![]() As I've written before, album cover art is alive and well even as album sales decline. Lemonade was one of many examples of albums that intrigued not only because of their music but also because of their cover art. Lemonade was also notable for its simple yet powerful cover depicting a spent-looking Beyoncé in fur and golden cornrows, hinting at the statement inside the album. And the music inside Lemonade was a brilliant statement about race and femininity. Lemonade challenged our notions of what an album could be, released as a "visual album" aired via an HBO special along with the songs themselves. Beyoncé and David Bowie were among the artists who created albums meant to be experienced as complete song cycles, not as chopped up morsels of content. But fortunately, musicians didn't give up on albums. Consumers had purchased 100.3 million album units, down 13.6 percent compared to the same period in 2015, putting 2016 on pace to be the worst selling year for albums since Nielsen began tracking the data in 1991. But by July, album sales figures released by Nielsen Music brought those hopes crashing down to an ugly reality. ![]() The success of Adele's 25 triggered speculation that maybe, just maybe, record albums were coming back as an art form following years of declining sales.
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