Azeem Haider, A Spirited Beginning (Dawn News- Images section, 20th August 2006)
http://archives.dawn.com/weekly/images/archive/060820/images2.htm- Accessed on 12 May 2012.
23
News desk, Nazia Hassan: A Disco Queen remembered (The Express Tribune, 3rd April 2011)
http://tribune.com.pk/story/142199/nazia-hassan-a-disco-queen-remembered/ - Accessed 12th May 2012.
24
Abbas Hussain, Nazia Hassan, Our Disco Queen,(Express Tribune Blog, 12th August 2012)
http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/1054/nazia-hassan-our-disco-queen/- Accessed on 26th May 2012.
25
Vital Signs, (Pakistani Music website, 1996) http://www.pakistanimusic.com/artistes/vitalsigns.html -
Accessed on 20th November 2011.
26
Junoon (Junoon official website) http://www.junoon.com/band_print.html- Accessed on 12th November
2011.
the best period of album art is post 2000 when bands such as Noori, Entity Paradigm and
Aaroh took the music industry by storm.27 28 29 Nowadays, we see album art moving towards
digital media with the rise of internet culture.
This dissertation explores what is the future of album art in Pakistani music industry? It
focuses on the contribution of album art in the local mainstream music, its influence and
significance. Furthermore, it discovers the factors which are involved in decisions taken by
the musicians and designers, the audiences’ response to it and where it is headed. To narrow
down the scale of research on the topic, mainstream music was taken into account. In order to
understand this subject, interviews were conducted of musicians and designers who have
done album art. The music listeners were surveyed to understand the audiences’ perspective.
With the progress of internet, album art has also been affected which has been explored in
this dissertation and from all of this information, we try to understand the future of this
design aspect.
Being an avid music listener myself since childhood, I have been exposed to local and
international music. I have always been interested in the design aspect of it. Thus, this topic
holds personal importance to me. I wish to make my career in the same creative field and this
dissertation will help me understand if I am going in the right direction and help me to look
for possibilities in the Pakistani music industry. We have a well-established music industry
which has produced great musicians over the years be it folk, classic or mainstream music
thus, its visual aspect should also be equally interesting so that it is further expanded and
27
Naveed Masood, My Heroes: Jal, Noori, EP, Aaroh, Fuzon (The Express Tribune Blog, September 19, 2010)
http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/1412/my-heroes-jal-noori-ep-aaroh-fuzon/ -Accessed on 15th May 2012.
28
Unknown, Pakistani Rock bands that Rock the World (Desihits website, 7th August 2010)
http://www.desihits.com/news/view/pakistani-rock-bands-rock-the-world-20100808- Accessed on 15th May
2012.
29
Madeeha Syed, Where are they now? (Dawn Newspaper- ‘Images’ section, 6th May 2007)
http://archives.dawn.com/weekly/images/archive/070506/images5.htm - Accessed 15th May 2012.
recognised internationally. This dissertation will be a step to explore whether we have the
potential or not.
LITERATURE REVIEW
ALBUM ART
Music has always been an integral part of human beings. It has been hailed as a universal
language which influences one’s emotions and has defined cultures.
Greek Philosopher, Plato (428/427 – 348/347 BCE) said “Music is a moral law. It gives soul
to universe, wings to the mind, flight to imagination and charm and gaiety to life and to
everything”30
Musician, Michael Franti (1966- present) believed that “Music has the power to bring people
together like no other art form”31
While these are personal opinions which might differ from person to person depending of the
level of interest; one can agree that music is a language, understood by people of all cultures,
backgrounds and races. It does not have any limits or boundaries and is a proof of human
civilisation.
Musicians have always been trying to reach out to the audience in innovative and interesting
ways. Album art is one of them. Album art or album cover art, in simplest terms, is the
package design of a record that a musician puts forward to create communication with the
audience. Through this visual, the audience gets an idea of what to expect from the music in
the record. One can imagine it like the first ‘handshake’ when you meet a stranger.
30
Plato, Greek philosopher, thinker, Mathematician (428/427 – 348/347 BCE), quote:
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/p/plato109438.html- Accessed on 3rd May 2012.
31
Michael Franti, Musician, Poet and composer (1966- present) quote:
http://www.searchquotes.com/quotation/Music/69604/ -Accessed on 28th November 2011.
In ‘Demise of Album Art’, Bill Walsh says that the purpose of album art is “all about
merchandising, all about catching your eye in the record store, all about using 144 square
inches to get your attention, whet your appetite, get you to buy”.32 One can agree with the
writer as he supports his argument with examples of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and
Beejees’ album covers, which serve as advertisements and are considered collectors’ item. He
also calls album art, a "marriage" of art and music. This is a valid point since the artwork
reflects the music within the record and the two art forms together, provide the listener with
an experience which is much more than just audio or visual.
The article ‘Design for Music’ in Computer Arts Magazine states that everyone can easily
recall the ‘extra ordinary experience’ of buying their first album, “both aurally as well as
visually including the design, the sleeve notes, the band’s visual identity/logo, the
photography, the typography.”33 This is an interesting observation but one can argue that this
can be true for people who are passionate about music whereas others who take music as
leisure might not feel the same and some might be completely unconcerned. Another factor
that might be considered is that mostly people who are on the creative side share this view.
The role of album art has evolved over the years. Now it is not just about a pretty visual that
makes one want to pick up a record off a music store shelf. It is now an insight to what the
artist has to say and thus is the ‘branding of music’.34 One agrees with the writer of the article
32
Bill Walsh, The Demise of Album Cover Art (Media Literacy Review. University of Oregan, 12th August
2005)
http://jcp.proscenia.net/publications/articles_mlr/walsh/demise.html - Accessed on 15th January 2012.
http://interact.uoregon.edu/MediaLit/mlr/readings/articles/demise.html- Accessed on 15th January 2012.
33
Unknown, Design for Music (Computer Arts Magazine, 18th October 2006)
http://www.computerarts.co.uk/features/design-music - Accessed on 18th October 2011.
34
London Southbank University, April 2006) http://teppohudson.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/final.pdf) –
in the Computer Arts Magazine that album art is “Design that brings music to life visually” as
it is a visual representation of the audio in the record which the musician and the record
company strives for.35
Teppo Hudson, Student of London South Bank University, in his dissertation ‘Significance of
Album Cover Art as a Branding Tool- Case Study: HIM’ points out through research that
album art plays a role in “emotionally or artistically” engaging the audience.36One can agree
with Hudson’s point as sometimes along with music, album art is also perceived as an art
piece, a devotion to the musician and a souvenir as seen in the case of The Beatles37 and
Michael Jackson’s covers.38
HISTORY OF ALBUM ART
To understand the importance of album art, one must first understand its basic uses. Ian Inglis
in his article ‘Nothing You Can See That Isn’t Shown’ states three basic functions.39 The first
function is to protect the recording it contains which became a requirement after the
introduction of cardboard cases. Secondly, they serve as an advertisement for the record to
maintain the consumer’s attention. The third and an important factor is that it reflects the
35
36
37
Ian Inglis, Nothing You Can See That Isn't Shown: The Album Covers of the Beatles (Popular Music, Vol. 20,
No. 1, pp. 83-97, Cambridge University, January 2001) http://www.jstor.org/stable/853696. -Accessed on 23rd
September 2011, 03:45 pm.
38 38
Incubotic, Dangerous Album Review (Sputnik Music, 24th April 2006)
http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/6454/Michael-Jackson-Dangerous/ - Accessed on 21st May 2012
39
No. 1, pp. 83-97, Cambridge University, January 2001) http://www.jstor.org/stable/853696. -Accessed on 23rd
music it contains, advertises the musician, expands the musical experience and as a result
becomes a collector’s item. These three factors raised by the writer are true along with other
aspects, thus one can say that the album cover is an essential tool for music records.
Album art started as an advertising requirement for musicians and
to create “a lure in the consumers”40. Alex Steinweiss (19172011), the pioneer of album art, designed his first album in 1938,
before which the records were handed out in brown paper bags,
Figure 1: Rodgers and Hart show
tunes – designed by
Alex Steinweiss
and were sold in the ‘white goods’ section of shops alongside
refrigerators, radios and phonographs.41 This makes one realise the
role of album art in increasing the importance of music. According to the Steinweiss’s
website “The simple idea revolutionised the record business.”42 One can agree to this point as
we now see a culture on music design that has also increased the market value of music.
Steinweiss’s first covers include Rodgers and Hart show tunes 43 (Figure 1), Gershwin’s
Rhapsody in Blues and Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps.44
Inglis in his article ‘Nothing You Can See That Isn’t Shown’ discusses the history of album
art in detail, starting with the now considered “relic of the past” 78 rmp vinyl records, which
were replaced by cassettes to be played on tape recorders that further on developed into 5x5
inch CDs. The writer’s historical reference although valid does not involve anything about
40
Unknown. Steinweiss. (Alex Steinweiss website, 2007). http://www.alexsteinweiss.com/ -Accessed on 12th
January 2012, 6:23 pm.
41
http://www.alexsteinweiss.com/misc/AS_article_dwell.pdf -Accessed on 18th Jan 2012. 12:30 am.
42
Unknown. Steinweiss. (Alex Steinweiss website, 2007). http://www.alexsteinweiss.com/ -Accessed on 12th
January 2012, 6:23 pm.
43
‘Rodger and Hart Show Tunes’ 1st designed album cover by Alex Steinweiss- 1938.
http://www.alexsteinweiss.com/misc/AS_article_dwell.pdf -Accessed on 18th January 2012. 12:30 am.
44
http://www.alexsteinweiss.com/misc/AS_article_dwell.pdf -Accessed on 18th January 2012. 12:30 am.
Steinweiss’s contribution, which shows lack of research on the writer’s part, but it does
confirm that music design and its medium has evolved with time, indicating that album art
will also continue in the future in some other medium or form. As the physical medium of
music developed, the visuals also evolved alongside with different techniques, giving room to
artists to introduce innovative ideas to this art form.
One of the most famous album covers is The Beatles’ Sgt
Pepper and The Lonely Hearts Club Band (Figure 2).45 46 This
cover brought a lot of fame; not only to The Beatles but also to
designer Peter Blake. One can say that it was a defining moment
for this art form. It has won awards because of its music as well
Figure 2: Sgt Pepper and The Lonely
Hearts Club Band – The Beatles
as its visual aesthetics. Inglis states that this was the peak of The
Beatles’ album art as it broke all the norms of album art before
it.47 This album cover, as the writer quotes from Schaffner 1977 is “imaginative, colourful
and intriguing making it an iconic symbol in the musicology now”.48 While one can agree
that over time it has developed into an icon, one should also consider that the author himself
is a fan of The Beatles and such opinions might vary as many believe The Beatles’ Abbey
Road cover to be the most iconic.
45
No. 1, pp. 83-97, Cambridge University, January 2001) http://www.jstor.org/stable/853696. -Accessed on 23
46
News desk, Beatles sleeve is world's most valuable record cover (The Telegraph, 03 Nov 2011).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/the-beatles/8867469/Beatles-sleeve-is-worlds-most-valuable-recordcover.html- Accessed on 22 May 2012.
47
48
Alan Benson, Documentary: The making of Sgt Pepper (The South Bank Show, 1992)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRr37NxL5qc - Accessed on 12th November 2011.
After Sgt Pepper and The Lonely Hearts Club Band cover, album art took off as an industry
with many famous musicians striving to define their music through design. The Album art as
a physical copy became an essential tool in musicians’ promotion, musical experience for the
listeners and with time became a collector’s item.49
The plastic cassettes, after three decades, were replaced by CDs which have been replaced by
Mp3 format with the rise of internet as stated in the article ‘Why Don’t people buy CDs in
Pakistan.’50 With the increasing popularity of iTunes, Album art has also taken a new role
with musicians establishing their visual identity through it along with other sources.
Recently, British band Coldplay’s Mylo Xyloto 51 (Figure 3) received
positive response from critics and fans for its album art.52 Designed
by the agency Tappin Gofton53 and conceptually based on the street
graffiti, with the use of vibrant colour and exuberant copy, It has a
variety of features such as customised typeface, butterfly, pop up
Figure3: Mylo Xyloto- Coldplay
addition books; give away posters and promotional merchandise.
49
50
Unknown, Why Don’t people buy CDs in Pakistan- Part ii (Kool Muzone website, 22nd April 2010)
http://www.koolmuzone.pk/2010/04/why-people-dont-buy-cds-in-pakistan-part-ii/ -Accessed on 19th April
2012.
51
Robbie Daw, Coldplay reveal Mylo Xyloto album cover, release date and next single (Idolator website, 12th
August 2011) http://idolator.com/5973982/colplay-xylo-myloto-album-cover-release-date - Accessed on 15th
May 2012.
52
Coldplay’s album ‘Mylo Xyloto’ –http://www.coldplay.com/ -Accessed on 27th November 2011.
53
Tappin Gofton Agency- www.tappingofton.com - Accessed on 28th November 2011.
Icelandic musician Bjork’s Biophilia, (Figure 4) done in
collaboration with Apple Mackintosh is the first app album that has
completely embraced the new media and technology and has
redefined the role of album art in today’s world. 54 The album
revolves around the working of celestial bodies with animation,
Figure 4: Biophilia- Bjork
games and interactive programming to provide the listener with a
greater experience. This album has been well received by the critics and fans and has been
nominated for awards for its superb execution. As Crave Online says “Biophilia is simply a
phenomenal album”55 5657 Not many artists have taken this route but Bjork’s brilliant attempt
at it points that there is a future of album art even in this digital world.
Worldwide, we see a lot of importance given to the visual part of design which includes
videos, posters, backdrops, photoshoots and album art. This is now a prestigious industry
with many great designers making their mark58and countless websites archiving this art form
for music enthusiasts.59 Many international music awards have a category for album art
design where they are appreciated for their efforts.
54
Bjork’s album ‘Biophilia’ -www.bjork.com/ -Accessed on 14th January 2012.
55
Ian Robinson, Review: Bjork - Biophilia (Crave Online website, 28th September 2011)
http://www.craveonline.com/music/reviews/175176-review-bjork-biophilia - Accessed on 14th February 2012.
56
Mike Diver, Bjork Biophilia Review (BBC Music, 10th October 2011)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/5zq4 - Accessed on 14th January 2012.
57
Unknown, BBC: Björk's "Biophilia" Is an "Amazing, Inventive and Wholly Unique Album from an Artist
Without Peer" (Nonesuch records website, 30th September 2011) http://www.nonesuch.com/journal/bbc-bjorkbiophilia-amazing-inventive-wholly-unique-album-artist-without-peer-2011-09-30 - Accessed on 14th January
2012.
58
59
Examples: Websites on album art: http://albumart.org/ , http://iartwork.net/, www.sleevage.com/,
www.booooooom.com/, designersmusic.com/, http://famousalbumcovers.blogspot.com/
Music designer, Ed Templeton believes that “it is the nearest a designer gets to the rock 'n'
roll lifestyle.”60 Templeton’s statement is valid as there is still glamour attached to this design
field which attracts young designers interested in music and is a good approach to get some
recognition in a design career.
In Pakistan, we have a strong music industry with a heritage of great classic and folk music
which has contributed in the world music61 but the visual aspect of music has been lagging
behind.62 As suggested by the writer Shaikh Aziz in his article for Inpage-Dawn News
‘Heritage: An encyclopaedia of music’ efforts need to be made to preserve the “musical
heritage along with recording the intricacies our music heritage possesses”63 Aziz makes a
genuine point but one should also consider the current situation in the country with not much
progress and investment in the music field, such preservations need to be funded and properly
systemised. Many such attempts have been made in the past but unfortunately, due to lack of
resources or other issues, such projects have not been completed.
There is no authentic source to prove it but it is widely believed by the local music followers
that the visual design in Pakistani music started off with the video of Ahmed Rushdie’s Ko
Ko Korina 64, followed by musicians like Alamgir65, regarded as the pioneer of pop music in
60
61
Rafaya Sufi, A Musical History of Pakistan (Asia Society blog- 12th October 2010)
http://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/musical-history-pakistan - Accessed on 26th May 2012.
62
Examples: Websites on Pakistani music: www.Pakimusic.com, www.pakistanimusic.com,
www.cokestudio.com
63
Shaikh Aziz, Heritage: an encyclopaedia of music (Inpage- Dawn News, 27th November 2011)
http://www.dawn.com/2011/11/20/heritage-an-encyclopaedia-of-music.html.- Accessed on 29th November
2011.
64
News desk, Remembering a Legend: Ahmed Rushdie (Dawn News- 11th April 2012)
http://dawn.com/2012/04/11/remembering-a-legend-ahmed-rushdi/- Accessed on 23 April 2012.
65
Pakistan. Nazia Hassan and Zohaib Hassan66 followed bringing the western influence into
their music and visuals.67 As mentioned before album art is a western concept that was
adopted by our musicians in the 70s with the rise of pop68 culture and music in the country
with the increased demand of music albums.69
It is believed that the first designed album
covers were Nazia Hassan’s Disco Deewane
(1981) (Figure 5)70 71 72 73 and Alamgir’s Hum
Sab Ka Pakistan. (Figure 6) 74 75 Both the
Figure 5: Disco Deewane Nazia Hassan
66
Figure 6: Hum Sub Ka
Pakistan- Alamgir
albums were instant hits, making the musicians
67
Azeem Haider, A Spirited Beginning (Dawn News- Images section, 20th August 2006)
http://archives.dawn.com/weekly/images/archive/060820/images2.htm - Accessed on 12 May 2012.
68
Alastair Sooke, Sarah Aspinall , BBC Modern Masters (BBC 1, May 2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc1RYPfgb8Y- Accessed on 15th April 2012.
69
Ahmer Naqvi, Coming of Age: Pakistani post rock (Dawn News blog, 2nd October 2011)
70
Nazia Hassan album ‘Disco Deewanay’ http://jang.com.pk/thenews/mar2008-weekly/nos-09-03-
2008/instep/downlaodthisweek.html -Accessed on 20th November 2011.
71
72
News desk, Nazia Hassan: A Disco Queen remembered (The Express Tribune, 3rd April 2011)
http://tribune.com.pk/story/142199/nazia-hassan-a-disco-queen-remembered/ - Accessed 12th May 2012.
73
Ahmed Haseeb, Life of Nazia Hassan (Waqt News Report- October 2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZLU3ctEvN4 – Accessed on 12th May 2012.
74
Alamgir’s official website: http://www.alamgirfanclub.com/id1.html
75
stars overnight. Nazia Hassan’s album cover was photo based whereas Alamgir’s album
cover was illustrated with both following the pillars of design established by the modern
design movements. 76
As artists like Junoon77 and Vital Signs78 entered the music industry, the album art started to
develop. Strings, Awaaz, Sajjad Ali, Amir Zaki and Hadiqa Kiyani came into the industry
with mostly photo based album covers.79 The designs were not elaborate but were headed in
the right direction.
Vital Signs’80 third Album Aitabar (1993)
(Figure 7) appears to be the first properly
illustrated album cover in Pakistan,
displaying the four members in a cubistic
painterly style, which one can argue, is
Figure 7: Aitebar – Vital Signs
Figure 8: Daur e Junoon- Junoon
inspired by The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s
Night cover 81. One can say that Junoon, ‘the U2 of Pakistan’ as rightly dubbed by The New
York Times82 83, has contributed the most to album art with more than twelve albums to their
76
Philip B Meggs- Alston W. Purvis , Megg’s History of Graphic Design -fourth edition (John Wiley & Sons,
Inc. Hoboken, New Jersey -2006) -Accessed 15th January 2012.
77
2011.
78
Vital Signs (Pakistani Music website) http://www.pakistanimusic.com/artistes/vitalsigns.html - Accessed on
20th November 2011.
79
Saim Sadiq, Rohail Salman, 80s Artists: where are they now? (Express Tribune Sunday Magazine feature,
13th November 2011) http://tribune.com.pk/story/289133/80s-artists-where-are-they-now/ -Accessed on 23rd
May 2012.
80
Vital Signs (Pakistani Music website) http://www.pakistanimusic.com/artistes/vitalsigns.html - Accessed on
20th November 2011.
81
Beatles’ third studio album, released in 1964. www.thebeatles.com – Accessed on 23rd September 2011.
credit, designed by various designers, revolving around different concepts giving depth to the
Pakistani album art.84 (Figure 8) In our industry, it is safe to say that post 2000 album art is
the best period with privatisation of media; music channels came up promoting musicians
from all over the country. 8586 87
Strings released their album Duur (Figure 9) in 2000 which became
an instant hit all over the country.88 89 90Along with its impressive pop
and alternative music, the design aspect was also given importance
which helped in the promotion of the band.91
Figure 9: Duur - Strings
82
Jon Pareles, Pop and Jazz guide (New York Times, 29th June 2001)
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/29/movies/pop-and-jazz-guide-014834.html?pagewanted=3 - Accessed on
12th November 2011.
83
2011.
84
2011.
85
Dr. Rafat Siddiqi, The Third generation takes over: 2003: The year in music (Dawn News, Images section,
28th December 2003) http://archives.dawn.com/weekly/images/archive/031228/images7.htm -Accessed on 20th
May 2012.
86
Madeeha Syed, Where are they now? (Dawn News Images section 6th May 2007)
http://archives.dawn.com/weekly/images/archive/070506/images5.htm - Accessed on 21st May 2012.
87
Ahmer Naqvi, Coming of Age: Pakistani post rock (Dawn News blog, 2nd October 2011)
88
Strings (Strings’ website, 2008) http://stringsonline.net/bio/- Accessed on 23rd Nov 2011.
89
Rohail Khan, Koi Anay Wala Hai (Dawn Young World magazine, 26th June 2008)
http://archives.dawn.com/weekly/yworld/archive/080726/yworld18.htm - Accessed on 26th May 2012.
90
Azeem Haider, Stringing their way to success (Dawn Young world magazine, 15th November 2003)
http://archives.dawn.com/weekly/yworld/archive/031115/yworld7.htm - Accessed on 26th May 2012.
91
Qasim Abdullah Moini, The Strumming Strings (Dawn News Images section, 21st September 2003)
http://archives.dawn.com/weekly/images/archive/030921/images1.htm - Accessed on 26th May 2012.
Young rock bands, Noori and Entity Paradigm
(EP) came out with their albums in 2003 Suno Kai
Mein Hoon Jawan 92 (Figure 10) and Irtiqa 93
(Figure 11) respectively. While Noori’s album art
Figure 10: Suno Kai Mein
Hoon Jawan - Noori
Figure 11: Irtiqa –
Entity Paradigm
was photo based, EP opted for an illustrated cover.
Both the albums were greatly appreciated by critics and fans for not only its music but also
the visuals. 94 95 96
Internationally known Atif Aslam and Ali Zafar,
both known for their powerful vocals, have
released a number of photo based albums
displaying the singers on the cover.97 (Figure 12)
Figure 12: Jal Pari –
Atif Aslam
Figure 13: Huqa Pani –
Ali Zafar
(Figure 13) Both these artists are heard by the
masses and have huge fan following all over the country.98
It is evident that our music industry has mostly photo based covers which can be due to the
factor of face association and visual culture of our people. This debate has been explored
92
Noori (Noori’s website) http://nooriworld.net/band/ -Accessed 23rd November 2011.
93
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Entity-Paradigm-EP/8689081165 -Accessed 28th November 2011.
94
Dr. Rafat Siddiqi, The Third generation takes over: 2003: The year in music (Dawn News, Images section,
28th December 2003) http://archives.dawn.com/weekly/images/archive/031228/images7.htm - Accessed on
20th May 2012.
95
Madeeha Syed, Where are they now? (Dawn News Images section 6th May 2007)
http://archives.dawn.com/weekly/images/archive/070506/images5.htm - Accessed on 21st May 2012.
96
Madeeha Syed, Soundcheck: Music in the Naughties: A turbulent soundtrack (Dawn News, 10th January
2010)http://archives.dawn.com/archives/46080 -Accessed on 20th May 2012.
97
Entity Paradigm, (Entity Paradigm Facebook) page: http://www.aadeez.com/biography.asp -Accessed 28th
November 2011.
98
Maheen Sabeeh, Is the Internet the future of music in Pakistan? (The News -Instep, 8th November 2009)
http://www.koolmuzone.pk/2009/11/is-the-internet-the-future-of-music-in-pakistan/ - Accessed on 26th May
2012.
further in the primary research. Illustration based covers can be seen in Ali Azmat’s Social
Circus, Shehzad Roy’s Kismat Apne Haat Mein and Bilal Khan’s Bachana cover etc.
The history of Pakistani music shows that album art has at least some importance in this part
of the world as well. While we do not see it discussed a lot by critics, musicians or audience,
it has been there and has developed with time which makes one question about its importance
as a medium of communication in Pakistan and its future, the answer to be which have been
explored later in this paper.
ILLUSTRATION VERSUS PHOTOGRAPHY BASED ALBUM COVERS
Album cover has seen its development in two directions with some artists choosing album
covers with imaginative ideas in illustrated form; others go for photo based covers often
featuring the musicians.99 Some consider putting up pictures on the cover as a method of selfpromotion and face association for the audience; others do not take it positively and believe
that this should be pushed further than just pretty pictures. This argument is further discussed
in detail in the latter part of the dissertation.
Many musicians have combined the two
mediums to make it more interesting such as
The Beatles’ cover of Revolver (Figure 14) and
String’s Koi Aanay Wala Hai (Figure 15).
Figure 14: RevolverThe Beatles
Figure 15: Koi Aanay Wala
Hai - Strings
In the article ‘Nothing You Can See That Isn’t Shown’ Ian Inglis says that the cover of With
the Beatles influenced a number of bands “to mimic the unsmiling half-lit pose adopted by
99
Callum Chapman , Common styles Used in Album artwork ( Webdesigner Depot website ,March 2011)
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/02/common-design-styles-used-in-album-artwork/. –Accessed on 15th
January 2012.
the group.”100 This suggests that face association has played a role in making The Beatles the
icons they are now which also works in favour of other musicians.
Kristin Gailliard of Graduate College of Bowling Green, State University USA, in her Thesis
paper ‘The Relationship of a Performer’s Visual Communication to Evaluations of Music
Performance Quality’ states that the musician’s level of communication can either make the
audience connect or completely lose their interest.101 She further says that in order to convey
the meaning of a song, vocalists will also use “facial expressions and body movements,”
along with the singing. She states that the physical attractiveness of the musician also plays a
key role in the audience’s level of interest. One can agree with Gailliard’s idea that face
association, attractiveness, photo shoots do work in favour of the musicians. However, one
also must consider that just a photo based cover even though workable, has some limitations
whereas illustrative covers give the artists more room to put forward a complex thought or
idea. Graphic designer Ashley Ringrose correctly points out in his article ‘35 Beautiful Music
Album Covers’ for Smashing Magazine that
album art can be extremely creative and
expressive and can convey the message in a
number of creative ways.102 One can agree
Figure 16: Under The Iron
Sea- Keane
100
Figure 17: Peeli Patti aur Raja
Jani ki Gol Dunya- Noori
with Ringrose as seen in the examples Keane’s
101
Kristin Gailliard , The Relationship of a Performer’s Visual Communication to Evaluations of Music
Performance Quality by Experts and Novice Judges (Thesis paper 2006- Graduate College of Bowling Green
State University) -Accessed on 13th January 2012.
102
Ashley Ringrose, 35 Beautiful Music Album Covers (Smashing Magazine- Design, 3rd August 2008)
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/08/03/35-beautiful-music-album-covers/.-Accessed on 14th January
2012
Under the Iron Sea (Figure 16) and Noori’s Peeli Patti aur Raja Jani ki Gol Dunya. (Figure
17)
PHYSICAL VERSUS DIGITAL ALBUM COVER ART
21st April is regarded as the ‘Record Store Day’ when the musician, record labels, designers
and music listeners come together to cherish the record stores which have played a vital role
in the distribution of music and promotion of album art for years. Musicians and listeners put
forward their views regarding the experience of record stores and how it contributes to the
overall music experience. 103
One can relate to Keane’s Tim Rice Oxley observation, from his interview for MTV News
that as the world moves towards digital format, it is easier to download music but it has taken
away from the sonic experience as one does not “lose” one’s self in the music.104 Musician
Freddie Cowan105 argues that if you illegally download music, you do not value it.106 Nathan
Followill feels that record stores cherished the physical format of music and it is “always
better to get the artwork too.”107 One can see that the replacement of record stores has
drastically affected the way distribution of music and album art have been received.
103
Record Stores day (Record Stores Day website) http://www.recordstoreday.com/CustomPage/614 - Accessed
on 10th April 2012.
104
Gavin Cullen, Tim Rice Oxley is Keane on Record Store Day (MTV News interview, 18th April 2012)
http://www.mtv.co.uk/news/keane/353445-tim-rice-oxley-record-store-day-strangeland - Accessed on 18th April
2012.
105
Freddie Cowan, Guitarist of the Indie bad The Vaccines- www.thevaccines.co.uk.
106
Unknown, Why RSD Matters, Freddie Cowan- The Vaccines (NME magazine April issue, April 2012) -
Accessed on 12th March 2012
107
Unknown, Nathan Followill on Record Store Days (Record Stores Days website)
http://www.recordstoreday.com/Quotes?type=Artist- Accessed on 12th March 2012.
In article ‘Design for Music’ in Computer Arts Magazine, designer Anthony Burrill says that
“It’s a shame, but I think the golden era of record sleeve design is over”108. In ‘Rock ArtR.I.P?’ for The Independent, Sir Peter Blake, who designed the Beatles’ iconic cover,
expresses his concern that "It survived from the LP to the CD, but... if that becomes obsolete
then I guess album art won't exist. I think it would be a big loss.”109 We can observe that
music listeners want to collect these items and hold on to them but digital format has taken
away from this experience, which has been put forward in the article ‘Rock Art- R.I.P?’ that
there was something much more special about the physical copy. It argues that there was an
experience in that one foot square piece and the cover was important as it contributed to the
joy of owning an LP.110 Steinweiss, in ‘The Life and Work of Alex Steinweiss’, states that
the CD format for music has taken away from the album art, as “you cannot design anything
for a little CD booklet. You can hardly see it.”111
Bill Walsh, in his article ‘The Demise of Album Cover Art’ explains that due to
technological advancements the size of the album art has reduced with barely any space for a
“breath-taking or unusual artwork.” 112 He elaborates that music and art will continue to
108
109
Paul Bignell, John Sunyer, Rock Art…R.I.P (The Independent- Arts and entertainment, 17 Aug 2008)
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/rock-art-rip-899779.html -Accessed on 26th
November 2011.
