Spring 2007

Paying more attention

Letter from Jeremy Hall

With reference to the image supplement No two dreams are the same (Eye no. 62 vol. 16), stock photography is not necessarily cheaper, but where the client wants instant results, commissioning is not an option. However, it was wrong to imply that the classical music industry as a whole is clamping down on bought-in imagery. My point, which came out a little cock-eyed, was simply that the fees charged by some image libraries put them beyond the budgets I work with, and a glance through the record racks suggests that classical music packaging continues to draw heavily on stock for both new releases and reissues. The real challenge to music packaging is, of course, downloads, and there are encouraging signs that more, not less, attention is being paid to physical packaging to provide a viable alternative to download sales.

London

First published in Eye no. 63 vol. 16 2007

EYE63

Eye is the world’s most beautiful and collectable graphic design journal, published quarterly for professional designers, students and anyone interested in critical, informed writing about graphic design and visual culture. It is available from all good design bookshops and online at the Eye shop, where you can buy subscriptions and back issues. You can also browse visual samples of recent issues at Eye before You Buy.