Album Covers

Album covers serve three main purposes:

1. To advertise and identify the contents of the music product.
2. To convey the artistic aspirations of the original artists.
3. In reproductions of the artwork, to serve as a primary image in the promotional effort surrounding the product, as an identifiable image associated with it.

Around 1910, 78 rpm records replaced phonographic cylinder as the medium for recorded sound. The 78 rpm records were issued in both 10" and 12" diameter sizes and were usually sold separately, in brown paper or cardboard sleeves that were sometimes plain and sometimes printed to show the producer or the retailer's name. Generally the sleeves had a circular cutout allowing the record label to be seen. Records could be laid on a shelf horizontally or stood upright on an edge, but because of their fragility, many broke in storage.

Beginning in the 1920s, collections of empty sleeves with a plain paperboard or leather cover, similar to a photograph album, were sold as record albums. Starting in the 1930s, record companies began issuing collections of 78 rpm records by one performer or of one type of music in specially assembled albums. In 1938, Columbia records hired Alex Steinweissa its first art director. He is credited with inventing the concept of album covers and cover art, replacing plain covers used before. From the 1950s through to the 1980s, the 12" LP record and the 45 rpm record were the major formats for distribution of popular music, and the LP format is still used for occasional new releases, though it has largely been supplanted by other formats.

Since the mid-1990s,the CD has become the most common form of physically distributed music products. Packaging formats vary, including the very common plastic jewel case, and the popular cardboard & plastic combination commonly known as a Digipak. Typically the album cover component of these packages is approximately 4.75 inches square.