110
Paul Bignell, John Sunyer, Rock Art…R.I.P (The Independent- Arts and entertainment, 17 Aug 2008)
November 2011.
111
Unknown, For the Record: the life and work of Alex Steinweiss (Princeton Architectural Press, October
2007) http://www.alexsteinweiss.com/misc/AS_article_dwell.pdf -Accessed on 18th January 2012. 12:30 am.
112
2005)
http://jcp.proscenia.net/publications/articles_mlr/walsh/demise.html
develop separately and it might team up again in the future for “another intensely creative
(and mutually beneficial) collaboration.” These various opinions on the decline of album art,
although interesting, are not fully valid and one cannot agree with them because firstly, one
can argue that art and music will see progress in their own forms, but visual part of music and
especially album art has never faded away. Its importance might have shifted but the two
mediums are very much still connected. Secondly, technological advancements have given
new possibilities to experiment with when it comes to design as we have seen in the case of
Mylo Xyloto113, Biophilia,114 and Strangeland.115 Ed Templeton points out that we have now
new mediums to explore as a creative platform and “as music formats continue to expand, so
do the associated graphics.”116 This is a valid point raised by Templeton as new designers are
experimenting with making music design virtually interactive and with popularity of iTunes
and Mp3 formats, the physical copy of album art is getting replaced by on screen formats
with 3D animated booklets, videos and interactive material to promote the albums. Thus, one
can say that album art has transitioned from one medium to another but has not faded away
and as its role changes, the designer also needs to find more innovative ways to brand and
package music.
In investigating the future of album art in Pakistan, while we do not see album art discussed a
lot which appears to be in an initial stage, one can see a great potential for its growth with the
new music coming out.117. Aamer Ahmed Khan on BBC News reports that “Pakistan has risen
113
Coldplay’s album Mylo Xyloto –http://www.coldplay.com/ -Accessed on 27th November 2011.
114
Bjork’s album Biophilia -www.bjork.com/ -Accessed on 14th January 2012.
115
Keane’s album Strangeland- www.keanemusic.com -Accessed on 7th May 2012.
116
117
Nadir Siddiqui, Salman Haqqi, The 10 best Pakistani pop songs of 2011 (Dawn News- Entertainment section,
30th December 2011) http://dawn.com/2011/12/30/the-10-best-pakistani-pop-songs-of-2011/ - Accessed on
20th May 2012.
over the last twenty five years to become a global hub of audio and video piracy.”118 The
article ‘Piracy destroyed film, music industry’ in Pakistan Today also reports that piracy
issues have adversely affected the entertainment industry resulting in disappearance of record
companies and stores in Pakistan. 119 120 Akbar Yazdani points out in his interview for InstepThe News that the Pakistanis “think music is for free. Music is not for free; it costs a lot of
money.”121 Even though efforts have been initiated by Fire Records and FIA, for a “prompt
action against the crimes related to intellectual property”122, many argue that it is good for
distribution of music in the masses and popularity of the musicians in a country where people
cannot afford to spend on entertainment.123 124 While one agrees that it is helping in
promotion of music, it is causing loss to the industry and demotivating musicians, resulting in
mediocrity as pointed out by producer Rohail Hyatt in his interview in Aurora magazine.125
We also see that with the rise of music channels, the musicians and the audience have moved
118
Aamer Ahmed Khan, Pakistan- copyright piracy hub (BBC News website, 3rd May 2005)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4495679.stm - Accessed on 27th may 2012.
119
Unknown, Why Don’t people buy CDs in Pakistan- Part ii (Kool Muzone website, 22nd April 2010)
http://www.koolmuzone.pk/2010/04/why-people-dont-buy-cds-in-pakistan-part-ii/ - Accessed on 19th April
2012.
120
Zakaria Agha, Piracy: What stands between Pakistani music and greatness (Express Tribune blog, 5th June
2011) http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/6244/piracy-what-stands-between-pakistani-music-and-greatness/ Accessed on 6th May 2012.
121
Madeeha Sabeeh, Instep Interview: Dr Akbar Yazdani (The News- Instep, 24th May 2008)
http://maheensabeeh.wordpress.com/2009/05/24/instep-interview-dr-akbar-yazdani/- Accessed on 26th May
2012.
122
Staff Report, Piracy destroyed film, music industry (Pakistan Today- 17th August 2011)
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2011/08/17/city/islamabad/%E2%80%98piracy-destroyed-film-musicindustry%E2%80%99/- Accessed on 26th May 2012.
123
Aamer Ahmed Khan, Pakistan- Copyright piracy hub (BBC News website, 3rd May 2005)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4495679.stm - Accessed on 27th May 2012.
124
Maheen Sabeeh, Is the Internet the future of music in Pakistan? (The News -Instep, 8th November 2009)
http://www.koolmuzone.pk/2009/11/is-the-internet-the-future-of-music-in-pakistan/ - Accessed on 26th May
2012.
125
Jahanzeb Haque, Life, the universe and Rohail Hyatt (Aurora magazine, September-October 2009)
http://jhaque.wordpress.com/2009/09/12/life-the-universe-and-rohail-hyatt/- Accessed on 26th May 2012.
towards television, resulting in the shift of music design to mainly music videos which makes
it even harder for the audience to access the physical copy.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
___________________________________________________________________________
To explore the dissertation question of what is the future of album art and its significance for
the musicians, designers and music listeners in Pakistan, a number of strategies were used to
provide a thorough research on the topic. The focus of the research was mainly on
mainstream music album covers to narrow down the topic. Both Primary and Secondary
research techniques were applied.
For primary research, interviews were conducted with main stream and upcoming Pakistani
musicians and graphic designers who have done album art and music design. The interviews
were semi-structured, where all the musicians were asked the same set of questions but they
were given a chance to further talk about a point which they felt strongly about as it gave me
the opportunity to explore my topic in depth. Another set of questions focusing on the design
aspect were presented to the designers. All the interviews were conducted in person except
designer Amna Majid who was interviewed through email. This method was chosen because
of the difference in localities as the interviewee resides in Islamabad.
The first person to be interviewed was the upcoming musician, Usman Riaz who released his
self-illustrated and designed EP Flashes and Sparks in 2011 which was greatly appreciated
by music listeners and is in the process of releasing his LP Circus in the Sky which is also
designed by him. Riaz’s point of view is relevant for my dissertation, as being a
communication design student himself, he has a good understanding on both, design and
music which provided interesting arguments and a direction in my research.
The main stream Pakistani musicians interviewed were from bands that are also making
headlines in other parts of the world. John Louis Gumby Pinto (commonly known as Gumby)
is regarded as the ‘best drummer in Pakistan’ and is a member of the band Noori. Gumby’s
interview gave me an insight into a musician’s world, how a band functions in Pakistan and
the problems faced by them. He talked in detail about musician’s take on album art and its
importance for self-promotion. Gumby’s points of view were his personal opinions and thus
could be biased at certain points. His interview helped in understanding the musician’s
perspective.
Shallum Xavier, the guitarist of the mainstream pop band Fuzon was interviewed to gain
knowledge on musician’s perspective on the Pakistani audience. Fuzon is greatly heard by the
masses as Xavier pointed out, who discussed the struggle a musician faces in order to cater a
largely uneducated audience. His take on album art was also influenced by his opinion of the
audience. Xavier put forward a number of interesting issues that make our audience different
from the rest of the world. Xavier’s interview was a different take on the Pakistani industry
and audience which enhanced the parameters to my research.
The fourth musician interviewed was Fawad Afzal Khan, the lead singer of Entity Paradigm.
Khan talked about the relationship of music and album art, the quality and aesthetics of music
produced here and the future of the Pakistani music industry. His interview provided
knowledge about the standard of our industry and the dynamics of my research topic.
To understand the designer’s point of view, graphic designers Amna Majid and Shariq
Chhapra were interviewed. Both of the designers have done music design for famous
musicians in the industry. Their take on the topic gave depth to my research as they talked
about old and new album art, the issues faced by the designers when it comes to designing for
the local audience and the future of this art form. Efforts were made to keep the interviews
unbiased but as music is a subjective topic, certain issues came up where the musicians stated
their personal opinions such as liking or disliking a certain genre or design style, the
audience’s perspective and the way industry functions. Another issue that needs to be
addressed is that a female musician’s point of view could not be taken because of
unavailability and time constrains which might have affected the research.
To understand the Pakistani audience’ perspective, a quantitative survey was conducted on
the importance of album art. The questions were specifically designed for Pakistani audience
which was disturbed amongst the audience through social networks like Gmail, Twitter and
Facebook as well as printed copies were distributed amongst people. More than three
hundred responses were gathered. The survey was not gender biased and the age group varied
from 15 to 50. A number of points came up through the survey about what kind of work our
audience appreciates, which helped in understanding the two sides of the picture. There were
some limitations faced in the survey; such as most of the people who answered were literate
and due to the western exposure, the audience compared the local industry with international
standards. These points might have affected the result.
Even though the topic of music is extensively written about, material specifically focused on
album art is rare. By employing these methods for primary research, I tried to acquire as
much information as possible, as limited material on the local music design was available.
Method of secondary research was also used to understand the history of album art, the
relationship between music and design, international perspective, the effect of internet and
piracy. Articles from magazines, books and newspapers were used to form a complete
analysis. Journal articles such as Ian Inglis ‘Nothing You Can See That Isn’t Shown: The
album art of Beatles’ and ‘The Life and Work of Alex Steinweiss’, articles such as ‘The
Demise of Album Art’ by Bill Walsh, Design for Music, ‘Heritage: an encyclopaedia of
music’ by Sheikh Aziz and ‘Rock Art R.I.P’ from reputed local and international newspapers
were incorporated. Internet sources through website and blogs such as Computer Arts
website, local music archives, musician’s official websites and other relevant website such as
Coke Studio, Pakistani music and Web designer depot were explored. Two thesis paper
written in 2006 were also incorporated in the research (i) Written by Kristin Gaillard, a
student of Graduate College of Bowling Green State University on ‘The Relationship of a
Performer’s Visual Communication to Evaluations of Music Performance Quality by Experts
and Novice Judges’ and (ii) Written by Teppo Hudson, a student of London South Bank
University on the ‘Significance of Album Cover Art as a Branding Tool- Case Study: HIM’.
Documentaries such as ‘The making of the Sgt Pepper- The South Bank Show’ and ‘BBC
Modern Masters’ and Television news reports were also taken as reference which helped in
providing facts and a number of other sources for research. All the material used was made
sure to be authentic but due to limitation of information available about Pakistani album art, a
few things were taken into account from personal blogs, some were considered on the basis
of general believe of our audience and personal opinions such as the first designed Pakistani
album art and the musician’s fan base. These limitations might have affected my research.
FINDINGS- SURVEY
THE IMPORTANCE OF ALBUM ART FOR PAKISTANI AUDIENCE
Total Responses: 316
1. Are you an enthusiastic music listener?
a.
Yes
b.
Not really
c.
No
2. Where do you get your music from?
a. Buy albums from the music store
b. Download from iTunes/ Torrent/ Musician’s
Official website
c. Listen online (YouTube/ MySpace)
d. Download from free websites (and download from
YouTube using the downloader)
e. Other
3. When buying/ downloading/ listening online does it
matter to you if it has the album cover/art with the
music file?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Not always
4. What do you look for when you pick up an album? (Other than the music of course)
* Most common answers presented in the bar graph
5. Are you curious what the musician you are
listening to looks like?
a. Yes- I like to know them by their faces
b. No- it’s the music that matters more
c. Not really- I don’t really care
6. Is it okay, for you, if you see an artist’s photo-shoot picture on the cover or do
you prefer any other thing on the cover like illustrations/ other kinds of
photography?
a. Yes- I don’t mind looking at them on the cover
b. No- I hate it. I want to see something else
c. Not really- it doesn’t really matter.
d. Other
7. Which one do you prefer?
a. Physical/Analogue copy- I like to hold it in my
hands and engage with the inlay card, back and
cover
b. Digital Copy- I like all music and related stuff on
the screen.
c. It doesn’t matter to me
d. Other
8. A Pakistani album cover that you really like and remember in particular:
* Most common answers presented in the bar graph. (Other includes Vital Signs,
Nazia Hassan, Atif Aslam, Alamgir etc.)
9. Have you ever tried finding the meaning behind
the artwork of an album? Have you ever
thought about it?
a. Yes- All the time
b. No- Never
c. At times- Not always
10. Do you collect album art?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Sometimes if I like a certain band/ cover
11. What do you think of Pakistani album art
* Most common answers presented in the bar graph
12. Do you think Album art is dying? Do you think
album art needs to be preserved?
a. Yes- It is dying and should be preserved
b. No- It is still there
c. No- I don’t think it is important
d. Maybe- I don’t know
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
Album art is an important tool of communication that is not merely the packaging of a record
but also an insight, a visual representation and advertising tool for a musician. As John Louis
Gumby Pinto126, the member of Pakistani band Noori127, pointed out in his interview “Album
art and music go together like Tom and Jerry128”. He elaborated that album art is the visual
expression of what musicians have tried to depict in the lyrics. Shallum Xavier129, the
guitarist of the pop band Fuzon,130 in his interview correctly states that it is important because
it “reflects the mind-set of the musician” and gives an idea about the music. One can see from
the musicians’ perspective, while it does not necessarily have to be an exact representation, it
can be a general idea or theme; it is one aspect that should not be ignored. For musicians, it
not only represents their music but also represents their personality and caters to their image
in the media. One can agree with Usman Riaz131, an upcoming musician who is set to release
his album Circus in the Sky, who points out that it is a ‘small insight’ to the music and the
artist’s world. Bill Walsh, in the article ‘The Demise of Album Art’132 calls it “a marriage”
between two art forms. For designers, designing album art is providing a visual life to the
audio. It is about interpreting the sonic form into a visual form and thus translation of a
creative idea from one medium to the other. While the musicians and designers strongly
126
John Louis Gumby Pinto, Drummer of the rock band Noori, interviewed in person - 16th December 2011,
2:30 pm, at Uth Records Studio.
127
Noori, One of the most famous rock bands of Pakistan, www.nooriworld.net.
128
Tom and Jerry, Classic Animated cartoons since 1940s.
129
Shallum Xavier, Guitarist of the classical rock band Fuzon, interviewed in person - 16th December 2011, 6:30
pm, at Xavier’s home studio.
130
Fuzon, Pakistani classical rock band, www.facebook.com/Fuzon.Official.
131
Usman Riaz, solo musician and design student at IVSAA, interviewed in person - 11th November 2011,
11:30 am, at IVSAA campus.
132
2005).
believe that album art counts a great deal and holds an important part in the representation of
music, according to the quantitative survey133 conducted for the Pakistani audiences’
perspective, even though 76% of the people were enthusiastic music listeners, only 27% were
of the view that album art is necessary while acquiring music whereas 37% consider it as an
added benefit. These stats show that to some of the music enthusiasts, it matters that the
album cover is attractively done as they appreciate the extra step taken by the artist to
represent the music visually but for most of the people who take music as leisure, album art is
an added bonus. This can be due to the lack of exposure of our audience to the idea of album
art, as it is a western concept or it can be because as time has progressed, people generally
come across music through different mediums such as television and internet rather than
buying albums from stores. This is also expressed by graphic designer Amna Majid134 in her
interview, that album art was imperative in the past but now with technological progress, the
artists have to take different routes to engage people. Nowadays, people mostly come across
music through music videos on either YouTube or music channels such as Indus Music135,
Aag136, The Musik137 and Play TV138, which have made music videos more important than the
album art. 139 As Gumby points out, a musician conceives music when he sees something
inspiring and a designer imagines a visual when he hears something inspiring, and by this
process, the album art becomes a collaboration which adds a third dimension to the
experience. The musicians themselves prefer elaborate album art but they believe that in
Pakistan, importance is not given to this aspect because of various reasons. According to
133
Quantitative survey conducted from January 2012 to May 2012 about the importance of album art for the
Pakistani audience (qualitative data analysis in Findings chapter).
