How Important is Graphic Design in the Consumption of Music?

As a precursor to doing some more in-depth research with books from the reading list I compiled, I decided to summarise my initial thoughts and ideas on this question. This way I have some idea of what I’m looking for whilst researching and it gives me a base stance to work up from, whether my research supports these initial ideas or actually I find the opposite. 

Clearly graphic design is very important in the consumption of music, it’s used for album covers, posters, promotional material and marketing, set designs, merchandise and more. Right off the bat, album covers spring to mind, in the same way we’re not supposed to judge a book by it’s cover, but we actually do, it’s exactly the same for an album cover; it’s a visual representation of the music and as consumers of music, it gives us insight into whether we want to listen or not. Over the years, different music genres have become associated with different styles of design and often the first step of consuming music is to see the album cover and analyse how it matches what you perceive as your music taste. This is why graphic design is so important in this stage. 

With the word ‘consumption’ within the title of this essay, and considering music listeners as consumers, you can also think of music acts/artists as brands. And once you consider the question through that lense, it’s easy to see how important design is in music. Massive brands like Coca-Cola or Apple have instantly recognisable logos and visual identities and consumers of these brands have brand loyalty to them because their branding achieves instant contact, looking at the theory of identity, as consumers, the brands and products we consume become part of our identity. It’s the same with musicians who build up a following, acts like the Rolling Stones or Metallica have instantly recognisable logos, and this gives consumers reassurance, they take these designed aspects as visual confirmation.

I think looking at the question through the idea of branding will play a big part, and one thing I should explore is in what ways do we consume music, and is graphic design integral in all of them? 

One example I think would be really interesting to explore is ‘The White Album’ by the Beatles, which was just a blank white record sleeve with their name embossed very small on it. Firstly, is this a lack of graphic design, or is the extreme minimalism a conscious design choice? Secondly, the Beatles are a great example to use, though they did have a logo which we all associate with them, it was rarely actually used by them. Also, all their cover art was always very different. Is this an example of a music act which didn’t need graphic design in order to be heavily consumed because of their reputation. Ironically they are the most consumed music act ever. Was this purely the case because of the landscape of the music industry at the time; with no internet/social media, people needed to listen to the radio, watch tv, go to record stores. In the 21st century, the internet has not only brought about more music acts but it has brought easier ways to instantly consume music as well, for this reason, is graphic design essential in the consumption of music now, if it wasn’t already before.