Research Into the Content of DigipaksI have done research into the content of digipaks by analysing those of well-known bands, so that I gain a better idea of what and what not to include in my own production. Below are the scanned images and my analyses of the digipaks that I have researched.

Keane – ‘Hopes and Fears’ (2004)This was the band’s debut album and was met with huge success, topping the UK album charts upon release and becoming the best-selling British album of 2004. The album won a BRIT Award for Best Album in February 2005 and has since gone eight times platinum, selling almost six million copies.

Front Cover: The cover of the digipak booklet is the same as the album cover, except with a very dark green background instead of black.

Pages 1 & 2: Here lyrics of the songs on the album are featured, as well as a close-up image of the lead singer. These pages allow the audience to get to know the band more closely, giving them insight into their songs (through the lyrics) and allowing them to recognise members of the band, which they were not able to do using simply the front cover.

The lyrics of all songs on the album are featured and several more pictures of the band are also included. Many of these pictures are performance-based, either at gigs or practicing. These provide more information about the band and bring the audience closer to them.

Because the album cover doesn’t feature images of the band or any information about them, it is essential that the digipak booklet does. Therefore, if the objective of the album cover is to gab a potential customer’s attention to increase the likelihood of purchase, the purpose of the digipak booklet is to provide more information about the band/ artist to an audience member after he/ she has bought the album.

Coldplay – ‘X&Y’ (2005)

This is the third studio album that Coldplay produced, by which time they were a popular and established band. This is reflected in the lack of information included compared to Keane’s digipak booklet. No lyrics of any of the songs are listed. There, however, several images of members of the band, while there is also a double-page spread of a graphical representation of the Baudot code, an early for on telegraph communication.

It seems, then, that for an already established band the purpose of the digipak is more to further the image and ideologies of the band, rather than ‘getting to know the band’, as it is in Keane’s debut digipak booklet.

Pink Floyd – ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’ (1973)

On the page above there is a list of websites advocated by the band (e.g. www.greenpeace.org, www.amnesty.org and www.wateraid.org.uk), expressing the band’s ideologies and therefore strengthening the audience’s relationship with the band.

At the time of this album’s release Pink Floyd were already a widely established band, perhaps accounting for the simple and abstract nature of the front cover. On the first page, there is a list of the songs featured on the album, with the name of the person who wrote the song written in brackets. Behind the text is a large image of an Egyptian landscape, which seems quite irrelevant and abstract, but is also very atmospheric and stylish.

The Egyptian pyramids are again featured in the background, creating an ongoing theme throughout the booklet. There are also images of the band, and the lyrics of the songs are featured with colourful backgrounds.

Through this research I have learnt that images and information of the band are essential in digipak booklets, as they allow the audience to build a relationship with the band, as a result of further insight into their music (through the inclusion of lyrics), their lives (through ‘behind-the-scenes’ images and biographical information) and their ideologies (through the inclusion of personal opinions, e.g. the websites listed in Coldplay’s digipak). It is therefore important for me to include similar types of information in my own production in order to effectively introduce an unknown band to their audience.