The conventions of a CD cover and a magazine advertisement for the DigiPak

I have researched the main conventions of a CD cover as this is a part of our A2 coursework, to design a cover for our chosen song and music video. The CD cover is an extremely important part of marketing and selling the CD to the targeted audience, and depending on how good the cover looks, can determine whether this CD will sell successfully or not. As well as grabbing the audiences attention, CD covers are also there for informing the audience about who the artist/band is, what the song/album is called, how much it costs etc.

I believe the following points are the main conventions of the front of a CD cover:

• a simplistic colour scheme, but should stand out on the shelf
• a simplistic overall design
• a picture of the band/artist or something that relates to them/the songs
• the band/artist name clearly stands out from the cover- bold? different colour?
• hidden meanings within the cover
• a title or stand-first that explains to the audience what the song/album may be about
• a unique selling point- a picture? the design? abstract?

I believe the following points are the main conventions of the back of a CD cover:

• the name of the band/artist at the very top
• the name of the song/album underneath the artist name
• a list of the song titles, usually centred 
• a bar code in the bottom right hand corner
• the name of the record company
• the copyright and the year
• a name of who owns the copyrighted material
• who the album has been distributed by
• a different picture from the front cover of the band/artist 

To make a professional and sell able CD cover, I feel it is very important to follow these main conventions as the audience should then recognise it as a CD cover, it should stand out on the shelf, it should give the right amount of information to the audience and most importantly, it should sell.

I have also researched the main conventions of a magazine advertisement for the CD. I feel an advertisement is another extremely important factor in marketing and selling the media product successfully. As well as the CD cover, the advertisement can determine whether the product will sell to the audience and the album/CD will be successful overall.


I believe these following points are the conventions of a magazine advertisement for a DigiPak:

• release date
• place of purchase
• an image of either the CD cover, the band/artist, the actual CD or a prominent symbol/logo
• artist/band's name
• record label
• various reviews of album
• genre of the band reflected in the adverts fonts, colours, text and images
• information about what is included in the DigiPak
• tour and/or event information
• persuasive text and eye catching images

It will be vital to follow these main DigiPak advertisement conventions when creating a magazine article for the CD, as they should lead to a successful advertising and marketing campaign which will help to target and inform specific audiences about the CD and therefore to hopefully sell the CD successfully.