Designing the Perfect CD Cover Part 1
Chances are that when you were a child you were instructed never to judge a book by its cover, but you still did it, right? In the same way, you should design your CD cover with your audience in mind. They're going to be more interested in listening to your music if your cover appeals to them. Your CD cover truly is the best advertisement for your music, and may be the deciding factor of whether or not music executives decide to listen to your demo or consumers choose to buy your album without being able to listen to it first. Here's how to pick a cover that really pops and works to generate fans and CD sales:
Front Cover- Make sure the name of your band is on the upper third of your cover and clearly visible, ideally in a unique logo design. You also want to make sure that the title of your album is easily distinguishable from your band name. When it comes to your cover art, try to make it relate to the genre of your music. The style of it should hint at the genre of music you make... when it comes to designing your front and back covers, remember that in many cases this is your only chance to appeal to the music industry and the consumer, so make the space work for you!
Back Cover- on your back cover, you'll want your band name, a numbered list of song titles/times, contact information, and links to your band website, JukeboxAlive and other social networking profiles. Even if someone just sees your CD in the store and goes to visit your website or social networking profile later, you'll still have made some headway in recruiting fans. Plant as many seeds as possible to grow your fan base by including all the contact information you can-- you may be surprised at the amount of information that "sticks" with people enough to follow up on interesting musical leads later.