134
Amna Majid, Graphic Designer who has done album art, interviewed via email, 23rd March 2012.
135
Indus Music (later on converted to MTV), Indus group channel for the youth of Pakistan. www.indus.tv.
136
Aag, Geo TV’s channel for the youth of Pakistan. www.aag.tv.
137
The Musik, ARY group channel for the music listeners and youth of Pakistan. www.arymusic.tv
138
Play, Aaj group channel for the music listeners and youth of Pakistan. www.playtv.com.pk.
139
Amna Majid, Graphic Designer who has done album art, interviewed via email, 23rd March 2012.
Fawad Afzal Khan140 the lead singer of Entity Paradigm141 “it is something that is least on
priority.” He believes that our music is mostly radio based mainstream pop music that is
preferred by the masses and “lacks the element of introspection”. According to Shallum
Xavier, the majority of our audience is illiterate and does not have a sound aesthetic sense.
He believes that it is really hard to cater an audience like Pakistan, as it is divided into
various categories. Xavier appears judgmental that our audience is inferior when it comes to
aesthetics, which he tries to clear by the example of Ali Zafar142 who is heard by masses and
how he feels it is important for him to have a head shot on the cover for face association for a
relatively uneducated population. He further says that the censorship and lack of appreciation
of art and creativity in Pakistan results in mediocre art and design. Xavier thinks that the
musicians should not be blamed for the lack of good album art whereas on the other hand,
Fawad Khan believes that it is, to some extent, the shortcoming of the artists as these are the
mediums through which one can make an impression on others. One can agree with Khan’s
point of view that music and art are the medium through which one inspires others and our
music needs to develop and educate the masses so that it opens up new thoughts and
perceptions.
According to Pakistani graphic designer Shariq Chhapra143, “most of the work that we see is
eye candy which lacks a proper thought and concept”. He is of the opinion that most of the
album art done in Pakistan tries to glamorise the image of the musicians who have made it
140
Fawad Afzal Khan. Lead singer of Entity Paradigm, rock band in Pakistan, interviewed in person - 27th
January 2012, 11:30 am at IVSAA campus .
141
Entity Paradigm (commonly known as EP), one of the most famous rock bands in Pakistan,
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Entity-Paradigm-EP/8689081165.
142
Ali Zafar, solo pop singer, model, painter and actor, well known amongst the masses of Pakistan.
www.alizafar.net.
143
Shariq Chhapra, Respected graphic designer who has done album art, faculty at IVSAA, interviewed in
person - 13th January 2012, 11:30 pm at IVSAA campus.
big not only because of their voices but by their looks which seem to work with Pakistani
audience. Gumby agrees to the idea of “eye candy” album art and says that it is either
because of the lack of creative people in our industry or that those who are in this field, over
charge. He gave a number of examples, explaining how our musicians have limited finances
and resources to work with. He believes that to overcome such obstacles, Noori did their
visuals themselves which is closer to what they wanted to portray as a band and is
conceptually strong. According to the audience survey, Noori’s album art is one of the most
memorable one which suggests that good concept and design does make a difference.
There are a great number of obstacles for artists when it comes to a largely uneducated
audience but one can say that with a bit of effort and creativity, the audience can be opened
up to new ideas and thoughts. It is the “lack of exposure to good design that results in this
mediocrity” as also pointed out by Gumby, who thinks that criticism takes place all over the
world if you put out something, which helps in growth of the artists. Usman Riaz also pointed
out in his interview that he was told that not producing the mainstream music will damage his
chances in this industry but he believes that it is the duty of the artists to expose the audience
to new and intelligent concepts. If we look at the audiences’ responses in the survey
conducted, we can see that music holds the most importance for picking up an album but a
majority of the people also like appreciate the visuals on the cover, the graphics and the
concept presented. We also see in the survey that mostly people from creative background
give equal importance to the visual as the sonic quality, as they are tuned to observe the
visuals. We can observe that almost all of them remember a particular Pakistani album cover
that they liked, the most popular being Ali Azmat’ Social Circus144 and Noori’s Suno Kai
Mein Hoon Jawan145, Entity Paradigm’s Irtiqa 146 which shows that even if people do not
144
Album by Ali Azmat, designed by Shariq Chhapra, released in 2008.
145
Album by Noori, designed by Mandanna Zaidi, released in 2003.
consciously think about it, there is an interaction at the subconscious level which affects the
decision of liking or disliking a particular album. This phenomenon was also pointed out by
Kristin Gailliard, of Graduate College of Bowling Green, State University USA, in her Thesis
paper ‘The Relationship of a Performer’s Visual Communication to Evaluations of Music
Performance Quality’147 where she says that the level of communication through visuals
creates the audiences’ interest or makes them unresponsive. Teppo Hudson in his dissertation
‘Significance of Album Cover Art as a Branding Tool- Case Study: HIM’148 also argues that
album art plays a part in emotionally engaging the audience. From this one can say that the
quality of the album art holds some importance for attention grabbing and retention and acts
as an advertising agent and brands the music.
The audience’s survey shows that most people see the existing Pakistani album covers as
‘unimaginative’ and lacking good concepts. As a music listener points out “They still haven’t
pulled away from the typical photoshoots, photoshopped cover” whereas some believe that
once in a while, good work comes up that grabs the attention of the audience. People believe
that there was a time when it was improving, referring back to post 2000 album art when the
entertainment industry was flourishing. But the industry has not progressed much for the past
few years, due to the socio political conditions of the country and not many musicians have
taken the risk of releasing their albums.149 150 151This shows that there is interest from the
146
Album by Entity Paradigm released in released on 2003.
147
Kristin Gailliard , The Relationship of a Performer’s Visual Communication to Evaluations of Music
Performance Quality by Experts and Novice Judges (Thesis paper 2006- Graduate College of Bowling Green
State University)- Accessed on 13th January 2012.
148
149
Shallum Xavier, Guitarist of the classical rock band Fuzon, interviewed in person - 16th December 2011, 6:30
pm, at Xavier’s home studio.
audience, who would like to see some creativity and originality in this art form. We can see
in the survey that 17% of people make an effort to find out the meaning behind the visuals on
the album cover whereas 66% sometimes make the effort if they are interested in a particular
artist which suggests that there is an inclination towards the appreciation of album art in our
country. Xavier puts forward his personal opinion that there is criticism in everything in our
country and no one really appreciates art and music that are not religiously accepted whereas
Gumby says that whenever you make anything public, there is going to be criticism and the
artist can learn and explore other possibilities from it. The survey also supports this point as
we see that the audience appreciates original and quality work and criticises if it is not up to
the mark.
To understand the question, ‘what is the future of album art in Pakistani music industry’, one
needs to understand the debate concerning the photoshoot pictures versus the illustrated
visuals. While many believe that album art needs to be more conceptual, we see a great
number of musicians putting headshots on the covers of the albums. It is an instinctive need
of face association in human beings which is also pointed out in the Kristin Gailliard’s thesis
paper as seen in other situations in life too. According to one music listener, “there is a
tendency for the singer to plaster his/her boothi (face) on it.” Xavier believes face association
works especially in Pakistan where the population is largely illiterate. Gumby also supports
this and agrees that face association is important by arguing that people prefer watching
videos on YouTube or television over listening to music on radio as we live in a visual world
where people look for sources which gives them more information. The face association
150
Madeeha Syed, Brought to life online (Sound Check, Images section, Dawn News, 15th January 2012)-
Accessed on 15th January 2012.
151
Dr Noor ul Haq, Pakistan’s Response to Internal Challenges part 1 and 2 (Islamabad Policy Research
Institute – IPRI Factfile, November/ December 2011)http://ipripak.org/factfiles/ff141.pdf- Accessed on 3rd June
2012.
works in music and other aspects of life such as business and politics. These arguments make
one understand why musicians prefer photography based covers. Usman Riaz did not use a
headshot on his first cover because he was not comfortable with it which was his personal
choice but says that his record label EMI152 “kept pushing” him to use the face as a
communication tool. Fawad Khan agrees that face association plays a role but correctly
points out that if one opts for photo based covers then creative photography with proper
concepts should be used. One can agree that there is a great room for creativity in
photography that is generally ignored in our industry. If we observe the existing covers there
are examples where the musicians have used headshots for self-promotion but at the same
time keeping it conceptual such as the cover of Pop153 by U2 and locally, Ali Azmat’s Social
Circus, which are examples that both, face association and the concepts can be combined
successfully.
Shallum Xavier pointed out that in Pakistan, if you try to be experimental with photography
shoots, it does not always work with our audience, affecting the musician’s image. As
mentioned before, he gives the example of musician Ali Zafar who is followed by the masses
and everyone from an office going individual to a taxi driver, follows his music and since the
majority is uneducated, people prefer face association. People like to show it to others that
“Mein is larkay ka fan hoon” (I am a fan of this boy) with a sense of pride but if that picture
is unusual then it might negatively affect Ali Zafar’s mass appeal. Having said that, it should
also be considered that it is important to define a target market in order to deliver the message
successfully and musicians should also strive for that. The qualitative studies show that 51%
have the curiosity of what the musician they are listening to looks like, while 24% believe
152
153
EMI Pakistan, Record Company. www.emipakistan.com.
Pop, Album by the internationally known Irish rock band U2, released in 1997.
that music is more important which makes an interesting point that face association adds up
to the popularity of the musician.
As the future of album art also depends on the development of music, one of the debates that
have surfaced in recent years is the role of record labels and internet. While internet has made
information accessibility extremely easy, it has also created copy right issues that have
damaged the music industry. On one hand it is an ideal media for publicity for the musicians
and interacting with the masses through forums like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube,154 but
on the other hand it has created piracy issues and has reduced the importance of record stores
and physical design, as the world has moves towards virtual communication. Sir Peter
Blake,155 156 designer of the Beatles cover believes the end of album art will be “a big loss.”
Rohail Hyatt157 158, Shallum Xavier and Fawad Khan believe that musicians face piracy
issues because of the internet that damages the process of making music, especially in
Pakistan which is already a crippled industry but Gumby is of the opinion that there is selfpromotion on the internet as anyone and everyone can listen to your music which increases
the exposure drastically making it easier for the musicians to venture into an international
market. One cannot fully agree with Gumby because firstly it is unfair to the musician and
secondly due to piracy the local musicians are not willing to take risks, which has adversely
154
Social Networking sites.
155
Designer of The Beatles’ album Stg. Pepper and The Lonely Hearts Club Band.
156
Paul Bignell, John Sunyer, Rock Art…R.I.P (The Independent- Arts and entertainment, 17 August 2008)
November 2011.
157
Rohail Hyatt, Pakistani music producer, musician, member of the famous Pakistani band Vital Signs.
www.cokestudio.com.pk.
158
Jahanzeb Haque, Life, the universe and Rohail Hyatt (Aurora magazine, September-October 2009)
http://jhaque.wordpress.com/2009/09/12/life-the-universe-and-rohail-hyatt/- Accessed on 26th May 2012.
affected our industry’s progress. Freddie Cowan159, the guitarist of The Vaccines in his
interview for the NME160 says “if you download music and don’t pay for it, you don’t value
it, you don’t cherish it” which is a valid argument as sharing music illegally online has
adversely effected the copyrights of the industry. Tim Rice Oxley161, in his interview for
Record Store Day162, also identified that the experience of going to a music store and picking
up an album from its shelves has been replaced by a few clicks which even though makes it
easier to access music, is a grim process as it reduces the value of music.163 Shariq Chhapra
believes that internet has taken away from the experience of album art. He says that when
you hold an album cover in your hand there is a “sense of dedication to the designer who had
made that.” In the past, the designers would ‘mourn’ the reduction of Vinyl to a 5 by 5 inch
CD and nowadays, the designer has an even smaller canvas. Similarly Bill Walsh164 believes
that album art is dying but on the other hand, most of the artists believe that it is just a
transformation from one medium to another. In this age, where everything is virtual now,
album art is digital too. While through the interviews and articles, one can see that most of
the artists believe that physical copy has its own charm and the experience of going to a store,
buying an album and engaging with its features and inlay cards add up to the experience, they
159
Unknown, Why RSD Matters, Freddie Cowan- The Vaccines (NME magazine April issue, April 2012) -
Accessed on 12th March 2012.
160
New Musical Express (NME) Music publications based in UK, www.nme.com.
161
Tim Rice Oxley, pianist in the British band Keane. www.keanemusic.com.
162
2012.
163
2012.
164
2005)
http://jcp.proscenia.net/publications/articles_mlr/walsh/demise.html - Accessed on 15th January 2012.
agree that like music made its transition from Vinyl copies to DVDs and internet iTunes,
album art went through the same process and it is not necessarily a negative change as it has
made album art accessible to everyone.165 166 167One can see in the survey that 23% of the
audience like to collect album art if they are interested in a musician. Xavier and Khan
believe that the music enthusiast will go for a physical copy if they like a certain band or a
certain genre and outlets like amazon and music stores, although limited, still exist around the
world as well as in Pakistan. One point that comes across through this debate is that Pakistani
industry needs to catch up with the virtual aspect of album art which is the trend these days.
The survey suggests that 43% of the people download music from illegal websites and
sources. 20% listen online on YouTube or the musician’s website, 20% download them from
torrents and iTunes and only 6 % go to music stores. This depicts how deeply piracy has
affected our industry as Akbar Yazdani points out that our audience is under the false
impression that music is for free.168 The qualitative survey show that 42% people prefer to
have digital format of music and album art and 29% prefer analogue copies, this suggests that
although it is low, the physical copy is still in demand. This also shows the shift in the market
as internet is more accessible and it is easier to store all the music in one place. From the
arguments, one can make out that internet has created piracy issues and taken away from
165
Fawad Afzal Khan. Lead singer of Entity Paradigm, rock band in Pakistan, interviewed in person - 27th
January 2012, 11:30 am at IVSAA campus .
166
John Louis Gumby Pinto, Drummer of the rock band Noori, interviewed in person - 16th December 2011,
2:30 pm, at Uth Records Studio.
167
168
Madeeha Sabeeh, Instep Interview: Dr Akbar Yazdani (The News- Instep, 24th May 2008)
http://maheensabeeh.wordpress.com/2009/05/24/instep-interview-dr-akbar-yazdani/- Accessed on 26th May
2012.
album art but it has opened up another medium to explore creativity and artists should take
this direction which will help the industry to move forward.
