Eastern/Western Album Cover Comparison

In the music industry, there a major differences between the album artworks of East and West. This is mainly due to the vast cultural differences between the two hemispheres.

In my first visual culture theory session, which was all about Japanese youth culture, we discussed with Malcolm about how different the east is to the west, when it comes to music, as well as youth culture. For example, the Japanese never had a punk movement, so this has led to there being a much more different cultural scene in the east, compared to the west.

Because of the connection between this module and the visual culture session just gone, I thought it might be interesting to research, and show the comparison, especially since there is a Japanese album listed on the brief.

Below are a few examples of well known western, and then eastern album covers respectively.

Western Covers:

http://popcultureblog.dallasnews.com/files/2013/05/MUSIC_REVIEW-VAMPIRE_WEEKEND_31094933.jpg < image reference at this link.

http://www.elpl.org/sites/default/files/rihanna_0.jpeg < image reference at this link.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN4ETQXuXqM43XqBe9oLxtX_c8rHPnuS9JEtO8HLQQANPhcZzrLS151b6Npe6m-AACUvMHlJpV38zKLVb_bPEMuNR5VxpsJX3Gv0VlbfAYYsetk6RUYyx6Byk56TipU1eul7LVYyca2fYW/s1600/cd+cover+3-+animation.jpg < image reference at this link.

http://loretod1group3.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/vivalavida.jpg < image reference at this link.

Eastern Covers:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZcAAtGtFrIiI4uQR_DNY7NAKoQiAhPe_PkKRzJIPRFHbG15aPYriAW5DR_G21IbEzVVwWhf8VMCXqbFon4zIc6PUPCMtTS7WO3lVgfLMgZizt9Zf5CKLGSZboahc4v0akNr_BLjVKYCY/s1600/Kyary+Pamyu+Pamyu+Pika+Pika+Fantajin+ピカピカふぁんたじん+ジャケット+Cover+3.jpg < image reference at this link.

http://www.melodiary.com/image/cache/data/SNSD/Album/IGAB-600x750.jpg < image reference at this link.

http://hellsing.gen.tr/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ruins.jpg < image reference at this link.

http://www.kimbawlion.com/kimbawlion/1990CD.jpg < image reference at this link.

http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140605180834/aikatsu/images/e/ef/1401965048910.jpg < image reference at this link.

There is a very obvious difference between the style of album covers across hemispheres. Something that I have noticed from the Japanese album covers in this blog, is that they seem to include much more colour in them, on average, than the western covers.

There are quite a few Japanese album covers that use anime/manga themes. These themes are really popular in Japan, and it is embedded in their culture, especially within the youth culture.







Thomas.