Could AI kill the album cover?

They’re iconic, immediately recognisable, and the visual representation of an artists’ body of work. 

Album covers are one of the most memorable factors of the music we listen to today. It was the first thing we saw when buying a CD, and remains the first thing we see when clicking play on a new release on Spotify.   

You might not know the artist but you sure as hell know the art. 

Pink Floyd’s ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’, designed by Storm Thorgerson, and Joy Divisions ‘Unknown Pleasures’, done by Peter Saville, are some of the countless iconic album cover art that have been printed on t-shirts and tote bags to be sold to people worldwide. 

But the tides are changing for this artform, with signs of its slow disappearance being seen in the current news.

And it all has to do with AI generators like MidJourney and DALLE 2.

Debates on platforms like MidJourney, and whether its use in creative fields is a true representation of art or is just a mimic of stolen art it is fed daily are regular. Stories of artists having their art style absorbed by these platforms and processed out as ‘original work’ constantly flood artist forums online. 

This year saw a collective of artists filing a class-action complaint against MidJourney, DreamUp, and Stability A.I. in the US. The three artists involved: Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan and Karla Ortiz term these websites as “21st-century collage tools that violate the rights of millions of artists.” 

They claim that the creation of these platforms has led to it stealing their jobs and livelihood. With these sites, users can input a prompt and generate images that closely resemble an artist’s visual language. 

With the ongoing lawsuit, commercial use of AI art in pop culture has been scarce. But recently, actress Halle Berry was in the news for her disapproval of it.

And it involved Drake, SZA, and slime. 

Earlier in September, the Toronto-based rapper released cover art for his upcoming single with SZA titled ‘Slime You Out’, with the artwork seemingly showing the famous actress drenched in green slime at 2012 Kids’ Choice Awards. 

Although she specifically asked for the image to not be used by Drake, the rapper continued to use it as the alternate cover art for the single. This angered Berry, causing her to speak out on it on her Instagram. 

“Sometimes you have to be the bigger guy…even if you’re a woman,” she shared in a post. “[Drake] did have his people call my people and I said NO,” she wrote. “I didn’t like that image of slime all over my face in association with the song. And he chose to do it anyway! You see…that is the disrespect.”

But, why does this have anything to do with AI?

The cover art was fed through an AI program which gave it a distinct uncanny valley-like smoothness to the features of the subjects. It is likely why, other than copyright issues, nothing could be done legally by the starlet to refuse fair usage of the image. 

Technically, it is legal that the artists use the image in the US. It has already been altered and edited with. However, ethically, the question remains of if the decision is right when no consent was given for its use

The issue of consent and ownership is a major factor to the disapproval of AI art use in commercial spaces. Artists are likely unaware that their artwork were being stolen by data scrapers  via online public access and regurgitated for profit gains by people likely not fazed by the problem of ethics. 

However, supporters of these platforms claim that its efficiency allows for more experimentation and accessibility. Democratizing art for all.

MidJourney’s mission statement is to ‘help expand people’s imaginations’ through user interaction with machine learning. 

However it does not take either the artist's voice or the taste of the audience into account in the process of creation

The human aspect of album artwork is what we truly connect to, even with no human subject in view. It’s the orchestration of colours, subjects and meaning that make an album cover iconic. 

Audiences can often tell when a piece of art was made with creative intent or for economic gain. Although albums are commercial items in itself too, they contain a message that the singer wants to project to the world. That is what we come back to time and time again. 

We’ve seen, though sparingly, recording artists explore the use of AI in their visual work. The most well known example thus far is rapper Lil Yachty’s recent album ‘Let’s Start Here’ (2023). 

The album cover shows an AI-generated image of suited music executives with their faces distorted in greedy glee, laughing directly at the listener. The cover is supposed to represent music boardrooms, the disconnect between them and the industry they control. 

Artistically, that detachment is reflected in the artwork in a powerful way. It’s visualising his own experiences as a young and successful rapper in the industry. Having to deal with executives wanting most not to present an individual in the most authentic way, but in a fashion that makes them profit. 

It’s AI with purpose but the loss of human touch in the artwork is cold. It can come off as heartless. The absence of imperfections makes the art sterile at a glance. 

The Grammy Awards have a category for Best Recording Packaging where an album with the best visual look is awarded. Given by the Academy, it is the most prestigious music award a visual artist could receive. 

Greedy music executives are driving the further use of AI. In the future it wouldn't be surprising to see a MidJourney-generated album cover get the award where visual artists once celebrated. 

And it is a question for us, as listeners, to look at with admiration or dismay as we hit play