The musicians are mostly of the view that we first need a proper system to run the industry
and according to the financial and political condition of the country decide which direction to
take. Gumby says that this depends on the country’s economic and political condition which
will affect the industry but says that Noori is working on a new album which will have album
art and other features which will also be virtual, if required. While most of the musicians are
unsure about the future of the industry, Fawad Khan believes that some good work has been
going on in the industry that should not be negated. There are new bands coming into the
industry which can make a difference. Chhapra also shares the same views and says there will
always be a demand for good music and design thus there will always be a market. If one
sees the audiences’ perspective, 57% believe it is dying and should be preserved while 17%
believe it is still there. Thus one can say that, there is some future to this form of art, be it
virtual or physical. The mediums might have changed but the essence of album art and its
importance is still there.
CONCLUSION
Album art is a visual medium of communication for a musician, when making a music record
as it is a connection between the artist and the audience. It is not just a package covering the
album inside; rather it is an effective advertising tool which gives the listener an idea of what
the music he or she is going to buy sounds like. Album art is generally based on a theme and
a concept and thus supports the idea presented in the album.
From the interviews conducted in the primary research, one can see that album art has
importance for the musician who projects a certain image of himself or herself as an artist, an
idea and a genre through the album art. The survey conducted suggest that the audience
considers album art as an added benefit and only the music enthusiasts consider it an integral
part of music. Here, one can say that the problem is the lack of exposure of our audience to
the idea of album art. Another reason is that the main source of music nowadays is the music
channels that have come up which has taken away from the album art. The survey suggests
through other answers that even if album art is not the priority of the listeners, it does play a
part in making a person like or dislike an album subconsciously and retaining it thus it acts as
an advertising tool. This is where the role of the designer comes in who uses the music as a
source of inspiration and by this engaging process, visually conveys what has been said in the
form of music. It becomes an alliance between the two art forms. Good album art acts a
marketing agent resulting in retention of a certain musician by the audience and eventually
affecting the sales.
My research shows that many artists in Pakistan go for a photo-shoot album cover in order to
cater to the masses while some, who are willing to take risk or are focusing on a niche market
go for the illustrated album covers. The research show that the face association works in
favour of the musician as there is a general curiosity in everyone to know the person they are
listening to by their face. While one can agree with this, it has to be considered that one can
be creative in photo-shoot album covers that is generally ignored either because of the lack of
resources or the misconception that the audience will not understand the idea. More artists
should take a stand and prove that a good concept and a photo-shoot can be combined in
order to make an aesthetically appealing album cover.
As for the effect of internet on album art, the surveys conducted from the audience show that
the younger generation like to collect their music digitally as it is more instant and convenient
when it comes to playing music, while the older generation prefer the physical copy as it still
retains its tangible charm. The internet has taken away from the experience of going to a
record store and picking up a visually interesting album from the store shelves. On the other
hand, many believe that just like music’s transformation to a digital medium, album art has
also transited its medium which gives a chance to the designers to explore a new artistic
medium.
The interviews convey that our music industry has come to a standstill these days due to lack
of resources and the socio political condition of the country which has also affected the
album art just like other aspects of music. From the survey we see that the audience is ever
hungry for something entertaining, be it music or be it visuals. There is a great potential in
the industry and once in a while good quality music and album art does come up but efforts
need to be made by the musicians and designers on a regular basis which is the only way to
move forward in bringing back the industry that will also affect the album art just like other
aspects.
Through my primary and secondary research, one can conclude that album art is importance
to the musicians in projecting the right image as well as conveying the music in a visual form.
For a designer, it is a collaborative project and another medium of exploring aesthetic
possibilities and as for the audience; it is not only a connection with the musician but also a
source of entertainment. Thus, album art is an association between the three categories which
contributes to the overall music listening experience. The Pakistani music industry is in a
stagnant position these days and while we see some good work coming out; the album art still
needs to develop and play its role as a communication tool significantly for which efforts
need to make to improve the quality of the music industry which will eventually improve the
album art.
APPENDICES
JOHN LOUIS GUMBY PINTO- DRUMMER (NOORI)
Interview conducted in person, At Uth Records Studio, Karachi
Date of interview: 16th Dec 2011, 2:30 pm
Transcribed from recording.
1. Being a well know musician how important is album art to you?
There are two angles to look at it. There is critically acclaimed work that I do and then there is a
lot of commercial work that I do. And the commercial aspect, I am not sure how well we
perceive the visuals to be like but normally what happens is that there is a huge misbalance in the
audio and the video. The audio is really good but the video is just ok and then the video the really
good and the audio isn’t thus you see a lot of misbalanced videos and audios of television of
Pakistan. Or the album art represents one thing and the music is something else. In Pakistan, I
have always felt that, like, I belong to a band Noori and for us the audio and the visual would be
as important as like you know eating food every day or water every day. But unfortunately all of
us felt the exact way, that when we make music we feel visual not doing justice to the audio and
we aint any great directors but if you see, we did a lot of videos by ourselves, the reason why we
did that was for the exact same reason. Whether they were videos whether this was album art or
anything we just felt that the rendition of the audio wasn’t up to the mark and having said that
our videos I don’t think technically they weren’t very good, or that great, but we thought if we do
it ourselves we will be able to go half way to what we sort of had it in our mind. Because we did
try and get visuals made by a bunch of people but it never really worked out for us and that point
in time we thought the visuals will be very important for us and a lot of people would take the
visuals very seriously unlike now YouTube has taken over and ...We were coming out with the
first album and even with this album, Peeli Patti… We did pretty much all by ourselves. And I
am not claiming that we are the best I wouldn’t even claim that we had the best album art but
everything went under a theme concept idea, everything was thought about. We just didn’t
randomly throw colours. We didn’t put us posing or anything of that sort like the first album had
our baby pictures for crying out loud, that was ‘Suno Kai Mein Hoon Jawan’ it was all under a
theme it was all well sorted, well thought. It may have been cheesy for its time but the thought
process was put into the album. We did everything under the sun to make sure the things that
were wrong weren’t repeated again… And that’s how you move ahead unlike most bands that
you see they will take the safe root and will probably do everything that everyone else is doing to
be like oh look we are cool because we are playing it safe and our album art is not that great but
it’s not that bad either. But we decided to take a different part and decided that we are going to
make visuals we would like it to be like a mirror for us , whatever the lyrical content is its very
strong of the band so our lyrics content holds a lot of weight unlike another love song . Every
second guy is writing a love song. That wasn’t our forte at all. We did write love songs but at
least in the last two albums they don’t have the dominant part. There was a lot of motivation, a
lot of depth in lyrics. The fermentation was very different for its time. So when it comes to
visuals we thought that someone would jump the band wagon with us and execute it for us but it
didn’t really happen for us. And even if someone was good enough to execute it we just felt the
kind of money they would charge was hideous for a video… If we see the business side of things,
If someone says we will charge you 8000 for this and you know you charge 10,000 Rs for a
concert, you will say that ok maybe I am in the wrong business and this guy is charging me too
much so obviously everything has to be in a balance and again financial perspective it was a huge
misbalance in visuals and the audio. …You make a video because of the audio and the audio
costs cheaper than the video so it doesn’t make sense. The dots don’t connect… I’d rather don’t
care. People may laugh at our videos and say that it’s horrible but we feel that we do it halfbaked than not being baked at all so for me album art visuals is very very important because it’s
your reflection basically…Maybe we haven’t come across the right people maybe you guys are
the right generation that will make the change. So when it comes to visuals, I am sorry you have
great people in visuals but the financials are just ridiculous. It doesn’t make sense.
2. How did you contribute as a musician to your album art?
See for me, I don’t care if you shoot it on a firkin’ instamatic camera. What I care is about the
content. … (Section removed, approx. 4 minute: not relevant to topic.) So that’s the thing with
Noori, we would rather do a half-baked thing which is at least closer to our concept and audio. If
you see the second album, there are two stick figures with a globe head. You look at it and say
that’s interesting, I wonder what that means. Peeli Patti aur raja jani ki gol dunya. It’s about two
separate characters. It’s about two different paans that when you eat you get high. And you are
tripped out and when you perceive your world in that high state. You don’t care about anything
else it’s just a typical lifestyle of the rich and famous. It was pretty much mocking those people
and if you see the album art that’s exactly what it pictures. It was a collective decision.
Mandanna, she has been long enough with the band to see it that way that’s about it. Ofcouse it
was cost effective. It is someone who we know but at the same time again we have worked with
Baber Sheikh, Sohail Javed and a bunch of people. On first album art, it was again a collective
decision. What happened was someone saw my baby picture on drums and said that’s a great
picture let’s use it for the album cover.
3. What do you look for in an album art? What makes you pick up an album? Other than the
music
Credits, I like to read the credits, I like to read the lyrical content, I would like to know what this
person is about, 2ndly the album art is a reflection of the artist’s music or personality. Like I see
the album art of Sting for instance and I know exactly what I going to get in the music. If I pop
the cd in my player, I will know so now he has got a lot of flashy colours that it’s going to be a
typical dance album. Every album art reflects for itself. At least that’s how I feel it should be.
4. What do you think of Pakistani existing album art? Do you think it’s good or bad? Do you
think it fulfils the purpose?
I feel that in Pakistan, in our industry, in our music, in our album art nothing is planned, well
thought out, everything is just random. Atif’s fluke worked so it worked for him, Annie is
another example. It’s not a joke but that’s how they perceive their music. They will put some
skimpy outfit and come on stage or pose for album cover. They will wear a skimpy outfit because
their music is so shit that they need such tactics for covering it up and thus promoting mediocrity
and unfortunately it sells. So album art is just at a very basic level and the good stuff that’s
coming out is all the musicians who make the effort. But there are also the financial problems.
You need the money to make good stuff and that’s why it’s so limited (Section removed, approx.
1 minute: not relevant to topic) Every album art reflects for itself...with the exception of Fuzon
and bands like that. There album art has never made sense to me. There album art is something
else and their music is something else. There is no similarity in either of them. They say they
plan fusion music and the band is called Fuzon with the wrong spelling and then their album art
has nothing to do with what music is. It’s just pathetic. That’s an example of brainless concept.
Because you need to have a cover tu bus laga do (so you just put it) but there is no connection of
music to the album or any of that. And that’s where it makes people like you who do work like
that, redundant because you never move ahead. That’s people are mocking what you do. They are
mocking you as a designer saying In ki tu koi zaroorat nahee, hum khud hee kar lein gai (we
don’t need them, we can do it by ourselves) (Section removed, approx. 6 minute: not relevant to
topic.) These are the kind of people who bring the whole market into a misbalance and create
mediocrity which the audience accepts. It is lack of exposure to good work that results in this
mediocrity. This is how mediocrity becomes a norm. The music industry is growing. The
question is if you are growing tall or fat? If you grow in both directions you are going to explode
one day.
5. What do you think is our audience’s response to album art? Do you think it matters to
them?
I am no one to judge when you put something out for sale, rest assured, there will be criticism.
And for me I am going out to buy it, I will criticise it whether I like it or not.
People are stupid, people are like cattle, feed them anything and they will eat it. They don’t know
anything, you need to educate people, trust me it’s not an easy market, people are stupid here,
and people are stupid all over the world. We need to educate them. When you create something
you need to show it off otherwise no one will know. You might be better than Leonardo da Vinci,
who decided that he was the best painter. Maybe twenty years the line you are painting better
than him but who decides that? No one knows how great Mona Lisa is. I consider myself welltravelled and well-read but if I look I don’t know if it is real or fake, good or bad but if someone
tells me that’s the world’s greatest painting, I’ll be like whoa! it’s nice. I’ll perceive it in a
different light so it’s also about marketing. How creative you are, use it to market as well. Look
what I am saying is that we need to criticise. That’s the problem of our industry everyone wants
to hear good things about themselves. No one takes criticism. I don’t want to do that because that
way I am encouraging mediocrity. If your skill level is good, after experience and practice, if you
attain that level that’s the way forward.
6. What do you think about putting photoshoots pictures on the cover of an album? Do you
think it has a purpose? Do you think its justified in saying that face association works?
I understand it in two ways, either you are full of yourself or you need to introduce you to the
people. Yar, I would like to know who is the musicians are in String’s band or Rolling Stones.
I’d like to know what they look like. You need to put it there showing Ok, these are the members
of the band. This one plays this. This one sounds like this. The problem is people need a face to
everything. We don’t realise it but if you need to penetrate into the market you need to make
money, people want to associate a face. We have the example of Gorillaz, they never made it
really big because they are cartoons, they are finished because the audience needs a face to relate
to. That’s basic. Very few people get that concept. People use YouTube, TV. People don’t listen
to radio anymore. Why? Because there is no connection. If there is more information somewhere
else, you will go there. And it’s for everywhere, not just Pakistan.
7. What do you think makes a good album cover? Any good of album cover that you like?
Sub se pehle tu, (Firstly) Choice of ideas, choice of concept, the colours, depending on what the
lyrical content is … (Section removed, approx. 2 minute: not relevant to topic.) and music that is
on the album the music can be a great stimulus to visualise. When musicians make music they
visualise, spaces, faces, people. Scenes. When they are write something and when a designer, like
you designs, you visualises the music and that becomes a process. So obviously everything is
connected. The audio and the visual are connected. Very strongly. When I see an album cover, I
look at it as a reflection of the content of the album and the audience has a visual in the mind
when they listen to music so it all connects to form one thing, one idea.
8. What do you think of the contribution of record labels when it comes to album art?
Record labels are insensitive, brain dead people. All they know is business, not even creativity in
business. They are stupid people. You don’t even need them anymore. You have the internet
now. You make your own record label and put out music. Doesn’t really matter. They are
useless. We have channels now, YouTube, iTunes. The world is moving forward. It’s Changing
and we need to do that too. The choice is with the artist now. What does he want to show and
what doesn’t. Now we have new concept, these companies hire the artists and support their one
song. So that’s more accessible for the artist, more accessible for the company. It doesn’t affect
your creativity. It’s all part of commercialism. It’s about a closed mind. (Section removed,
approx. 5 minute: not relevant to topic.) Record label are people who do business. They make
money off you. They give you around 5% and keep the rest. They just bank on your success.
9. What has been the effect of internet on album art?
Big, Very positive, you can do anything on internet. Name it. It has everything on it. The artist
does not need anything else to venture into an international market. Through internet everyone
gets to listen to you. You don’t need to waste his time and paisa on the record labels. Plus for
audience, you can get music easily, you can get album art easily, Album art is always on the
cover. I download the album art if I don’t get it. The physical; copy is always better that’s why I
am going back to that time; I am installing a proper system with the speakers and everything and
collecting the albums. The mp3 are horrible. For me being a purest, it’s really hard. I want to be
able to see the LP, the cover, I want to have the art work. Some of my favourite artists had
amazing art works like Steely Dan. Pink Floyd, Fish. Mediocrity is everywhere but then there are
people who are really creative. It’s a choice of which one you follow. Digital or Analogue. There
is a standard concept to everything. Album art and music go together just like Tom and Jerry.
10. Which one do you prefer? Physical copy or digital copy of a music album?
A physical copy. There is something in your hand. You can see it, feel it, take out the booklet
you can read it. Pictures, it’s more engaging. (Section removed, approx. 2 minute: not relevant to
topic.) I have my iPod but I still prefer to listen to music on speakers. I have collections with
album art. It’s a choice everyone makes and that’s something that no one can teach you. No one
can teach you to be creative, to look for inspirations. You look for these things yourself…
(Section removed, approx. 3 minute: not relevant to topic.s)
11. What do you think is the future of album art in Pakistan?
As far as the future of Pakistani album art is concerned, I have no idea. It all depends on the
country’s economic and political condition and up and down will affect the industry. I have seen
things go rise and go down several times as far as music in Pakistan is concerned. As far as Noori
is concerned we are releasing a new album it will have a cover album art etc and we are all
willing to go digital and virtual if the need be. It’s the experiences that matter. It was a personal
experience. These days kids don’t know what it’s like to go up and buy a cd which is a shame
because that’s where it all starts from. Music is something very personal and these experinces are
things that you remember.
