MovieChat Forums > This Is Spinal Tap (1984) Discussion > Album production question for people who...

Album production question for people who know

posted 10 years ago by bron-tay
3 replies | jump to latest

Spinal Tap was the olden timey days of licorice pizza and cover love. People used to get pretty excited about those covers.

The cover controversy in the movie mystifies me a bit, though. Who exactly chose those album covers? I thought it would be the record company, not the band. That's how it goes in the publishing world; the publisher gets one of their designers or hires an outsider to do the book cover and the author has little to no input.

But in Spinal Tap, the band seemingly designs the cover for "Smell the Glove," which leads to all kinds of trouble -- retailers pulling the album, Polymer refusing to release it or distribute it or whatever.

Can any industry people or people who know enlighten me about this?

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Please put some dashes above your sig line so I won't think it's part of your dumb post.

[–] Redhooks 10 years ago

It all depends on the artist's contract with the record company. Some compamy's have no say in how the album is packaged due to negotiated language in their contract with the artist (unless the cover is VERY offensive.) Some artists have some say, but the record company has the final word.

Redhooks

"You don't get something for nothing, you don't get freedom for free." Neil Peart

[–] bron-tay 10 years ago

Thanks!

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Please put some dashes above your sig line so I won't think it's part of your dumb post.

[–] kaneforgov 10 years ago

It's called an album jacket or sleeve.