Research Digipaks

What is a DIGIPAK?

It is a marketing tool intended to offer the buyer an incentive for purchasing the hard copy from a high street or online retailer rather than downloading/streaming the music. It is particularly important as sales of albums have dwindled as buyers often prefer to download their favourite tracks rather than pay out for the full album. 

Elements of real Digipaks: 

 Front Cover:   

The front cover tends to have a large eye catching image/picture on them.The illustration on the front panel tends to have some relation to the songs or artist.

The Song/album title is usually found on the from panel.

Back Cover:

The Back cover tends to have the track list with all the songs that are on the album. The artist name and album name can also be found on the back of the Digipak. The record label and the album art work can be found on the back panel as well as extra information. This is also where the barcode is found

Spine:

The Spine is where you'll find the artists name and the name of the album/song.

Inside Panels:

On the inside you'll find a plastic holder for the cd itself, this tends to be transparent with a piece of artwork behind it which will have some relevance to the cd or other pieces of art on the inside.

you can also find extra information with in which may include, song lyrics, artist information and even a personal message from the artist them selves. Further more art work could be found in side.

Booklets and Posters:

on the inside booklets and posters may also be found these tend to have messages song lyrics and further art work inside as well as picture os the artist.

Retailers:


In terms of High Street and Online sales, streaming is the cheapest and perhaps currently the most widely used method of consumption due to the amount of streaming websites available and the efficiency of them; sites such as Spotify and apple music are highly popular with the younger demographic. In recent months, Vinyl Records are coming back into fashion as they are seen as trendy thus distributors can make these fairly expensive as they are aesthetically pleasing and once in a lifetime pieces. 


Retailers such as HMV are well known for selling DVD's and Digipak's, their primary basis being offering such products. However in such a digital age it is quite surprising that such a store is  still up and running. its not without struggle, due to big contending music apps such as Spotify and apple music.

The main image is of Chris Brown himself in a painting effect. This could show a representation of his artistic life and interests. The effect of multiple colours gives an artistic tone to the album cover. His facial expression is serious as he glares into the camera. This can be shown as the connection he wants to build with his fans and the seriousness that his music within contains.


The background is seen to be quite busy containing images of himself and possibly his views. It includes images such as children and some of his artwork that he has produced himself. Therefore, I would depict that the background is an illustration of his background information that has made who he is. The background also features pictures of a younger self, either side of his current picture which could be an attempt to portray how far he has come since his younger days.


The multi-colours used overlapping the black and white images of himself could be a representation of the old him going through a change due to his fame and him seeing a new oath of his life which is colourful and positive.


There is a parental advisory sticker. This gives a warning to whoever buys this DIGIPAK that there may be language and intent that could cause offence. Always seen in the bottom right hand corner on the front.


The font of the word FAME is written in a thriller/horror font which contrasts with the rest of the DIGIPAK, full of bright and vibrant colours.


The back cover features a list of all the songs that are on the album and also includes some institutional information.