Portraying Performer Image in Record Album Cover Art

Ken Bielen argues that record album covers are used to authenticate the image of the performer in the music genre and as a tool to show transitions in image. He argues that specific music genres have unique signs that legitimate the recording artist.

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In Portraying Performer Image in Record Album Cover Art, Ken Bielen explains how album cover art authenticates recording artists by using elements that authenticate the performer in the particular genre. He considers albums issued from the 1950s to the 1980s, the golden era of record album cover art. The whole album package is studied including the front and back covers, the inside cover, the inner sleeve, and the text (liner notes) on the album jacket. Performers in rock and roll, folk and folk rock, soul and disco, psychedelic, Americana nostalgia, and singer-songwriter genres are included in this study of hundreds of record album covers.