Too weird analysis
- 1. The front cover of the digipak for Panic! At The Disco’s 4th studio album titled “Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die” is dramatically different to any digipak released by the band before (or even after) this record. It employs the use of intertextuality as well as a minimalistic colour scheme (which contradicts the common codes and conventions of rock music) to highlight the evident journey of the artist and the importance of brand identity. Firstly, the masthead of the name of the band is the most noticeable feature of this front cover. It employs an artistic font that loyal fans would associate with the band, as this is the same logo they have used since the beginning – and it usually features in music videos and at the band’s live shows. By placing it in the top left-hand corner of the album cover, it makes it appear more like a pug you’d expect to see on a music magazine. Moreover, by having the coverline of the title of the album written in a dramatically smaller font, it means anyone who purchases this album, would most likely pay attention to the name of the band first. Moreover, you could link this to the idea that the artist is trying to supply a recognisable brand identity for consumers – and this could particularly appeal to younger audiences. This album was released in 2013, and this year can be seen as the start of a new technological/social era of change. At this point it started to become more common for people to want to purchase albums from sites such as iTunes and Google Play, rather than going to a music store. Therefore, this could highlight the ideal consumer the band wants to aim their music at – younger generations who are more likely to purchase albums online. And given that this album cover is quite simplistic due to its minimalistic colour scheme, it may be designed to attract a more ‘digital’ audience. However, it is a key convention of this band to re-release their records as a vinyl edition. Thus signifying the wider demographic Panic! At The Disco sell their music to. By having the option to buy this record either as a CD, digital copy or on Vinyl, it reaches out to a much wider audience and highlights how the band use marketing in order to attract their ideal consumer. Personally for me, despite being a younger fan, I would pick the vinyl edition over a digital version as I love collecting them. Yet the much more vibrant colour scheme of the vinyl version of the record may also appeal to a younger fan due to how eye-catching it is.
- 2. The main image of the front cover for this digipak has been placed slightly off-centre. The use of a grey, black and white colour scheme for the background of this cover makes it appear as though the artist has been dressed all in black. The person we can see on the front cover is the lead singer of the band, Brendon Urie, and the only original member left of ‘Panic! At The Disco’. Additionally, this could be seen as once again highlighting the importance of fandom for artists when they are marketing new music for their audiences. This album (as previously mentioned) introduced a new ‘sound’ for the band, as Panic! went from being a mainly punk-rock band, to a more pop-rock band. At this point, not only was Brendon Urie the only original member of ‘Panic! At The Disco’, but he is also the only member left. Now, he writes, records and produces on his own – bringing in help from other musicians occasionally to do work on aspects such as the brass instruments or production elements – but the songs released by the band are his work. Moreover, the only bit of colour seen on this album’s front cover comes from the cloud of smoke that is coming out of the cigarette the artist is smoking. The colour palette it uses are rainbow colours of red, pink, green, yellow, blue and so on; and this highlights a particularly important theme of the some of the songs on the album – and a topic that is extremely important to the main artist. I interpret this colour palette as representing the LGBTQ+ community and the issue of sexuality. There is one particular song on the album titled “Girls/Girls/Boys” that Brendon Urie wrote to address the issue of sexuality and his views on the topic. The song contains lyrics such as “girls love girls and boys, and love is not a choice” – which the artist wrote to spread the message that it doesn’t matter who you are or who you fall in love with, because love isn’t a choice and we can’t help who we fall for; so as long as you are happy, nothing else matters. For me personally, I think this is what makes this album so special to so many people, as it spreads a positive message about an important topic and it highlights how much music can mean to so many people – and also the importance of marketing as a result. This rainbow colour palette that represents this issue draws attention to the album cover (that evidently lacks colour anywhere else), thereby catching a person’s eye and increasing the likelihood of the artist’s ideal consumer purchasing the album, and future albums to come.
- 3. The back cover of the digipak for the album “Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die” by ‘Panic! At The Disco’ employs similar codes and conventions that were seen on the front cover as well. The black and white colour scheme of the front cover can be seen here as well – however, the additionally burst of colour that was seen on the front cover is not. Once again, this could highlight how that particular burst of colour is a key marketing technique for this album. On store shelves and even on sites such as iTunes, the front cover will be the first feature of the digipak that consumers see – thus an eye-catching colour scheme may not be considered so important for a back cover. What the back cover features however, is a track list of the songs on the album. It also contains hyperlinks of the bands website – as well as the website of the bands record labels (‘Fueled By Ramen’ and ‘DecayDance’). Yet this can also be seen as another clever marketing technique from the band and their record label. A common convention of most artists is that the demands of the record label will feature somewhere within the marketing and products. If this information were included on the front cover, it would make it too crowded. However, the front cover must be attractive enough for someone to pick it up and look at the back cover – and this implies a consumer is interested in the artist. Therefore, having the band’s website gives them the opportunity to look into the band further, which may expand their profile. And having the website of the record label will help in advertising other artists the label work with. For example, Fueled By Ramen are also responsible for the artists ‘Fall Out Boy’ and ‘Twenty One Pilots’ – and most fans of ‘Panic! At The Disco’ are also fans of these two bands. So it allows new fans to explore into various artists owned by the record label, as it is often the implication that if a consumer likes one artist by a certain record label, they are likely to be interested by other artists under that label as well.
- 4. Similarly to my analysis of the digipak for the Kaiser Chief’s album “Education, Education, Education and War”, the CD for Panic! At The Disco’s digipak of their album “Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die” conforms to the expected codes and conventions of digipaks as a whole. The colour palette of this CD is the same as that seen on the front and back covers – employing the use of colours grey, black and white. The logo of the band can also be seen, thereby providing the digipak with the important convention of brand identity that will be easily recognizable to a loyal consumer. And the CD also repeats information found on the back cover of the band’s website, the name of the record label and even a stripline that states who the album was produced by – allowing credit to be given to all involved. In terms of a record label or management company wanting to assert control over the products released by bands they ‘own’, they usually do so in order to help expand the band or artist’s profile, which increasing the chances of commercial and critical success. However, it is common for the frontman of ‘Panic! At The Disco’, Brendon Urie, to want to give credit to every person that helps him create his records. For example, in his latest album “Death Of A Bachelor”, the booklet within the digipak contains a long list of all the people who helped him record some of the instruments, produce the record and other features. The expected aim of an artist is that they want to up their profile and people’s expectations of them by highlighting their talents. However, what a consumer will always find with a ‘Panic! At The Disco’ record is Brendon attempting to draw attention away from himself and place it on those who he truly admires and believes deserves credit. Yet that is part of what makes him so appealing, his endearing character and honest nature as someone who truly appreciates music and artists of all forms.
- 5. These are the digipaks for ‘Panic! At The Disco’s first three albums before “Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die”. And this is the digipak of the album that followed it titled “Death Of A Bachelor”.