Album Cover Analysis - Dangerous by Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson's
Dangerous Album
Released Nov 26th, 1991

Includes the famous:
Black and White
Heal the World
Dangerous
Remember the Time

Producers
Michael Jackson
Teddy Riley
Bill Bottrell

Label
Epic

This album by Michael Jackson shows him and his world in a nutshell, This random assortment of images i feel is showing Michael Jackson's vivid imagination. Even though there is so much going on in this front cover the most dominant image is still Michael, yet we only see his eyes and a lock of hair down the middle of his forehead. By the time the album was released fans, and the rest of the world knew who Jackson was, so there was no need for him to be on the front cover like on his previous album, Thriller. He might of chosen to just show his eyes because he felt he had to hide from the world, and this was a symbolic way of saying this. His name is also dominant on the front, unlike the name of the album which is slightly hidden in amongst these images, "dangerous" makes up part of the picture, a gate which leads to a much darker part of the picture with the world at the centre. This is probably signifying what Michael thought about the world at the time, this is also reflected in the song "Heal the World" featured on the album.

Even though there is a lot going on, on the front cover, there is still a limited range of colours; reds, blacks, golds and blues. The fact that there is so much going on, means that you see something new each time you look at it, comparing to art works from the symbolism and surrealism era.

The music on the album is of the pop genre. However this front cover does not assemble something from this genre, if you compare it to other pop bands/artists and their album covers. The target audience for this album would be people that like pop/ disco music, mainly teens. However Michael Jackson's fan base covers across the ages up to late 40's or even 50's.

Front and Back cover for a Jazz Band

From the jazz band albums that i have looked at i have found a number of similarities. I have seen that most are in black and white or have dulled colours like browns and greys. On the front cover you can normally see the main singer of the whole band. The covers are simple and have limited text. I have chosen to follow this trend by having the leading singer of the band on the front with a simple black and white painting on the back with the song names on top of it. I have also included the record label (Sony BMG) and a bar code.

To research jazz bands i firstly used the website Amazon to find a range of album covers, i then researched in depth the ones which i liked by looking at their website.

To design my album cover i firstly used paint to crop and to edit my images i then transferred the images to Microsoft publisher where i then arranged them to make my final product including text and other graphics.

Album Cover For JLS

This album cover is for a pop band called JLS. I have tried to follow the typical definition of a pop band and their image. I looked at similar pop groups like Take That. From this i saw that the band members were the most dominant images of the cover. The cover was also colourful and usually showed their name's logo/text.

For my album cover i chose to have the band members on the bottom with their name and album name above them. I put this on a black background so that your eyes are drawn to them immediately identifying who they are and their type of music. I have also included a flash of colour to compliment the black and to give the cover a professional finish.

On the back i have also included their band name again as well as the lead singer. I have done this because he is the most popular band member and would probably be the one the fans want to see. I have also included the X Factor logo to remind fans they were seen on TV and to promote the company.

Music Television in the UK

Music Television started in the USA with the rise of MTV. Europe and the UK followed this trend with thier own version, MTV Europe. The UK has had many spin-offs including, VH1 (Aimed at an older audience) and CMT (Country Music Television) which is aimed at a niche audience. these spin-offs have loosened MTV's grip on the UK market.

Some television channels such as The Box are jukebox channels, where the viewers chose what is played next by calling in or texting a premium phone line to select from a list scrolling at the bottom of the screen. This way, the music channel creates another form of revenue by doing very little themselves.

In 2000, EMAP (East Midland and Allied Press) a magazine which as diversified by going into radio has now decided to add to its only TV asset, The Box, by launching four new channels. These channels are based on existing EMAP magazine brands : Kiss, Kerrang! and Smash Hits, which as launched in 2001. Making channels based on existing brands meant that they already had a ready-made image and audience. Another strategy of using MTV's original cheap programming of streaming videos rather than making their own programmes meant they spent very little in comparison to other channels while still making a profit.

Two further channels, The Hits and Magic were launched in 2002. A year later, Scuzz, The Amp and Flaunt were launched which saw MTV's dominance over music TV decline. This meant MTV had to differentiate itself from other jukebox rivials. The channel began to provide their viewers with original programming such as The Real World and Beavis and Butthead, as well as round the clock videos. Scuzz also began to create their own programs to get ahead of their rival Kerrang! with comedy shows like Mullet Man and Cuddly Snuff. A consequence of MTV offering so many channels and programmes meant that this further fragments its audience lowering the income from advertising. MTV sought to find sponsorship from other companies like Motorola, who is popular and a recognised brand.

Seeing the success of the music channel, GWR launched a classical music channel, Classic FM. This allowed classical music to reach a larger audience, which was mainly targeted at females. Other independent channels such as Channel U began, P-Rock TV weren't so successful as they failed to attract advertisers it went off air in 2003.

At the beginning of 2004, there were 23 English music channels, significantly more than the US.
-Seven from EMAP stations.
-Three from BSkyS - Channel U, The Vault and Chart Show TV.
-Classic FM.
-Nine from Viacom - MTV, MTV2, MTV Base, MTV Hits, MTV Dance, VH1, VH1 Classic, VH2 and TMF.
- Zee Channel

In 2001. Of the 25.2 million households in the UK, 24.6 million had TV's (98%). Of these 6.4 million had satellite and 3.8 million had cable. A total of 10.2 million (over 40%) had access to multichannel TV (Freeview). However the average of weekly viewing for each music channel is very low compared to channels such as BBC, ITV or E4. Six minutes per week spent on music channels compared to the 5 hours per week spent on channels such as BBC. These low figures are because of the less sustained manner in watching music channels, as the audience channel surf in search of videos of interest.

Digi-Paks

definition : is a style of compact disc or DVD packaging and is a registered trademark of AGI Media, a MeadWestvaco Inc. resource.

Characteristics:
-Book style paperboard or card stock outer binding.
-Usually have one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside.
-Digipaks were among the first alternatives to jewel cases to be used by major record companies.
-Because there are no other common names for digipak style packaging made by other companies the term digipak if often used.
- The CD can be held in place either with a plastic tray, card sleeve or a foam disc.

Digipaks pro's
- Jewel case seem to break more than the cardboard digipaks
- Cardboard cases look more professional and high quality
- Digipaks are eye catching
- They are cheap to produce
- Environmentally friendly
- Good to display graphics
- Are premium product
- Have more room to display information/graphics etc.
- Tailor made for each band, film etc.

Con's
- Can tear and rip
- Plastic teeth can break
- More expensive to the customer
- Trays can break
- Cd's can fall out easier
- Can look old and ragged after little use

Examples: