Digipak Analysis 2

For my second digipak analysis I have chosen to analyse the Radio 1 Live Lounge Volume 3 album. I chose this album as it has a wide range of genres on its track listings, mostly covers of contrasting songs and artists which is what Radio 1 Live Lounge is so well-known for doing.

Each Live Lounge volume normally has a certain colour, this one which I own happens to have a red and white (mostly red) colour scheme throughout. I think Radio 1 choose different colours each time for their albums as the album is always a mix of songs from varied genres, therefore there is never a specific colour they go for as the audience could  judge the album as something its not (e.g. black colour schemed album - gothic/heavy rock music, white colour schemed album - classical/calm/pure music).

The digipak I have chosen is a 10 sided digipak, which is quite rare to find but is more suited to this album as it has 3 different discs.The front cover of the digipak has a keyboard, guitar, tambourine and technical equipment, as well as an on/off air sign which has been converted into the album title 'Radio 1's Live Lounge Volume 3'. This gives the album a very obvious 'acoustic' feel, as it actually shows the instruments on the front cover and emphasises on the fact all these tracks have been recorded live. The keyboard is covered in band stickers to show which bands are on the album, but this also gives the album an authentic, unique feel as usually when we see a band live, or when they are practicing, they have their band stickers and logos on their equipment. The album also has the Radio 1 logo on the top left corner of the album so that the audience know this is Radio 1 merchandise, and fans of Radio 1 will be especially keen to give the album a listen, or if they heard the live lounges being performed on the radio and liked them they may want to purchase the album. The yellow highlighted stamp on the album tells the audience what is included in this album, and may like the idea of the 'Bonus DVD' as not many album's include this feature. On the other side, the triangle E states the album if from UK Classification.

Opening up the digipak, a 2 page spread image of a guitar is revealed, edited by copying the image over the same one to create a cool look to the guitar. Again, this adds onto the authentic theme of the album and the idea of instruments being involved and a lot of the songs being classed as authentic and unlike the original versions. The guitar has been outlined in yellow to make it stand out more on the red background. The white coloured small print includes the special edition DVD listings and on the right a thank 

you note from Radio 1 to the people who 
helped to put together this digipak.

When we unfold the digipak further, the CDs are shown. They keep the theme of red and white even on the CDs so that the artwork on the entire digipak matches and it does not look messy or misplaced. Another image of an instrument, this time the keyboard, is shown on the next foldover, again the photo edited to make the instrument look interesting and unique to the audience and make them think of the instrumental side of the music as well as the singing. The photo has again been tinted red to fit in with the theme of the album and has also been divided and jumbled up.


On the back of the album, the background colour has changed to white. I personally think they may have chosen the theme of red and white to reflect on the England flag and the positive things in our country (such as the winning bid of the Olympics - as the album was published in 2008 the year we found out we would be hosting). The font and size of font has not changed the album which makes it appear more professional. The track listings have been put into two separate columns on the album to make it more clear for the audience which tracks are on which disc. 


Below the track listings there is copyright information, a barcode and a list of logos which the album and Radio 1 are in partnership with. Every album/digipak has to include these features on the album as otherwise there could be a risk of copying the album. 

I believe the typical target audience for this digipak would be people who enjoy mainstream music and have a open taste to anything. The target audience would also most likely include fans of Radio 1 as it is one of the few merchandise Radio 1 have on offer for the public to buy. I would not say the album was targeted at any specific gender as the choice of artists on the album is mixed and there is no obvious genre.