Existing Digipaks

This is The Pretty Reckless' digipak for their album 'Light Me Up'. As they fall under the alternative rock genre (as well as hard rock and post grunge), they feel they need to portray ideas of recklessness and negative behavior to support their rebel 'bad guy' image. They have achieved this idea through the mise-en-scene which was used when shooting these photographs. For example, their album cover features is a young girl wearing a leather jacket whilst holding a lit lighter. This connotes distorted ideas such as 'why is a young girl holding a lighter?' and 'has she been brought up this way?'. This image can be inferred in many different ways; the little girl can be seen as rebelling against society due to the way she is holding the lighter. She is holding it out in front of her therefore making it look like she is trying to protect herself from society. Due to the expression on her face, this image can connote ideas of suffering, for example, she may be asking for help.

 Leather jackets are stereotypically known to be worn by the Rockers back in the 1960's therefore to see a little girl wearing a leather jacket in the modern day twists the audience's view that the Rockers are not a dying breed. The use of the four crosses ('XXXX') at the bottom of the CD suggest that the theme of this album is rebellious. On the actual CD, there are pictures of some Doc Martens (linking back to the Rockers and the leather jacket), these are stereotypically known to be worn by the Rockers back in the 1960's therefore by seeing them on - what we can only assume is the legs of the little girl this also twists our idea of a conventional rebel.

Throughout the digipak, there is the use of a uniform font. This is so the audience can easily recognise The Pretty Reckless' album or name anywhere else. This font connotes negative ideas and themes of rebelliousness therefore, they are essentially supporting their overall theme of their album. The Pretty Reckless have also stuck to a colour scheme (red, black and white) so the audience can again, easily recognise their name elsewhere. The colour red can connote multiple different ideas e.g. love/romance or evil/devil. In this case, it is obvious that the colour red has been used to connote negative ideas to the audience as it has been paired with the colour black. The colour black suggests bad behavior therefore by putting the two colours together, overall they both connote negative ideas.

This is Nirvana's digipak for their album 'MTV Unplugged in New York', it features an image in which was taken at the actual performance. Therefore this immediately engages the audience as they become aware of what the album consists of. On the left of the front cover, there is a sticker which explains to the audience that there are two tracks that were not featured on the original broadcast. The idea of the sticker is to promote the product even more as it entices the audience to buy the album therefore they can listen to the two unheard tracks.

It is obvious that this digipak is old due to the grey covering around the outside of the CD slot. The producers of this digipak have maintained a uniform colour scheme (red, white and yellow) in order to make it easier for the audience to recognise their band name elsewhere. There is the constant theme of yellow and red in an almost tie dye form as back in 1993, this theme was a popular trend for the audience. The trend is also seen on the back of the digipak.

Inside Nirvana's MTV Unplugged in New York digipak, there is a poster behind the front cover. This is a promoting technique that will encourage the audience to invest in the album as they are buying the album as well as a poster. The poster has been edited in black and white in comparison to the actual album (which has been shot in colour), this is so the poster stands out the audience. Black and white suggests elements of old age to the audience consequently enhancing Nirvana's history.

Digipak Research

Digipaks are covers for a CD or a vinyl that are used to protect, promote and connote ideas about the artist or movie to the audience. It is typically in the style of a paperback book on the outside which is protected by a plastic cover in order to prevent the images from damage.

A digipak holds a track list, information on who produced the album, tracks and the artwork however now that digital technology is rapidly taking over, digipak’s are becoming less of an existence.  With iTunes 10th birthday fast approaching, music sales have plummeted in the US, from $11.8 billion recorded in 2003 to $7.1 billion recorded just last year. However in 2013, digital track sales fell from $1.34 billion to $1.26 billion according to billboard.com.

Digipak’s influence follow-ons such as ‘behind the scenes’ or ‘bonus songs’ which allows the artist to give themselves a personality in the form of a digipak. Digipaks also allow the artist to essentially connect with their audience through their ideologies; they establish the artist as a recognisable figure and brand therefore creating a link between them and their target audience.