Would classic album art have survived under a green regime?

However, people are still buying hard copies of their favourite music – entertainment retailer HMV recently reported a rise in profits, for one – so, for the near future at least, CD packaging will continue to be produced.

Forget Tim Berners-Lee’s wires, bleeps and whistles, though. There could now be a new threat on the horizon to creativity in album art: the green agenda.

Yesterday, Packaging News reported that eco-CD packaging manufacturer WeWow is looking for designers to enter a competition to create a new eco-friendly music packaging format. I am intrigued to see what the entrants come up with, and whether, however innovative and worthy, it would be a format capable of supporting designs as evocative and special as the record sleeves of old.

Last year, Turner Duckworth designed the packaging for the latest album by heavy metal band Metallica, Death Magnetic. The die-cut coffin on the sleeve is an example of the best sleeve art – it feels interesting, different and special. The agency recognised that the industry was moving on, and as a result designed the coffin as an image that would work in a cross-media society, and would be instantly recognisable on a mobile phone screen. Partner David Turner explained at the time: “It’s not just about sleeve art anymore, it’s about creating icons that work across media.”

But while new media platforms perhaps encourage creativity and move ‘sleeve’ art in new directions, I can’t help feeling that green innovations could have the opposite effect.

For example, lightweight packs and sustainable materials are all well and good, but I doubt very much the copy of Kind of Blue by Miles Davies that I own, packaged in a lightweight, “100% biodegradable and carbon neutral” tray, lacking an inlay card and sleeve notes and in their place proudly displaying a list of ‘top 10 energy saving tips’ courtesy of The Energy Saving Trust – including the invaluable advice, “always turn off lights when you leave a room” – sufficiently recreates the feeling that would have been experienced by those who excitedly took home the original 12-inch vinyl edition in 1959.

And I doubt, too, that my personal all-time favourite CD packaging, created by design agency Farrow, would have survived a rethink by the green lobby. Spiritualized’s Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space was packaged in a perfect recreation of a pharmaceutical pack, down to the patient information leaflet and dosage label. Best of all, the CD was foil-sealed in a blister pack. The limited edition version went a step further, with each of the 12 tracks on a separate mini CD, all packed in their own blisters.

Would this kind of creativity and desire to create something so collectible and special have been allowed to flourish under the green regime? Could there be a compromise between the two schools of thought? Or should aficionados expecting something a little more than just the music simply come to terms with the fact that the times they are a-changin’?

David Elliott is production editor of Packaging News

Packaging News wants to hear about your favourite album sleeves. Do you think there can be a balance between eco-friendly packs and classic album art? Join the debate by logging in and leaving your thoughts at the end of the article.

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