Appendix 3. Steve Lippert Email Interview Answers

1. Has the shift from music being consumed primarily as a physical product to streaming affected the way you approach designing or commissioning album artwork or creating an artist’s visual identity? Please explain why it has or hasn’t.

I have never compromised the design process when putting together ideas for a record sleeve, but that has occasionally backfired! I did once design a sleeve, with the brief being that it was to be a 12" vinyl sleeve. because of the big interest it generated, I was then asked to tweak the artwork for a CD, then digital and cassette. The problem I found was that the logo and title were already quite small on the sleeve design and I had to tweak the artwork to keep it legible! It's something I wasn't too keen to do, but I had no choice. In one way, designing a piece of square artwork JUST for, say, an Apple Music download is easier - less worry about pagination, print specs, inner pages etc. but to me it loses a lot of it's beauty.

2. Do features such as augmented reality or animated reels for Spotify interest you as accessories to album artwork?

I think it's great that it can all be tied in. I love how something like, say, a music video can influence the artwork style, or vice versa. Pulling everything together to form a family for that articular album, for example, knowing that the next release will/should have a different feel to it. Lots of challenges there, but I think that's what progresses it all

3. What do you think is the future for album artwork and promotion?

The future looks good to me. I think the healthy vinyl sales have to be a good thing. It's so important too that there are record shops in every town. I don't think that it's good to just rely on digital music in a music collection. The physical form will stay, forever hopefully! Promotion-wise I think we're at a stage where things may settle pretty much as they are for a while. A few apps will come and go, mutate and improve along the way.

4. Has artists’ awareness to how they are branded changed with the rise of social media campaigns? And does this affect the design process?

Yes I really think so. Older artists are incredibly aware. I have friends that still make records for the pure enjoyment of it. Many have come to realise that they cannot become rich from it and are just enjoying being in the moment now. A lot of self-released stuff is happening, ranging from artists paying out of their pocket for 250 vinyls, or putting a load of unreleased demos up on digital platforms like Bandcamp. These are people aged around 60 and are surprisingly savvy. A lot of smaller labels still rely on the subscriptions services, and send email updates with a view to people throwing money into thei Paypal every time a new 7" is pressed for example. It really has gone back to the early 80s Independent records days in many ways, when people would ask a friend to drive around handing over a pile of records to shops on a buy or return basis. Larger labels are often relying on repackaging... 10th Anniversary Version includes free set of postcards and colour vinyl editions aimed at fans who will collect every format available!

5. Out of the various outputs for music, CD, Vinyl and streaming which do you most prioritise and do you feel pressured to focus on a certain aspect in particular?

For me it has always been vinyl. It inspired me to do graphics as a career from the age of 12. Sitting and being wowed by the art, and right down to the paper stock and the way the sleeves were folded! It is very easy to become attached to vinyl I found. CDs were useful when every car had a CD player, and making my own compilations for the car was almost a hobby. But to me, unless the packaging is incredible, they were a bit throwaway. MP3 files etc were always useful in a similar way, and great to play when doing other things. I was never one to walk around listening to music so probably never quite made the most of that format. Streaming for me is YouTube. Again, around the house I'm more likely to have music via YouTube than any other site. I'm finding that I don't listen to vinyl enough at the moment, but I put that down to being sidetracked by 'house things'. I think it's really important to have a record player within easy access... to the point of having to move everything around to accommodate it!