There is no right way to make an album cover, but they all require creativity and must somehow make both the musicians and the record companies happy. Different album covers require different methods of creating them. If an album cover needs painted artwork, then the creative director for the album cover has to license and pay for an artist to create that artwork. If photographs are needed, the creative director will hire a photographer and license the photos, and then the creative director will work with the photos/paintings and create the album cover.

Album Covers

Theory of a Deadman released Scars and Souvenirs in 2008, with its album cover being created by one of our interviewees, Jeff Chenault. 

Our Interviewees:

Jeff Chenault is an album cover artist and the founder and creative director of eleven07, a design firm that designs album covers and other marketing materials and graphic design elements. He is the former Creative Director of Roadrunner Records and the former Creative Vice President of Koch Records. He is best known for his work with Nickelback, and has created album covers for many bands and musicians, including the New York Dolls, The Cult, Carole King, Ringo Starr, Stabbing Westward, Loretta Lynn, Inspectah Deck, and Dave Davies.

Jeff told us a dramatic story about the process behind creating the album cover for Nickelback’s All the Right Reasons.

Tim Stedman has been an album cover artist for over 30 years. He is the former Vice President and Creative Director of MCA Records. He is best known for his work with Blink-182 (Dude Ranch, Enema of the State, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket), the Grammy-nominated album cover package for This is Fort Apache, and the album cover of Roy Orbison’s final work Mystery Girl. He has also cultivated a long-standing relationship with country music artist Lyle Lovett and has created multiple album covers for him, including Step Inside This House, I Love Everybody, and My Baby Don’t Tolerate.  


Tim told us stories of creating the album covers for Blink-182 and Mystery Girl by Roy Orbison:

The Album cover creation for Mystery Girl by Roy Orbinson

Creating Blink 182- Album Covers

Who Owns an Album Cover?

When a person creates an original work, they own the copyrights for that work and are entitled to the six exclusive rights that are provided under U.S. Copyright law, including the right to produce derivative works, show their works in a public setting, or reproduce their work. Interestingly, an artist’s rights to album covers they create are typically bought out by the record company. If the artist is a freelancer, they will transfer any of their copyrights for their work to the record company as part of their contract with the record company for that album cover. Additionally, if an artist works in-house at a record company, part of their employment contract will give the record company the copyrights of any final work used for an album cover. This gives the record company ownership over the final version of the album cover. This is important to a record company because album covers have a long shelf life, and the goal is to obtain that IP so they can have it in perpetuity, protect those rights, and use them for other purposes, such as selling merchandise that contains the album cover art. 

We asked Tim and Jeff what rights they own relating to their album cover work:

Tim Stedman:

Jeff Chenault:

When the record company fails to obtain all copyrights associated with an album cover, that can cause problems. The album cover of The Velvet Underground and Nico famously featured licensed artwork from Andy Warhol, a pop-art image of a banana. In 2012, The Velvet Underground requested that copyrights for the artwork of that iconic album cover be released to them. However, the Andy Warhol Foundation disagreed saying that it was Warhol’s work of art and he owned and was entitled to copyright protections. The Velvet Underground sued the Foundation to obtain the full rights to the artwork. The parties later settled the lawsuit. 

Creating the Outer Packaging of an Album Cover:

To create an album cover, the album cover artist needs to create a work of art that not only the music artist is proud of and passionate about, but also one that the record company likes. So, an album cover artist's job is to go between the artist and their label to create an album cover that both will like. At the end of the day, the label has the final say as to what the final album cover will be.

We asked Jeff about the process of working with the record label and the music artist: 

This process is similar when creating album cover artwork for movie soundtracks as well. However, instead of being the go-between between the musical artist and the label to create the album cover, they go between the label and the movie studio. 

Jeff also explained his work to create album covers for movie soundtracks:

Crafting the Inner Packaging for an Album:

The inner packaging of the album is also important. It's important that the inner packaging of the album remains cohesive with the outer packaging in order to give the album the right feel. Just as much care and patience goes into the creation of the inner packaging of the album as does the outer packaging.

Jeff told us how he created the inner packaging design for Scars and Souvenirs by Theory of a Deadman:

Copyright Infringement:

Album covers are pieces of art, and because of that, they will occasionally face issues of copyright or trademark infringement. Tim told us about an infringement claim relating to his creation of the album cover for Enema of the State

Sometimes album covers use other people’s likenesses. Often they will ask for the person’s permission to use their likeness. However, there have been instances when people’s likenesses have been used without their permission. One example of this is The Rolling Stones' album cover for Some Girls which originally used the likenesses of Lucille Ball, Marilyn Monroe, and other famous women who sued The Rolling Stones for using their likenesses without their permission, causing the band to change their album cover removing the celebrities’ likenesses.

Iconic Album Covers:

There is a lot of care and consideration people put into creating album covers. Sometimes an album cover can take on a life of its own, and become a facet of pop culture. Think of the Beatles’ Abbey Road album cover or The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd. When this happens the album cover becomes part of the iconography of a decade or a generation, even decades after the album was released. Because of how impactful an album cover can become, one would think that the people behind some of the most famous album covers knew how important the album cover would become, but that may not be the case.

Tim shared his thoughts on what causes an album cover to become iconic.

References:

Lynskey, Dorian. “Velvet Underground Settle Copyright Dispute with Andy Warhol Foundation.” The Guardian, 11 Sept. 2012, www.theguardian.com/music/2012/sep/11/velvet-underground-copyright-andy-warhol. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.

Heavy Heads Records. “The Trouble with ‘Some Girls.’” Heavy Heads Records, 22 Nov. 2023, www.heavyheadsrecords.com/post/the-trouble-with-some-girls?srsltid=AfmBOop-I6g5ZIQyNoAz3FCFHJZNMG5Oc1vMkoQ2-ypDGroP1Ybi5qgQ. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.

United States Copyright Office. “What Is Copyright?” Copyright.gov, U.S. Copyright Office, https://www.copyright.gov/what-is-copyright/.