Existing RnB Artists Album Covers

When I started to think about my Digipak more, I wanted to gain some more inspiration for other artists and their CD covers. As you can see below, i have gathered together a selection of cd covers from a lot of different artists, mainly female RnB artists, and took each of them a CD cover to look further into.

My Observations of RnB CD Covers
One main thing that I have noticed about RnB styled artists is the use of typography which styles around the artist, and also features as a main part of the cd cover. For example, the Alesha Dixon and Beyonce features a big text stating the artist name in a unique font that tends to be carried on throughout the other albums for the artists. A good example of this is JLS's typography that has now even become more of a logo throughout all of their albums and merchandise.

Another observation I have noticed it the fairly simple look which involves just the artist's name/trademark font/style, and a photograph of the actual artist, usually a close up or even extreme close up shot. The photograph of the artist usually shows the artist fully made up and looking to perfection (Or Photoshoped!). This helps to sell the artist through face recognition and uses the artists face as a marketing form. I would like to try this for my CD cover as I think its a definite characteristic of an female RnB artist's CD cover.

Digipak Analysis

Rihanna's Digipak

This Rihanna digipak includes a big photo of her in a very Rihanna styled photo shoot. The photograph extends over all three panels of the digipak. I really love the way that the main styling of the digipak is through photography (as I am also a Photography student as well as Media!). I have great ideas for my own Digipak as I also would like to continue the idea of using big photographs as a main idea for a digipak.

Another thing that i noticed with Rihanna's Album 'Loud' is that the photography used in the digipak is also very similar to that in one of her singles released which is also on the album 'Only Girl in the world'.

Screenshot of Rihanna- 'Only girl in the world'

Screenshot of Rihanna- 'Only girl in the world'

This gave me the idea to take my primary photographs I will be using on my Digipak when i actually film the scenes for the music video, therefore I can get the exact styling and use it as recognition marketing.

The Actress/Actor in my Music video

After considering my choices for actresses i could use in my music video, I had a small selection of people i could choose from. After considering a few, i have chosen Alice! Although she does not have any previous acting experience, she was willing to be in my AS portfolio film trailer and she did very well. She is very pretty which i can imagine dressing her up to have a 'J'lo' look. Although I am aware that a typical RnB artist is black, with the resources available to me, it wasn't possible to source a black character, so I will conform with a lot of the other conventions of an R&B music video to make up for it as well as keeping it on track to making it a good R&B Music video.


I Am looking forward to working with Alice as I believe she will make a good female R&B Artist once I have dressed her up to look similar to an R&B Artist.

As for my male character, I'm going to use a guy in my Media class George. I won't be using George too much in my music video, as its the main artist that I need to sell which refers back to Goodwins Theory. However I do intend to use George in an objectifying way refering back to my lyrics such as 'Six pack showin' and 'So He Look Nice'. I Want to shoot roughly a minute or more of footage purely focused on George to cut into my music video.

Now that I Have my actor and actress, I can't wait to start planning what i'm going to do with them!

Digipak Research

A Digipak is an alternative to the jewel CD case, however it still contains many features that are the same, such as the conventional CD cover, Track listing back cover etc, but the digipack usually includes other information such as artist photo shoots, information, small biographies etc. A lot of artists and record companies distribute the album in both a Jewel Case as well as a Digipak format and usually the digipak is the 'Special Edition' version.

Along side our music video for the song we have been allocated, we have also been set an ancillary task which involves constructing a digipak for our song as if it was to be released on an album. For this, i have decided to research
You can get many styles of digipaks from a simple four panel design, to extravigant 8 panel paterns, however I think I would like to have a go at creating a six panel design such as the ones below. The patern on the left below is a six panel template with the cd in the centre. The middle template is with the cd on the right, and the right template is four panel with a pouch to put another booklet about the artist.

The template below is another good example of a template and one which i think i'd like to try myself for my own artists digipak.

Choreography Inspiration

There is two things i love about this music video. One thing i love is the dance routine in the beginning of the music video where she is wearing a hoodie and baggy clothing. I think that the dance routine is quirky and adds personality to the artist which is definitely a feature needed in a music video. The other thing i love is the use of clothing. There are some really lovely outfits which would definitely work well with my music video. I Will use these at a later date in a mood board so i know what i am creating for my music video.

More Inspiring techniques

The most inspiring thing about this music video to me is the fact that each camera shot is not only just cut together, but they use effects which almost give the vibrating or shakey movements which really helps to add dimension to the video. I would like to try this when making my own video.

Record Label Research

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and trademark image associated with the marketing and promotion of music recordings and productions and music videos. This is much like a the Vertical distribution of films. After considering my style of song and the particular genre, i believe that the type of record label would be a massive mainstream company which also has signed other artists similar to my own. I have researched other artists similar to my own to find out which record companies they are signed with to then have a starting point for research into which appropriate record company I could use.

Mariah Carey- Columbia, Virgin, Island

Rhianna- Def Jam, SRP, Roc Nation
Jennifer Lopez- Epic, Island, Work
Beyonce- Columbia
Alexandra Burke- Epic, RedOne, Syco, RCA, J
Cassie- NextSelection, Bad Boy, Atlantic
Sugababes- London, Island, RCA
Alesha Dixon- Polydor, Asylum, Atlantic
Alicia Keys- Columbia, Arista, J
Pussycat Dolls- A&M, Interscope

The main 5 recdord labels which had two or more artists in common were:

• Columbia
• Epic Records
• J Records
• Atlantic Records
• Island Records

Record labels for RnB Genre

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 After Researching all five record labels, i think i have come to the conclusion that any of them would be appropriate for my artist, however i particularly like Island Records and Epic Records.