How big an impact does album cover art have on you

How big an impact does album cover art have on you?

None whatsoever.

--Jerome

Being an art student, it's kind of difficult not to. But I'm pretty firm on the fact that it really shouldn't affect my enjoyment of the music for a myriad of reasons.

Does the cover of the book make an impact on your enjoyment of the content within? Were this an absolution, I'd think pretty poorly of many literary masterpieces.

Supplemental material is all well and good, and can enrich one's enjoyment of the music, but to have it impact my enjoyment of the music itself I think, would be a reason to disappoint myself. Classical watersheds, for instance, lose their impact and their magnitude(because of my enjoyment found through them..) just because some budget artist slaughtered the outside of the record? How could they have had control over that, creating music hundreds of years before the birth of said artist? Even today, many times the musical artists have no control over what goes on the front of their record(as this is the prerogative of the label..marketing and whatnot)and to let that have an impact on what they did create, to me, is maybe doing them a disservice.

So in short? My opinion says that ideally, it shouldn't. To say that this isn't a reality though would be nieve without a doubt. Marketing is a powerful thing, and the need to create an "icon" of sorts that will cement a record into the higher musical associations(and therefore sales..)

Think Dark Side of the Moon, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts, Kind of Blue, or London Calling. They're iconic because of the music inside of them and what the effect that IT had on the masses.

It can definitely get me interested in an album, or dull my interest if it's bad, but once I'm actually listening I don't think it has an appreciable effect.

Well, there are some albums where I'd say it does...

No impact on my enjoyment of the music. If an album happens to have cool art, I look at that as a bonus. Occasionally, I will buy an album because it has cool art, and I've been meaning to check out the band (most recently Propaghandi - Supporting Caste).

Only slight impact on music or artist which I already know, but huge impact when I'm discovering new music or artist

I own all of Keith Jarrett's solo concerts and the cover art on practically all is quite sparse. Someone new to his music might very well overlook his genius improvisations based on the cover art.

Personally I pay no attention to the cover art and it has no influence on my buying or listening enjoyment.

I really like good cover art. Some of my favorites include London Calling, Sea Change, Selling England By the Pound, In the Court of the Crimson King (!), Forever Changes, Another Green World.....

But it has nothing to do with my enjoyment of the music -- just my enjoyment of the cover art.

X2 on London Calling and Sea Change. The cover is an added bonus. My favorite cover Beck's, The Information. You get to make your own cover with the supplied stickers! He is one creative man, best idea for an album cover, ever.

I enjoy the artwork, for sure, but most of my discs stay on the rack and my "in rotation" discs are usually stacked next to the rig. Those are the silver ones, not the black ones. I don't leave the black ones out. So I don't spend much time with the artwork - I prefer to focus on the music.

cool album art is a bonus. that's about it.

The whole package is important to me; I'm not an "it's only the music that counts" type.

It is okay to me if the cover-art is merely uninspired or dated; but if the art is positively offensive to my eyes (of course it is subjective), then sorry about the music: I just won't touch it.

Album art is important to me as well, but I don't understand how it could affect my enjoyment of the music itself. I can't really imagine deciding I love an album because it has a pretty sleeve, or not really liking it that much because I don't like the cover; it seems pretty ridiculous to me.

Though album art has absolutely no impact on whether or not I enjoy the music, I am still moved by album art that it interesting in some way. If album art were a factor, I would probably never buy world music ever again. With that said, one of my current favorites is, Cold Play's - A Rush of Blood to the Head. I find it simple, edgy, cold, and strange, like a cryogenic Francis Bacon.