Album cover

An album cover is a printed cardboard cover that was typically used to package 12" gramaphone records from the 1960s through to the 1980s when the 12" record was the major format for distribution of popular music.

The cover served two purposes:

- to advertise the contents, as the record had little room on its own record label.

- to convey the artisitic aspirations of the original artists.

The cover became an important part of the culture of music at the time. As a marketing tool and an expression of artisic intent, gatefold covers, (a folded double cover), and inserts, often with lyric sheets made the album cover to be a desirable artifact in its own right. Notable examples are The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band which had cut-out inserts, lyrics, a gatefold sleeve though a single album; and Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon which had gatefold, lyrics, no title on the sleeve and poster inserts. The move to the small CD format lost the impact and though attempts have been made to create a more desirable packaging (e.g. the re-issue of the The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band which had cardboard box and booklet).