Album Art Books – any takers?

Waking-Dreams

With CD sales in decline, as legal and illegal downloads become the norm, what packages can artists begin to offer so as to entice music fans to buy a hardcopy version?

As we all know, when you consider that many CDs are bought, ripped and are then subsequently rarely played (not to mention the often measly 12-page booklet for liner notes and artwork), is artwork becoming redundant to the new generation or could the introduction of Art Books help revive the sale of music?

It’s hard to gauge the interest as there are so many diverging opinions. Search online and you find lots of people stating they continue to buy CDs, others opt for legal downloads and have sold their collections, and then some do express interest in some “special editions” but there aren’t that many Art Books out there.

I’ve been toying with the idea of releasing an art book later this year (which would feature 2 CDs, with extensive liner notes, lyrical themes for each song, loads of photos, studio diaries, all exhibited within the tapestry of the artwork) but it’s not so cheap to produce either and carries the risk that not enough would buy it (as a format). The same way that people go get 1,000s of CDs printed and not enough people buy them because they’ve moved away from hardcopies.

As musicians (and music consumers), what say ye?

I honestly believe if you have the financial backing, vinyl is the way to go. The artwork and sound can never be replicated via CD or MP3. People still enjoy collecting vinyl too

Edited to add: I love the idea of your art book. I'm a big believer in multi-disciplinary art. Ie; a CD that fits an art book like you have planned.

And btw, welcome back. Haven't seen you around the forum in a while

Waking-Dreams

Hey, yeah, I haven’t been active online in general this last while, what with being rather busy working on various projects.

I do love those gatefold LPs and enjoy collecting a few but they’re costly to produce and it’s a niche market (depending on the music genre). That said an art book could be equally as niche. It’s just that I’ve noticed how people enjoy print (graphic novels seem popular enough) and having an decent sized hardback book with loads of extra stuff you just don’t get in a standard jewel case release might entice certain people to pick one up.

I stumbled upon this place which looks nifty.

http://www.blurb.com/

It seems you can assemble whatever you want, and the good thing is that you can order as few or as many copies as you like (there’s no minimum order unlike with many manufacturers), so you wouldn’t be taking the risk of having your garage being stuffed with boxes of unsold books. The only downside is that the cost would be high, making it a pricey item for the consumer. However, as with lots of consumer goods, items tend to get priced on what people believe it is worth, not always on how much it costs to produce. How many people happily pay above and beyond for a pair of jeans that cost only a fraction to make?

Anyways, the CDs could fit inside the hardcover on opposite ends which makes it more than just an art book, giving the consumer access to music but not your standard jewel case release which they may have abandoned. I still buy CDs myself but the only place they are played is in the car stereo with the mp3 player being the other playback device.

It will be much later in the year but I’ll post here again when I put it all together.