Textual analysis

This is the front cover of the debut album by Lily Allen and it is called "Alright, Still". The visual signs on this LP sleeve suggest that it is a pop album. Pop as a genre is very image orientated genre. Many artists are judged on their visual image rather than the music that they produce; this is why Lily Allen (herself) is on the front. The cover makes her out to be a relatively attractive female, which will attract her to the male audience. The rest of the design on the sleeve is very urban looking; almost graffiti like. The images that are depicted in this way are icons of urban living; big cars, dogs and large sound systems. The pop market is usually teenage females which are of a middle class. However this is market increases to (more often than not) teenage boys when an attractive female is the main artist. Daytime radio play and instore is where this music will be consumed. This increases its popularity and makes it more sucessful. It was released by an imprint of parlaphone/EMI; meaning it has the financial backing of EMI but has the freedom and independacy of a local low budget label. Both regal and EMI own the recordings of the album of which Lily only recieves royalties from. SOme of the lyrical motivation comes from mrs Allen herself. She wanted to highlight some of the social problems exprienced by the young people at the time thus tying her music in with the target audience.

This is the front cover of The White Stripes self entitled debut album. The overall first impression of this sleeve is rock and roll. The look of the people on the sleeve is very messy and untidy. The vintage film reel is also an icon that makes you think that the style of music is going to be retro rock. This being the debut album from a band it instantly sets the colour scheme and overtall look that the band has. The cover is also very minimal, again this reflects the music that they produce. Present in the franes of the film are the band memebers of the band. They come across as being quite messy and quite rock but at the same time co-ordinated. Almost like controlled disorder. The target audience for this text are late teens to early twenty tear old who are interested in the history of rock music. They would have to have this interest because the music to the average person would sound dated. This music is likely to be heard on alternative rock stations or late night rock shows thus meaning only a small amount of people will be able to hear it. This means that the album is not likely to be a chart sucess due to it niche market that it finds itself in. It was released on a small independat label called Sympathy for the Record Industry; making it even less acessible to the audience. It was recorded using very basic eqipment as most independants do due to money costs. This record has changed owership as it was owned by the label but then the artist bought it.