FAWAD AFZAL KHAN- LEAD SINGER (ENTITY PARADIGM)
Interview conducted in person, At IVSAA campus, faculty lounge, Karachi
Date of Interview: 27th January 2012, 12:30 pm.
Transcribed from recording
I think album art is a very important part of the package when selling your music because it in a
lot of ways expresses another perspective of the artist on the music. It does not necessarily have
to go hand in hand with the concept but it is another part of the expression. So it does count a
great deal.
2. How did you contribute as a musician to your album art?
Well yeah, if we would have album cover designer, like we did in the case of Irtiqa, so we do
give a brief of what we would like or sometimes we just give the music and expect them to come
up with something so it becomes a bit of collaboration on how to bring out something that is
interesting.
Irtiqa’s album cover was a drawing inspired by…I forget the name… you will have to look it up.
But that image has been used elsewhere; it’s just that someone adapted it as a visual. It was
Xulfi’s elder sister…. Nai nai nai, it was his bhabi. (No, it was his sister in law).
music
I’ll be very honest; one thing that I look forward to in album art is non-cheesiness. There are a lot
of solo covers in which I feel it’s just self-projection of the artist and nothing more and the name
is written on in a very cheesy cursive style and there is an odd heart here or there but again like I
said as an audience I have the privilege to criticise but as an artist I also understand that everyone
has their own choices and everyone is free to act according to that. So I don’t have any judgment
as far as that is concerned but if I have to choose one for myself, it wouldn’t be that.
No, I don’t think so. I think in Pakistan, the album art is something that is least on priority
because in Pakistan, one it is not very, it’s like you can close your eyes and imagine some sort of
a visual to it, most of the music. It’s something that is just basically radio based mainstream
music that you are going to listen to in the car, in gathering and all the time. But it’ got… as in,
there is no element of introspection. Where you can just sit along and close your eyes and just
wander off visually. Tu, I feel that there is a gap in Pakistani album art. It’s not very challenging,
challenging is maybe the wrong word. It’s not very versatile and expressive.
them?
I don’t think it matters to them, because again, your audience is what you educate them to be and
the taste of our audience has detoriated in the past few years. We are trying to pick it up again.
But two decades in the middle our film industry, our television industry has collapsed and music
industry is collapsing. I wouldn’t say our music industry is collapsing because we had Vital
Signs, we had Junoon in the middle, so, but I am using television and film industry as a reference
that it is where you could have educated your audience and brought them up to speed with other
things… with other issues other than what we have discussed and now we are beginning to learn
the curve and now we beginning to teach them the curve so the artist has a very big hand in
educating the audience and that is one of the privileges as well as the responsibilities that we, as
in artists should fulfil. Education is very much of a responsibility of the artist because visual
medium, audio medium and all of these are tools for you know, impressing something on people,
inspiring them. Because they really get moved by it , Theek hai naa (right) and if you do it the
right way then you can move your audience in the right direction and you can fulfil that
responsibility of trying to be a contributor for a better society or you can be the revolutionist that
all musicians ever dream to be.
I think to a certain extent, it’s the artist’s fault. Because …let’s not get into the fault and blamer
game, like I said it’s all up to the artist. How he wants to visually treat his music but as an
audience I‘d expect much more.
think it has a purpose? Do you think its justified in saying that dace association works?
Well, obviously at the end of the day it fulfils the purpose of just like sort of filling out glossy
paper, that’s my point of view. But as far as visual entertainment is concerned, like for example I
don’t know if you have seen the limited edition to Radiohead’s Amnesiac which was a red book
and it had all the lyrics and album art inside it and it was like a library book and it had a library
card inside it. Theek hai naa! And instead of the card, people could also fit in the cd. So it
became a cd sleeve as well. So basically they were handing out these little books, these red
books, which had the logo, of Amnesiac on top of it. So, yeah. Us tarha se nahi hai. (not that
way) I feel. Bus kar diya jata hai. (It’s done just for the sake of it)… Photography works. Yes, it
does. But then again we should go towards beautiful photography. I mean just a mainstream
album I can name on the tip of my tongue is Deff Leopard Slang. Which had a really nice album
art and covert and in the inlay it had pictures of the band from their tours. And I thought that was
very nice it was tastefully done. Again there are a lot of other albums that have photography for
examples the cover of Pop by U2 which was basically … I don’t know. What is that called pop
art. It was sort of a …it was an image sort of turned into …pop art based photography of the four
members in four different colours. Again I think photography can be treated into a lot of different
ways. People just look for very glamorised and very you know does my face look fine? From all
angles… extremely photoshopped kind of photography. Photoshop, yes, one should but the focus
is basically just on the face. Its, I am sorry to say…but it’s very… Waris Baig.
Choice of ideas, choice of concept, the colours, depending on the lyrical content is and music that
is on the album the music can be a great stimulus to visualise. When musicians make music they
visualise, spaces, faces, people, scenes. When they are writing something. So obviously
everything is connected. The audio and the visual are connected very strongly. When I see an
album cover, I look at it as a reflection of the content of the album. And the audience has a visual
in the mind when they listen to music.
No, they just press music on a piece of plastic. The only think that they would really do is that
they would probably censor something that is bit on… You know that has crossed the moral line.
But that’s it. That’s all the record label does. I think in Pakistan or in the entire world you don’t
need the physical record labels anymore. you have very good distribution over the internet so it is
very easy for individual artist, indie artists as well as popular artists to put together music,
compile music, press it, design their own album art, make their own cd and then give the
responsibility of copy and distribution to an online distributor and get to an audience that is
far...much greater than they get or what attention they get in the localised region for example in
Pakistan. Now very few artists are now turning towards record labels. Because record labels ka
business flop ho chukka hai. (Business has flopped) This is an industry, not just an industry,
matlab a lot of industries around the world experience this problems Jahan copy righting kai
issues aatay hai. (As for copyrights) Piracy kai issues aatay hai..and piracy ka sub se bara issue
Pakistan hai. (Piracy, Pakistan suffers from it the worst) because of which the industry suffers.
Here you can get anything and everything there is no restriction what so ever, even though we
have the IBO, we still don’t adhere to it. Tu, I think artist can now just exit that route and take a
new route. Making music and putting it out.
Yaar Dakhain, (see) one I don’t know, call me bit of an idealist or call me stupid and uneducated
as far as technology is concerned, but I think the internet is more of a …a plague, then anything
else I mean it serves, it causes more problems than it serves its benefits. So the internet has been
very responsible for the detoriation of our new generations altogether, they claim to know
everything about music and the world within one night. Obviously everything and anything is at
your disposal all you have to do is Google, so you learn to lose the respect for whatever you are
learning. May it be an article, may it be a book, and be it music. Everyone has now, the right to
know everything and everyone claims that they are an authority on it. So in this day and age
coming back to the point, I feel that Jahan take physical copies ki baat hai charm uska hota hai,
magar ab tu raha nahee hai (as for physical copies, it has its charm) because we have come in a
digital age where everything just on our laptops, and we are so used to that system that you can’t
change it, balkay (instead) you adopt it to move forward with speed, same is the case with
artwork on these covers.
I haven’t collected music in a very long time but yes, when I used to collect music I used to try
and collect whatever audio, cassette or cds, it would be original but I will admit also that I have
downloaded. I will not shy away from the fact but again mein yeh kahoo ga kai (I would say)
when you have the facility use it. I am not condemning anyone for it but it is a reason for the
detoriation of our music industry or the charm of music design.
Obviously, it does have its own charm but you can do that you still are doing that if you go on
amazon.com. I can put up my album on cd baby or amazon. There are so many other websites;
people have access to the physical medium as well. They can order the album or they can
download it.
I prefer physical copy. Yeah, definitely, because it’s a piece of art, it’s like a painting that you
buy. Would you rather download it and just put it as wall paper or would you put it up on your
wall? Exactly, so it’s something to collect.
Well some people have done interesting stuff, I haven’t seen Mauj’s album art, physical seen but
when it was being prepared I saw the designs due to some friends and I thought it to be
something different, something fun, entertaining. I feel that there are more educated people, well,
I am not going to say, there is a very big difference between being literate and educated. I think
there are a lot of sensible educated sound people coming in the music industry which is going to
change it and music and album art or any art associated with that industry is definitely going to
be seen in a different light altogether which is what I hope. There are more bands that are coming
out making good music and designers who are doing interesting work but our music industry is
suffering from being brought up properly, it’s not supporting the artist properly and the artist n
return is unable to support the industry.
SHALLUM XAVIER – GUITARITST (FUZON)
Interview conducted in person, At Xavier’s home studio.
Date of interview: 16th Dec 2011, 6:30 pm.
1.
Being a well know musician how important is album art to you?
It’s very important. It’s actually reflects the mind-set that you have as a musician as a performer
and it also indicates the content the people are expecting from the album and it also depends on
who is designing the artwork and who’s working on it. It depends on actually how the artist
wants to create a certain perception for a band, depending on the content in that particular album.
Sometimes it can be way off, it can be completely different from what you are expecting inside
the album and the cover can depict something completely different. So I think its creatively
speaking, there should be maximum freedom given to the person designing the artwork for the
album but the person doing the art should also listen to the entire album. Especially with lyrics
and the flow of the melody which can give you a lot of inspiration. It can take you into different
directions in your mind. So if you have a certain idea for example if I am an art direction. I am
designing the art, I might want to listen to everything so that if I have an idea in my head.
Listening to that might enhance the idea and take it to another level. It’s important. Its gives the
listener the fan, the general people out there an idea about what the artist wants and what he is
expecting and what they are all about. I think an artist should also benefit from the album, people
should look at the album and they should look at two different sides, not just music but the way
the inlay card is designed the text, visuals, logo, symbols, signs. The person should get credit. I
think it’s not important. Depends on the artist to give that freedom to the designer and I mean
work according to whatever the artist wants. At the end of the day, it’s about the artist who is
putting it out there. And it’s a communication tool.
2. How did you contribute as a musician and illustrator to your album art
I think Fuzon’s album covers have ‘bilkul bakwaas’ artwork. I never liked it. And to tell you, our
music is liked and our music is for the masses. We were catering to the masses. People want to
see the guys on the cover. Individually I think the third album should not have us on the cover at
all. It should be something special. Something meaningful, it’s been ten years since we have been
together. Now if people don’t recognise, I don’t care anymore. I can recognise myself and that’s
good enough. We should do something nice. And I am honest; in the first album Saagar we did
have something in the cover. Even though we were there. In the surrounding we had magazine
clips all over the place. It was simple but it had something. For the first album I thought it was
necessary for the people to recognise us because of the face value. I don’t get the second album’s
art work. I didn’t have any control since I was just busy in other stuff. Fuzon is not known for its
album cover. And the comments we got from the second cover. We tried doing our faces a little
different; it wasn’t all happy hunky dory. It was towards the dark side. Not gothic but strange.
And on that people said “yar aap logon ne kaisa makeup kar liya” (qhat kind of makeup did you
do?) just when we went to this extent, so if we go all out and do something completely different
and extreme creative then people will have issues. But I think people will always have issues.
music
Obviously, the content inside, something colourful or something completely grey. It depends on
the mood I have. It could just be the face because the face itself has so many details and people
sometimes say that especially an artist who is recording and puts his own face, sometimes people
object to that. It is self-promotion but there is nothing wrong with that. Because a face has
expressions and that also comes out with the photography so there are so many thing, you can put
anything there. It’s like a painting. For people who are buying a cd or downloading, it gives you
a different side of the creativity. Be it music, design. It’s just too many things that can be used
and incorporated. The artist should be given maximum freedom.
Some of the albums have really well. I saw a cover of Karvan. The art work was really good. I
like Meekal Hassan’s art work...some of the other bands. But there are a lot of creative people.
These two albums I remember. Karavan’s album had an inlay card which made me really happy.
It’s really nice that they got involved in the process. These two are people I remember. There
must be a lot of other. I don’t remember a lot of them but I think it’s good.
them?
Majority of people in Pakistan are unfortunately having a really dumb and dull aesthetic sense.
Majority of the times, this is not an area of concern. You are not taught art. I mean majority and
hence it becomes difficult for a person to understand and appreciate any form of art. Unko samaj
mein bhi nahi aaye ga (he won’t understand) which is sad. I think most of the album covers are
important. There are a lot of people who are making or listening music in Pakistan, creating and
TV isn’t really showing much as far as music is concerned but there was a time when a lot of
music stuff was happening everywhere. That area is important to cater to a lot of people who are
the youth. And they listen to music. So the more you expose them to music and artwork, the
more they will adopt it. It’s not really done here. Everything starts from home. The more you
present professionally the art work etc...The more they will get aware and start appreciating the
art. Hence they will get into it. It’s not the musicians fault. Those who are doing music in
Pakistan should be awarded every day. Considering the circumstances, this country wasn’t made
for music. There is no appreciation of music at any level. Religiously, it’s not accepted, then
there are social issues and it becomes hard. I think it’s the audience’s fault. Do not blame the
musicians who are making an effort to give something to the country. The music and art are
actually creating a sense of progress and giving people something to look forward to. This is
freedom of expression. You can say anything in music, well not everything here; you might get
picked up for that…but to some extent. You can gather people. Now we don’t even concerts but
generally people get to interact. Talk discusses. It’s away from the typical routine. There is a
freedom in that. Art is freedom, and if you can’t appreciate art you can’t appreciate freedom. Art
gives you a space to express yourself. Get your ideas out, your frustrations out and present it to
the world. Don’t die with it. .
We need to tell our people and they should tell their families that it’s important to appreciate art.
Because these minor things help you in your life no matter what you are doing. Learn to
appreciate art. (Section removed, approx. 2 minute: not relevant to topic.)
Our critics are stupid. I think critics should have a lot of knowledge. There is a lot of favouritism,
and pessimism. If I know them personally, they will write good stuff about it. If I hang out with
the cool crowd, the right crowd then only they will write nice things for me. Otherwise there will
be issues in getting my point across and maybe I won’t get attention that other artist get. I don’t
know why but our people can’t work together. People will criticise no matter what which
sometimes is good but people get personal. You criticise my music, don’t criticise my
personality. Most of the people don’t even know how to write properly just because they couldn’t
find another job they thought we‘d do this. It’s easy to criticise because you haven’t been through
the process. Favouritism will just kill the industry. First of all, music isn’t accepted in Pakistan,
as in Halaal. It’s not accepted still now. You are always fighting against the tide. So instead of
criticising, you should embrace the music. Make it reach the masses who aren’t really aware of it.
Develop your music industry. And then criticise it. You have to make them into stars, make the
exceptional and special and that’s an art.
