Digital Album Artwork affects sales

I saw this mentioned by @thornybleeder at the end of last week and then had someone else ask me about it this morning to see if we agreed.

It's an article about how album (and single) artwork is changing in the digital age and how those changes can actually affect sales success.

The basic premise is that since we are approaching the point where the majority of album sales are digital downloads, the most viewed version of an album sleeve is the thumbnail size version on iTunes and Amazon.

Artwork designed to stick out at this small size (especially when people are browsing the shop category areas) really can help make people click through and listen and perhaps buy your music.

We have been simplifying our sleeve designs for most of our artists for several years for this reason and you should consider it too.

Of ourse, there is still  place for intricate and detailed artwork but be aware of the choice you are making or perhaps cretae a simple version for web sales and a more complicated version (of the same art) for physical sales.

I love great packaging when I buy CD or vinyl, but don't let that cloud your judgement!

Read the piece here.