This penchant for using ideas generated by Visual Artists appears in modified form later in Renegades 2000 band front man, Tom Morello stated "The front cover is based on the artwork of Robert Indiana, who in the late 60's made a popular poster which instead of the letters "R-A-G-E" he wrote the letters "L-O-V-E"... Our cover is an ironic take-off of Robert Indiana's work. The four different covers were actually the idea of Rick Rubin.. when we were looking at the artwork samples we thought so many of them looked cool, and didn't want to have to decide...so we decided to put them all out and you can choose for yourself. The internal artwork by Josh Koppel, I think is an amazing and is a brilliant suggestions for how to send subversive messages via money." Tom Morello from an MTV interview.

What prompted these musings on the relationship between Visual Artists and popular music was an article I wrote on Adde Russell. Entitled Pop Up Iconography it recently has been receiving a lot of hits. Upon researching the cause of this activity, I discovered that she had done the cover art for Death Cab for Cutie's new album Transatlanticism.

"Doing album art - especially for a band that you like is a great way to get your work out there. I feel the beauty of it all is that I never feel attached to it like I do a personal painting. It's like doing work under an assumed name in the sense that people are going to listen to the music first and then maybe look at the art and try to figure it out. It's never about me. I think the most surprising thing that happened during my process of doing work for "Transatlanticism" was that the art took on a life of it's own that I had nothing do with - unlike seeing my paintings in a gallery or more controlled setting."
Well in my case - dealing with Death Cab came about because I am friends with the owner of their label. They were looking for artwork and hadn't found anything they liked yet. He called me up and said words like: love, distance and despair - something about maps and asked me if I had any thoughts. Of course, I was psyched and went to work on a thousand ideas and waited for a copy of the new music to get a better sense of what I was up against. They came over and looked over everything. I feel like that's how it usually happens with most bands. Death Cab seemed very respectful of my possible vision and encouraged me to own the art on a certain level - rather than feel like I was some sort of hired hand

" Artists like me don't get paid very well at all - for the most part. When I say this I am talking about the comparison between me selling work in a stuffy gallery and me doing an album cover. It was a shock for me to learn that in most cases - the art that goes on the album cover is not seen as that important - or people don't understand what it takes to make it work and therefore don't place that much importance on it - and I guess they shouldn't, it's about the music. I cannot tell you how many times I have bought a CD just because the cover was cool and the music turned out to be crap. I have talked to other people in bands on other indie-labels and they've told me that their budget for art is like $300 - and that's paying a lot. I suppose that if one were to do a cover / art work for Sony - then you'd make money, but at that point there is so much red tape and so many ad exec. types that it would have to get approval from that it would be a miserable experience - at least for the people who see themselves as "artists" and not graphic designers who are well trained in working with groups of people."

"Death Cab was the first band that actually paid me. For me I am just so excited about the idea of doing an album cover / art layout that I always did it for free. I mean the few other bands that I done work for - most of them weren't even on a label and it was all out of their pocket, so of course I wouldn't charge a dime, maybe free coffee. When it comes down to it - I have a tendency to just want to give work away. Believe me, had Death Cab never of mentioned money - I wouldn't have either. I mean the exposure alone was enough. When the Death Cab album came out - there were posters and ads in magazines all over the world - Japan, Greece, Spain, Australia, etc. I mean I couldn't pay for that. People emailed from all walks of life. I had a girl that went to a private school in London email me asking what my favorite album covers were for a class project. The coolest thing for me was to work on something for quite a while on a computer in my living room and then months later see the same image really big on a poster in some record store and not have a clue how it got there. This is exposure that my current situation could never have given me - even I was killed in a freak accident that was reported via CNN."

"Overall, the biggest thrill in the thought of creating artwork / layout for a band or musician is that I am given the opportunity to help aid someone else's vision in the hopes that it complements their art form. There are moments when that is more fulfilling then painting in a small room a lone for hours on end." Adde Russell. Adde Russell's work is represented byAT 31 in Seattle

Adde Russell's experience reverse mirrors my own. I was approached by the Seattle Band "Trana" about all sorts of design questions, I referred them to Joe Gray who designed their logo and their CD cover. They had specific things they wanted for the cover art. The photographs used on the cover were taken by me, although if you buy the album you will not find my name anywhere in the credits. Indeed, researching this story has taught me that the music industry has a hard time giving the people providing the visual content credit, in an appropriate way. Yet it was thrilling to see work created all of a sudden appear in the CD stores but unlike Adde Russell, I can not say I like the music made by "Trana" & Co. When you hear it, you are listening to a calculation of what will sell, not music.

It works best when you work as a team with the musicians to create the visuals. The Seattle band "Weary" are regular contributors to the community. For the album "In the High Country" they hired recent Cornish graduate Benjamin Hannawalt to paint the cover art, which I photographed, and Joe Gray did the graphic design work. By means of barter and some cash, "Weary" made sure that everyones efforts were recognized and having seen them in such venues as Cafe Venus, and the Rendezvous, the cover art and the album seem to fit well together.

The question of Album Covers seems to be in flux. The folks over at Bi-Polar Productions have Bill Patton's debut solo album, 'GETS IT ON' on-line. The marketing plan is for an independent, small run album to be released in association with Bipolar. The virtual cover was designed by Joe Gray who worked extensively with Bill Patton to get it right. The album is available in its' entirety, while it waits for distribution funding. Click the song name to hear. Will the future see the extinction of the CD. You can still buy vinyl right?.. Whatever happens, there will always be a need for Visual Content to go with the Audio tracks.