They can put pictures but it also depends what kind of picture that is. Photoshop is good
software. Content matters. The content has to be really good and if I use technology to enhance it
its ok. You have to move on with time. See commercial artist needs to sell the album. Our
audience is in a lot of different categories. Ali Zafar is heard by masses. It’s commercial. Even a
driver listens to him. He will ask the shop keeper “Yar wo us larkay ka album de dain” (Give me
that boy’s album) now if there is a flower on it, he won’t take it he will day that’s not it. So the
face association is really there. He will be happy to see the face. It’s a different market; it’s not
an educated market as far as we are concerned. Forget about art and music. So for that awaam,
we need to deal with it since that’ a larger category. So when and you cater the masses you
need to sell an image. I think the picture makes them happy. “Mein is larkay ka fan hoon.” (I am
a fan of this boy) I think if there is another art work as I said before they don’t know how to
appreciate art they want the picture of the front too be it Atif or Ali Zafar. It depends if the artist
is compromising the quality. It’s not just the artist, artist, record label then the endorsed
company. So that their product becomes sellable too. People know you so they like to associate
the product with the face. If it has to compromise on the quality sometimes, maybe you have to.
People are not educated enough in that field to understand and accept different designs but I think
as an artist. An artist should take that initiative do something extra to the face. It’s very primitive
mind-set. If one makes a face slightly different in the name of certainty. People start to say here
“array kya kar rahe hain. Kitni buri baat hai, shakal begaar li apni” (what did you do to your
face? It’s not right. You should not distort your face like this) this is reality. Musician
unfortunately has to compromise because musicals here also don’t want to accept this challenge
too. See, it’s simple, if your face is selling, sell it. People won’t buy if you try to do too much
with it. There are a lot of problems here. It makes me laugh.
Good intelligent artwork. Sensible art work that can portray the image of the artist; image doesn’t
mean the face but also the personality. It can be a part of the musician’s personality that you use.
Music or anything, their work ethics. It has to work hand in hand and it has to be special because
music is special. Music is very special. The art work should reflect the connection and that
reflects the individuals that are involved in the making of the album cover
Record labels should be the people who should take on the responsibility and make sure that the
album art is encouraged rather than just concentrating on the music and putting it out there which
is very important but there are concentrate on it. We don’t have record labels as such. We only
have releasing companies which are also dying. Now people are releasing it themselves. Music
industry is suffering because there is no system. We have a lot of talent but we are not
hardworking. Record labels are doing nothing. They are important. Now times are changing due
to internet, Record labels influence isn’t the same. At the start record labels were everything, they
would make the artist, the star. The record labels would do everything. Now we can do pretty
much everything by ourselves.
10. Which one do you prefer? Physical copy or digital copy of a music album? (both answered
together)
I think internet has a huge impact on the album art. See it on the monitor overtime but yes, it is
fading away as far the physical copy is concerned. I would like to see the copy. It’s on the
internet but there is no fun in it. It’s nice to have a physical copy in your hands. I will buy an
album that I really like. I will buy it. The music enthusiasts will always go for a physical copy,
it’s fun. To open it to engage with its artwork etc. rather than just pressing a button so it depends
…it also depends on the generations , like the new generations hasn’t seen a lot of CDs so
whatever they have seen is on the internet so they have no idea. So let’s not blame them. As
musicians, the internet has not exactly collapsed the idea of sales but it has created problems as
far as the piracy is concerned, there is no monitor. There is a lot of rights problem. If it goes up
on it internet. Its goes without any restrictions. ITunes are doing a good job as far as that is
concerned. They have set parameters and check and policies and affiliations. You can’t download
iTunes songs without the proper channels and that helps the artist because it’s an artist’s stuff.
Companies are just putting it out there. I would want the physical copy to stay, its better.
I think there is no industry. It’s a bunch of people working separately. I won’t call it an industry.
There was a time when I could proudly call it an industry when Musharraf was in power those
nine years were quite exceptional. A lot of work, a lot for success. Not a lot of problems. We had
the audience, we had the stage. And we had those opportunities, shows etc. it’s really fulfilling
performing in your own country. I preferred performing in Pakistan. Now it’s not the same.
There was an industry. Then suddenly everything came to a standstill. The living and political
condition in the country went from bad to worse with the corruption, floods and all and then it
took a while to progress form that point. Now there is not really any progress. It’s a… strange
period. I don’t know if there is a future. It’s about the fact that corporations should not be
controlling how the music is done and projected. There should be body an organisation that
should have musicians and people related to that field who can make the structure. Make music
associations which should be the only body not the corporations. In Pakistan, we have music
companies. Thus there is not really a unified system. There are too many ego issues. It’s very
sad. In Karachi, people actually work with other people in other cities it’s not the same. Emotions
and egos are more important than your work and professionalism.
The future of album art depends on the future of our industry which depends on the future of
Pakistan which is not very clear. After 20 years. Let’s just hope music stays here. It all depends
on the economy. In our country, the basic problems are so much that people are firstly concerned
about basis rights, entertainment goes into the background. You can only appreciate art and
entertain one you have a full stomach. It’s a struggling class.
USMAN RIAZ- SOLO MUSICIAN
Interview conducted in person at IVSAA Communication Design dpt.
Date of interview: 11th Nov 2011, 11:30 pm
I think it’s really important, it gives, the person who is about to buy the cd small insight to what
music will be like. It’s a little peak in the artist’s world and his music and everything. That’s how
I feel. It can be different… from the music… but that’s what I try to do with mine at least.
2. How did you contribute as a musician and illustrator to your album art?
I planned the whole thing out actually, I wanted ‘Flashes and Sparks’ to be this pen and ink and
sketchy look and the actual one would be more developed and in colour. And I will take the same
art style, not the same cover. In colours, more developed. ..(Section removed, approx. 3 minute:
not relevant to topic.) That’s the thing, I don’t like it. I hate not doing something which is not my
own. Like even with the videos, I didn’t want to leave the video to EMI and the director. It
wouldn’t have been mine. I don’t like to show it to people if I am not confident about it myself. If
I am not involved in every aspect. So I will obviously draw everything myself. It’s my
representation and so I like to keep it a certain way. I don’t really think much about the future,
but if somebody wants to make a piece for my music. I would but I would be part of it. At the
end, I would like to do it myself but I won’t shut them off otherwise you don’t grow. If there idea
is better than mine then ill contribute to their idea. But I still like to be involved because it’s not
mine if I’m not involved. I would add something to it. I won’t want someone else to do it
completely for me.
music
It depends. But one thing I look for is creativity and quality. I can’t think of a good local example
but …Bjork. I am not a huge of fan of Bjork but her album art is so cool. She has really weird
trippy things on it which is really cool. Led zeppelin’s art is really cool for their fourth album,
which is just a painting on the wall and lot of other people. U2 always did pictures of them. I am
not a fan of their album art but there is one album that they did that’s Zoorapa which is really
cool. I really like that. (Section removed, approx. 2 minute: not relevant to topic.)
I think we have restricted ourselves a lot. I haven’t seen any album covers as much but I am sure
there is some good work that we have. I think Noori and Ep and bands like these have better art
work as compared to others because of the finances as they can probably afford but the rest is just
mainstream stuff which is usually downloaded from the internet and don’t have cover art. Yeah, I
initially when I started out my music wasn’t typical, mainstream pop music that is produced here.
Everything told me that you will go down like a lead balloon. And I kept telling them that why
do you assume this. No one has really done this. No one has really tried. So who is going to give
the audience a chance? Same with album art, it’s different and that’s why people like it, not
because it’s typical and Masha Allah, the response has been really good so far.
them?
I think no one has really given them a chance to appreciate anything. I think everyone assumes
that the audience in Pakistan is dumb, so let’s make anything dumb because they won’t accept
anything else. That’s what I kept telling EMI, why everyone thinks that everyone is stupid. They
are not. I mean, if you give them something intelligent and conceptual, that’s the first time they
are exposed. Who knows how will they react? No one has really tired so I thought I will do it. I
didn’t really do it just for the audience here. I did it for anyone. I tried to keep it of good quality
with the paper and everything I personally went in and chose but I feel that we generally think
that lets just stick to the rules and make it typical so that the audience gets it.
The main reason why I wanted to do a hand drawn album art is because … I was really
uncomfortable with putting my face on the cover. It was a personal preference. I didn’t want to
do that. EMI kept pushing that you know you need people to recognise your face and this is your
music but I kept saying no, I am very uncomfortable with that. I mean, I am very uncomfortable
around cameras but anyway, but I told them that I can show the audience and them, my personal
side but drawing something. And they get to see that I can do art as well. So, I drew the cover. I
drew what I thought the music would looking like so I drew the magic coming out of the hat and
the faces, theatre faces, theatricality , flowing piano keys. They didn’t think I would want to go
with that. They wanted my face to be there so the audience association would be there. They
insisted they need to know who you are which I understand. If it is done in a creative way, sure.
Lots of people have faces on the covers. Like Steve Vie’s cover of Passion and Warfare, he is
standing there with all this artwork around him but it’s an actual picture of him. So, if it’s done in
a decent way, I think its fine but I just didn’t want it to be on my cover. (Section removed,
approx. 5 minute: not relevant to topic.)
I like different stuff but I like to go for stuff that is more towards illustration. Music matters the
most to me in an album but on the cover I usually prefer a nice visual that will tell me something
about the album.
The best thing about EMI was that they gave me complete freedom. They told me a few things
that don’t do this, do those. Recommended this think about that but at the end of the day it was
all about I wanted to. That’s the best thing about being in Pakistan. No one is in control. You are
in control. You can do whatever you want like. Aboard there would have been people who are
into marketing and then they would control the art direction and everything. (Section removed,
approx. 3 minute: not relevant to topic.) Over here I got to do everything and that’s how I prefer.
I don’t think other record companies are as open as EMI was. Because EMI has seen everything,
they have been there from the start; they have seen Noor Jahan’s music, Nustrat Fateh Ali’s
music, Strings, Vital Signs, Junoon. They have been through everything, so they have seen the
development of our music, so they know. They saw that this was different so they supported me
because they don’t need to worry about selling music, they have their back catalogue. They
thought it was different. They weren’t sure if it would work or not. I wasn’t sure if it would work
or not. But I did it because I wanted to, they approached me, they found me playing at the base
rock café and wanted to release my music. That’s why I released the EP first and now working
on the LP.
Internet has taken away from album art in general. All you see on the internet on iTunes, on the
iPods, you just see the main cover. You can’t see their inside; you don’t see the other sides. I
think that have taken away from the whole design side but it has also helped it a lot it’s on
display whenever you listen to the music so, it’s mixed. It has also made piracy easy, I mean we
have fake or digital copies of all the albums, we don’t have the artwork but we have all the music
which is good for promotion but bad for the artist as he suffers financially.
I obviously prefer the physical copy of the albums. And I’ve collected a few that I really liked.
Like the whole inspiration for Flashes and Sparkes, the album cover was Jason Mraz’s ‘We sing,
we dance, we steal things’. The one with the hand drawn face. That was so cool. It felt like a
sketch book and hand drawn hap hazard cover and I thought that was great, that what I wanted it
to be like but mine was a lot more intricate. That was amazing.
Well, I think for everything someone needs stand up and push forward the boundaries. No one
tries to. No one wants to break form the norm. All these artists that are coming out, most of them
don’t have any aesthetic sense. They are just musicians. And those who go to designers, their
designers are too afraid to make something that different because they are afraid of upsetting the
musician if it doesn’t do well. So they are all use tried and tested methods but I think someone
needs to break that norm. As for me, I didn’t need to worry about it. I didn’t want to do but
mainstream artist like Noori and Strings, there designers and art directors, even if they have art
directors, they are too afraid to break from the norm because they have a strong image and that
will stay unless people start to push themselves. Like with my ‘film piece’, I don’t like to call
them music videos, I call them film pieces because I don’t want to associate them with music
videos where the artist is singing and there are these scantily clad women dancing in the back. I
want it to have a complete story even if people don’t get it. I am doing it for myself. I am not
doing it to please people. I keep telling people that you do it for yourself then people will like it
too. We have that very commercial music, the techno bangra, the desi rapping style and this
really commercial stuff and I call it the ‘Popcorn music’. People don’t really think about it. They
just eat it like watching a film in a theatre. I don’t understand how that kind of music works. I
don’t know people who listen to it. Who listens to that? I am actually wondering where they earn
from. I understand people like Noori, that’s good music that’s commercial but that’s good music
so it makes money. But I don’t understand this. I feel we need to try and push for a bit more than
just typical commercial stuff in both art and music.
SHARIQ CHHAPRA- GRAPHIC DESIGNER, ILLUSTRATOR
Interview conducted in Person at IVSAA Communication Design dpt.
Date of interview: 23rd March 2012.
1. What is the importance of Album art to you as a designer? Do you think it is important to
have a visual representation of the music?
Of course, that’s my main stage; this is what I get paid for. That’s what I need to do. I am
supposed to visualise what an individual is taking about be something abstract like music.
Something that you feel, something that you think and enjoy on a cerebral level and then I have
to find visuals that will correspond to that thought. It is important as hell. Yes!
2. What do you think of the Pakistani album art? (new and old) Do you think it’s good or
bad? Do you think it fulfils the purpose
I am what you would call a cynical bastard. I am generally tending to see people doing eye
candy. Most of the work that we see is eye candy which lacks a proper thought and concept but
then I haven’t really seen a lot of stuff that has come out. I have been very much wrapped up in
my own things as most people do but nothing really that has made me take notice. That oh wow,
that’s really cool and fabulous and make me jealous that haan yar, (yes) maybe I should have
done that work. Infact the last time I felt that way I was looking at a student’s work many many
years ago and he was in illustration major, whose work I liked so much that I went ahead and
hired him. Infact I still use him as many times I can.
It has to grab you. By that I mean in all sorts of ways, it has to have something that is visually
dynamic, it has got a concept, graphically pleasing and has been executed in a manner that is not
same old same old bullshit. These days we have got a wondrous methods and execution tools, we
have got fabulous programs that are actually allowing us to move away from just the
photographic and realistic to much more illustrative sensibility whether it be pixel based or
whether it be media based so it really opens up the whole album art field. It is something really
respectable in the west. Because jab aap is kism ka kaam kartay hai tu (when you do such work)
you are giving life to a person’s persona. The personality of that artist. Musician comes through
in their album art which is presenting them and their music at the same time in an interesting
manner… No, I think it’s the lack of understanding from the designers, we keep claiming that our
people are not really cool enough, hip enough or not like those amreekis which is bullshit, when
infact it is us. We are not smart enough and intelligent enough and use of own unique
sensibilities and try and illustrate that. So I don’t really think it’s a failure on the audiences part,
it’s a failure on our part. We can’t blame the audience and say kai jee unki waja se humara kaam
acha nahi ho raha. (That they are responsible for our bad design) Acha kaam aap kai haat mein
hai. (good work is your decision) Aap ne apnay logo ko, apnay recording companies ko, apnay
clients ko explain karna hai and us ko le kar aana hai. (You need to educate your people, record
companies clients to bring them forward) Agar theek nahi hai kaam tu wo aap ki short coming
hai unki nahi hai. (If it’s bad than it’s your problem, not theirs)
3. Tell me about the album cover you have designed. How much say did you have in the
design? What kind of hurdles did you face? And how was the audience’s response?
Ali Azmat, Abbas Premjee, Komail, and Raksh. Raksh was the 1st one that I had done which is
an underground band. Usually I start from doing work from friends and then people see that work
and see that it is starting off something and usually the first ones that you do are not the ones that
you get money for. I didn’t get paid at all for Raksh because they were friends at the other end
and I decided that you know something that is wanted to do and do it well. Because it was
something fun. Something that I was going to do and that I had fun with and it had my name too
in it. It’s easier if that is the case.
Did they let you do what you wanted to?
