It Looks Like It's Dead
According to legendary graphic designer Peter Saville (New Order, Roxy Music etc.) the album cover is dead. I'm not so sure.
While the need for a physical album sleeve might be dwindling fast, artwork still seems to be pretty essential when it comes to marketing music - and artwork still plays a pretty important role on iPods and other mp3 players.
Albums like In Rainbows have had a pretty solid identity in an age of downloads - and with the ever-growing popularity of the collector's edition there is now a bigger market for the production of ever more fanciful covers, as seen by the likes of Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead and now Byrne / Eno - who have a limited edition designed by graphics hero Stefan Sagmeister.
19th Aug 2008 - Tumblr