Art of Listening #10 with Keith Jopling
In the tenth edition of our The Art of Listening series, the ever-insightful Keith Jopling explores the artist’s choice of colour palette for their album projects and overall branding.
Design guru and fellow album fan David Freer has now finished his Colour Countdown series of 10 blogs on the album and colour. I loved this series, particularly for how it links records by nothing other than the colour palette of the sleeve - and yet that connection is perfectly valid somehow. In some cases (The Clash London Calling and Elvis Presley) the connection is a deliberate choice and the records are indeed, paired - in a way no algorithm would figure out.
David’s series explores cool colour matches such as pink and yellow, and the iconic sleeve design of Never Mind The Bollocks. As pride week approaches, putting together a collection from a rainbow palette throws together an intriguing bunch of records. I even put a quick playlist together for this one. When he moves onto green, it’s striking how BRAT comes to mind immediately. Charli XCX - among many other accomplishments in the past 24 months - has truly colonised music’s green palette. It’s a lime green takeover - you can’t see that colour and not think about the album. Genius? Well, yes - look how it has caught on, with Olivia Rodrigo now occupying lavender (purple), while Sabrina Carpenter has gone for sky blue.
When making an album now, it’s very much a case of…pick a colour. In the vinyl resurgence, every artist I speak with tells me the artwork is as important to them almost as much as the music itself. Alongside vinyl, aesthetic culture has risen massively in the age of social media, and it has opened up a new creative space alongside and complimentary to the music. Behind iconic and exceptional cover artwork are great collaborations between the musicians and their chosen art & design partners. For many years I have been obsessed with Hipgnosis - not the music rights fund recently bought by Sony but the original design agency (which Merck Mercuriadis named his music rights company after). In the halcyon days of vinyl, Hipgnosis was as rock and roll as any indie label - in fact more so - the trio who ran the agency were more like an iconic band. Their sleeve designs were commissioned with unthinkable budgets - occasionally a blank cheque - imagine that in today’s business!
We all have a favourite album cover, one that forms more than a small part of why we love that particular record. But you may also have a favourite colour palette when it comes to records and may not have even realised it. I’m partial to black/white/grey/red, meaning I own a lot of Interpol albums. Indeed, Interpol’s guitar player Daniel Kessler is a huge fan of art, design and styling (you won’t catch him without a suit on). Like Daniel, back in the earlier days of record shops, I’ve actually bought albums based on the sleeve design, without knowing the band or hearing the record. Like we do with books sometimes. Funny, the visual attraction (and probably the emotional investment in your choice) usually means it works out quite well, despite the obvious risk.
With only 50% of vinyl buyers owning a turntable (according to Luminate) it’s highly likely the sleeve design is the most useful part of the product for these particular album buyers. I’ve also noticed a return to including posters with albums - a very pleasant throwback and a bonus when you ‘unbox’ your record. Meanwhile on digital platforms, sleeve designs are carried over into lyric videos and canvas backgrounds, enhancing the overall concept of the album tracks as a connected story.
Next time you buy or even stream a record, take the time to pay attention to the artwork and the colours used. How do they form a part of the artist’s vision and what difference does it make to the enjoyment of the music for you as the listener?
Keith is on a short summer break and will be back with installment 11 of The Art of Listening in September.
Learn more about Keith Jopling:
Keith is a music strategist, advisor, consultant, writer and mentor. In 2021 he started the music podcast The Art of Longevity, featured under Spotify’s “must listen” music podcasts and on all other platforms. The archive sits on his music curation site The Song Sommelier.
Keith has worked with the boardrooms of labels, streaming services, start-ups and investors. He has held previous roles with Sony Music, Spotify, EMI and the BPI. Most recently he was Consulting Director at boutique music agency MIDiA Research (2019-2024) and began his career in music as Research Director at global trade body IFPI (2000-2006).
As an educator, he has lectured in music business, strategy and innovation at Henley Business School, NYU, BIMM, ACM, Belmont, Syracuse, Westminster and the University of Krems, Austria.