Yeah, with two exceptions on two areas, they pretty much gave me freedom. At one point the
gentleman who was making the music decided that his wife who was a recent graduate of NCA.
She wanted to contribute to the illustrated component of the piece that I was doing for Raksh. I
was a total asshole at that point and I turned around and smiled and said you know what why
don’t you ask her to do the whole thing and in retrospect I could have maybe shouldn’t been a
dick about the whole situation and now that lady is a very very dear friend of mine. But one thing
I learnt from that was that it was better that I didn’t let her do it actually. I don’t want to sound all
that but whenever I allow a lot of people in my team, I see the level of work coming down. Not
every time, but it happens sometimes you find very good intelligent people and they actually
contribute. So you have pick and choose the people that you work with. You have to understand
that at the end of the day, you have to go through enough work kai dekho kon log meray kaam ko
plus karain gai. (to know who will add to my work.) and the other time, a client changed the
pictures takn by me with the pictures taken by Ameen Jan, the photographer which was actually a
good thing because it made a good difference.
4. What do think of putting photo-shoot pictures on the cover of an album? Do you think its
justified by saying that face association works in our country?
Face association definitely works. I say have face association because see, the same project that I
did with Raqsh. Unfortunately what I was trying to talk about in those days, we had a very
repressive structure around us and the censorship policies imposed by the music industry or
whether by the people or by the music channels were very strange in those days because
everything was so new and so fresh people really didn’t really know how much should be
allowed and how much should be pushed back so good work always try to defy these so called
areas that I believe delayed you can’t do this but you can do that and five years later that is
allowable. The video that was shot which was beautiful, by Saqib Malik, shot on 35 mm and
since it was a passion project by the people involved. Usually people contributed without taking
money. Saqib did it for free. He is a sweetheart. Even though he was making shit loads of money
and is still making it. He decided that he wanted to do something creative with skill. He had
things that he wanted to talk about and he said look, you guys gave me thing song for which I’m
not taking any money and I will make a video for you but you won’t tell me what to do. (Section
removed, approx. 2 minute: not relevant to topic.)
Photoshop pictures you can do but then it goes back to the same old same old idea that people
saying that at the end of the day, yaar yeh tu hum bhi kar saktay hain. (we could do that too)
Hum bhi aik camera utha sakte the (we could have picked up a camera), Hum bhi aik
khoobsoorat photograph le saktay hai (and taken a beautiful picture), agar hum 3000 photographs
lain gait u aik tu nikil aaye gi kaam ki. (out of 3000 pictures, one will turn out good) Even though
I am trying to very very down grade the work of many good photographers but basically, what I
feel is that we should strive a little more than that. I say you should definitely use headshots but
you can you use them in a more cool illustrated manner. Anyway…Raksh wanted to do without
the headshots, they decided that they didn’t want any facial representation. They wanted to make
it about the music. They wanted to go beyond that. Unfortunately from a market point of view in
Pakistan that is suicide. You so need to have the face. Basically with the exception of Abbas’s
elements use the face because at the end of the day they are the tools that are tying the whole
thing. The feedback we received when that album art went out which basically, we used a set of
teeth for their album cover ... a set of clamed teeth at a Chinese dentist shop and I thought that
was a cool representation and got the impression that someone was trying to shut you up…and
we got the feedback that sir log samaj rahi hai kai yeh music ki nahi balkay daanth saaf karnay ki
cd hai. (People think this album is for oral hygiene) This doesn’t really make sense. So that’s it.
We need to be a little more in tuned with the understanding of our environment. We do need to
definitely raise the bar, two things that are going to be different. You not being sensitive to
what’s going in the environment are also a stupidity. Now when we did Ali Azmat’s album or
even Komail’s album. There was an illustrated component of their headshots that wasn’t where
we left it. Not just pretty picture and eye candy but then you built in the graphics. Now in Ali
Azmat’s it was like a painterly Van Gogh-esque painting of his head and then on his face like
maroiee tattooing went in and talked about all those things that make him what he is. So
everything from a kangee (comb) that was comb his bald head to his car, to music and everything
that make his persona but used it in a different way. So that was a visual game that we played
with the audience that oh I didn’t see this car over there or that guitar over there... So it’s the kind
of shit that you do to make it look different. Same with Komail where he was trying to be styled
as the Justin Timberlake of Pakistan and he is a young boy. He is someone who is completely
different in his outlook and his mannerism than Ali Azmat. So I illustrated and visualised his
work in a completely different way... Both were done with different art style. Ali Azmat was in
painterly and Komail’s was vectors and that too in a different way with gradients and all in detail.
So you need to find that place where you can really rock it.
Well, I don’t need to sound all bitchy about them but there is very little of their work that I really
really like… Unfortunately these people ride on their looks and this is a different kind of music
which I like to call the tits and ass music and unfortunately these guys fit that category very well.
These boys are male equivalent of what a bimbo would be to the men. So not to take anything
away from them they have gone very far in their career made shit load of money and who the hell
am I criticising them because there is a market for that and I am sure girls get tickle pink when
they see Atif Aslam and Ali Zafar on stage and both of them have made big dents in the Indians
market so there is a place for what they are doing but if you ask me If they are doing it right, I’d
say no… I think they had made something good like Channo was a good song. You have to
understand that Ali Zafar wasn’t a musician at the start; he was a painter and a model and used to
come in these videos such as Preeto with Amna and Ahsan. This boy was purely there as an eye
candy. You know he got a taste of singing and he realised that oh shit, I can do this n he did and
he has come very far… (Section removed, approx. 4 minute: not relevant to topic.)
5. What makes a successful album cover? Your idea of a good cover? Any local or
international example?
There is one way of looking at it that is the creative expression of the idea… and then there is
another way that is commercial aspect of it. What would be brilliant that both the commercial
and the creative parts can get together and become hand and glove. That happens very rarely so a
lot of times. In my case, it happened with Social Circus because he was a recognised artist to
begin with. The other people had their first albums... So if you do it that way, you tend to, not
because there work is not good and the quality isn’t there. It’s purely because of the fact that
there is so much going on in the market and you have a limited budget to push yourself and the
fact that you don’t want to show your face that is another fucking pain in the ass… So it gets to
be a harrowed. So you have to decide how much of an angel and how much of a prostitute you
have to become to make a perfect blend. So that you can put yourself out there.
6. What do you think is our audience’s response to album art in general? Do you think it
matters to them or not?
Well I hope it’s not something secondary. Even though it is something that will be the primary
thing… Look you have to see, that firstly it’s the music. It’s not about the face, or the boys or the
look on the field. Actually it’s the music and that’s how it should be. In our case unfortunately
9/10 times, it’s not that. It’s more about the shashkas, about the wrong things that get attention.
That’s what’s wrong with the industry today. We really need to move on… We need to get to
some place where we push the artist to put of good stuff. At the same time it is also something
that is commercially viable and also doing a good work at the same time. That would be like the
perfect combination. Theek hai na (right)… It should be commercial as well as critically
acclaimed at the same time but you really really play the game to reach that.
7. Do you think there is a market in Pakistan for designers who are interested in music/album
art design?
I think you shouldn’t limit yourself to any one direction. I feel that for us we are not developed as
an American market, western market or Europe where you get pigeon holed and you just do
album design or book jacket design or posters or what have you. I think you should design
everything. The good thing about us designers is that you get to learn not only limitations of
substrates but you also learn about your limitations. You are constantly on that journey which can
make you more educated by the time that you die.
8. What do you think has been the effect of internet on album art?
I don’t know much about the album art that is affected but more so the dispersion of music. You
know now, unfortunately I haven’t even bought a Do number ki (second class) cd in the last five
years. Now I can’t really think of purchasing an album. I can just go online and find some sort of
a torrent or some sort of a website that will pop up the songs for me. As a kid music was a very
important part of my life growing up. I was influenced by a relative who was a music enthusiast
and he had the most expensive LPs. before the cds and before the internet music. ..(Section
Internet has made album art suffer in the sense that now we have to talk about more stuff in less
space. Back in the day, people would be mourning the fact that Lp’s size was bigger so we had a
big canvas to work on so album art was something which was far more important but then the cd
came and the size was turned down and the concept of album art was even less and now the
digital music that’s living up on the net. All you got in iTunes is a small box, you click on it and
you can see the album cover. This is just of our habits that now our attention spans have become
shorter and shorter as times goes by so I think that makes it even more important for album art
because here you have to talk about something so extensive on a small scale. Back in the day you
had eight different sides, then something a little less and now you have cd size so it’s definitely
with the economy, which is economical and it has to be something that is going to get the
audience and break through the clutter.
9. Which one do you prefer? Physical copy or digital copy of the albums?
Oh I like physical copy, even though I am not buying physical anymore, there is a whole
different kind of pleasure that you have with a tactile and holding that copy. Back in the days
when I was in college if I came across something well designed I would have a sense of respect, I
would hold it properly and engage with it different way. Because I could feel it and had a sense
of dedication to the designer who had made that. So it connected.so I was giving it the same
respect… I never knew why I gave it this respect but I would and now I realise why… (Section
10. What do you think is the future of Album art?
I am not Nostradamus...but I am hopeful. Very hopeful. The only reason I am teaching is because
I want you guys to do things that haven’t been done by old manjan (formula) like me. The
world’s social political structure has changed again and we could be criminal for any of the
people to go abroad and study and come back and not share it. We need to make sure we can
make sure that we infect as many people with good design as possible. Now things are changing.
Here as well. … (Section removed, approx. 2 minute: not relevant to topic.) When I started
working the shit was bad but now the shit is really really good. I see very hopeful things
happening and exciting things. See, people will keep listening to music, designers will keep
making art so on that account, the industry is there, so I am very hopeful and I am hoping that
things are going to be even better as time goes by but this is only going to happen if our clients
are willing and our designers are constantly pushing for something fabulous and something
excellent and that’s going to happen in music and design industry too which will really really
push our album art in directions we don’t even yet know of.
AMNA MAJID – GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Interview conducted by email (due to difference in location as she resides in Islamabad)
Date of interview: 23rd to 27th March 2012.
1. What is the importance of Album art to you as a designer? Do you think it is important to
have a visual representation of the music?
I think before the era of mp3s and internet based music, album art was imperative. I don’t think
it’s that important anymore only because we don’t technically buy cds anymore as we have
moved on to internet or the music channels like Aag and Play TV which are pretty much in the
masses and because of this, we don’t have a tactile interaction with the booklet and lyrics like we
used to. And digital album art is not common in Pakistan.
2. What do you think of the Pakistani album art? (new and old) Do you think it’s good or
bad? Do you think it fulfils the purpose
I haven’t seen much new album art so I cannot comment. The old album art that we saw was very
good for its time. Experimentation happened a lot and there was a lot of involvement and debate
as to how it should look and represent the music it was made for.
3. Tell me about the album cover you have designed. How much say did you have in the
design? What kind of hurdles did you face? And how was the audience’s response?
I did Junoon’s album cover for ‘Ishq’which I enjoyed a lot. It had a colourful photography based
cover with concert images of Junoon performing. It was a combined effort which really paid off.
4. What do think of putting photo-shoot pictures on the cover of an album? Do you think its
justified by saying that face association works in our country?
Mostly the photo based covers just fulfil the purpose of putting something on the cover but offer
nothing more. The album cover should entice the audience and give them something even if it’s
just a photo based cover.
5. What makes a successful album cover? Your idea of a good cover? Any local or
international example?
One which communicates and gives more rather than just being a pretty picture.
6. What do you think is our audience’s response to album art in general? Do you think it
matters to them or not?
Again I’m not up to speed on current trends, but back then when tapes and CDs were the primary
source of new music everyone rushed to see what the inside booklet looked like.
7. Do you think there is a market in Pakistan for designers who are interested in music/album
art design?
If the Pakistani industry progresses and catches up with technology and trends, then there is
definitely some future for designers in the music design.
8. What do you think has been the effect of internet on album art?
I think I’ve answered this in my first response.
9. Which one do you prefer? Physical copy or digital copy of the albums?
Being a designer and as a music fan, I prefer the physical copy as it’s more inspiring, interesting
and interactive. Digital album art isn’t the same.
10. What do you think is the future of Album art?
I’m not really sure how much it will impact people anymore. Bands and artists will have to come
up with a new way of engaging people with a visual representation of their music. Maybe in the
form of websites, music linked to their pages, not really sure but for that efforts need to be made.
SURVEY FORM
Album Art in Pakistan- Dissertation Research Survey
Research conducted by Wajeeha Abbasi
Album art or cover art, in simple words, is the design on the front of the packaging of a
commercially released audio recording product or a music album. This dissertation is about
Pakistani music industry’s album art, its importance for the musicians, designers and the
audience and its future. (This survey is only for Pakistani music listeners)
Your Age:
- Gender: Male / Female -
Your profession/ degree:
1. Are you an enthusiastic music listener?
a. Yes
b. Not really
c. No
2. Where do you get your music from?
a. Buy albums from the music store
b. Download from iTunes/ Torrent/ Musician’s Official website
c. Listen online (YouTube/ MySpace)
d. Download from free websites (and download from YouTube using the downloader)
e. Other _________________________________________ (please specify)
3. When buying/ downloading/ listening online does it matter to you if it has the
album cover/art with the music file?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Not always
4. What do you look for when you pick up an album? (other than the music of
course)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
5. Are you curious what the musician you are listening to looks like?
a. Yes- I like to know them by their faces
b. No- it’s the music that matters more
c. Not really- I don’t really care
6. Is it okay, for you, if you see an artist’s photo-shoot picture on the cover or do
you prefer any other thing on the cover like illustrations/ other kinds of
photography?
a. Yes- I don’t mind looking at them on the cover
b. No- I hate it. I want to see something else
c. Not really- it doesn’t really matter.
d. Other ______________________________________(any other comment)
7. Which one do you prefer?
a. Physical/Analog copy- I like to hold it in my hands and engage with the inlay card,
back and cover
b. Digital Copy- I like all music and related stuff on the screen.
c. It doesn’t matter to me- ______________________________ (any other comments)
8. A Pakistani album cover that you really like and remember in particular:
___________________________________________________________________
9. Have you ever tried finding the meaning behind the artwork of an album? Have
you ever thought about it?
a. Yes- All the time
b. No- Never
c. At times- Not always
10. Do you collect album art?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Sometimes if I like a certain band/ cover
11. What do you think of Pakistani album art
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
12. Do you think Album art is dying? Do you think album art needs to be preserved?
a. Yes- It is dying and should be preserved
b. No- It is still there
c. No- I don’t think it is important
d. Maybe- I don’t know
THANKYOU FOR YOUR TIME! CHEERS!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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August 2005.
CLIENT: “I would like to commission you to draw a cover for my band’s first album, and it goes
on sale in September.”
ME: “Congratulations, so what would you like for the cover?”
Client: “Something medievally, like a dragon and a woman wizard fighting, but in the night sky,
and there like fighting a dwarf in a mech suit, like a Gundam. And make the moon in the sky on
fire. That would be cool.”
ME: “That seems like it would be an eye sore to me…”
CLIENT: “No, this idea would reflect our music perfectly, we agreed, and it’ll definitely get
people to buy our stuff.”
ME: “So what kind of music do you guys do?”
CLIENT: “Country.”
_________________________
Clients from Hell Blog- www.clientsfromhell.net

Wajeeha Abbasi Disertation - Indus Valley School of Art

Transcription

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