DIGIPAK RESEARCH

DIGIPAKS

Essentially a digipak offers the audience a lot more in terms of content than a disk with a regular CD cover. It is a marketing tool intended to offer the buyer an incentive for purchasing the hard copy from a high street or online retailer rather than downloading/streaming the music.

It is particularly important as sales of albums have dwindled as buyers often prefer to download their favourite track(s) rather than pay out for the full album.

The incentive is basically extras added to the CD/DVD in addition to the actual disk and its case with front and back covers.

It will include:

Front, Back, Spine, and at least four additional panels.

The additional panels will comprise some or all of the following:

Membership postcard / flier

Lyric section

Disk impression

Band info section / booklet

Free image / poster / set of postcards

Examples:

'Oasis'

A 6-panel right-tray clear gloss UV digipak. This digipak is for an ‘Oasis’ CD. It has been folded from a ‘net’ to form a 6 piece digipak, with the cd encased.

The three exterior covers include the main cover, the back cover with song titles and their duration, and other institutional information (record label etc)

'Led Zeppelin'

I thought that this front cover was very striking due to the bold use of colours. You can tell that the genre is rock because of the lightning bolts at the top of the album. This is one of the conventions of rock music and this symbol is widely recognised.

The bold use of colours - You can tell that the genre is rock because of the lightning bolts at the top of the album. This is one of the conventions of rock music and this symbol is widely recognised.

I liked how the layout was simple on this digipak as many digipaks have unique layouts. Personally, I prefer this layout as it is more practical. Moreover the CD ties in with the theme of black and red adding continuity. In addition, it seems that this digipak is very similar to the layout and appearance of a regular cd cover. 

The insert is similar to the front cover. This is so the audience is familiar with the style they are trying to achieve. Moreover the symbol of the plane is very iconic for 'Led Zeppelin' which adds to that brand image.

Own Example - 'Leitrim Equation 3' CD

This digipak is for a traditional Irish music cd, entitled ‘Leitrim Equation 3’. It is unique for a music genre of this type to utilise the latest technology to produce a digipak. In fact, it is the first traditional Irish music CD to come in the form of a digipak.

This cd was produced in 2013, by trad musicians Donal Lunny, John Carty and Seamus Begley. Although not known to a global audience necessarily, they are famous within the tradition. This angle shows the front cover, with the interior aspects of the disc and notes on musicians and the recording team (sound engineers etc)

This shows 3 of the 6 sides from the original flat design. It features a message from the artists, the tunes/songs which were recorded, and the album cover. 

The back cover features tunes/songs. Also included are the barcode, and the logos of sponsors/funds which have supported the production of the CD (institutional info) , namely Leitrim County Council and the Irish Traditional Arts Council.