Aminatta Sylva 13H

Codes and conventions of album promotion

Pop/R&B album posters often follow the following conventions, in order to reach the fan base and

indicate the genre to the audience. This research will be essential when it comes to planning and

creating my own album poster for the promotion of the single.

Main codes and conventions of Pop/R&B album posters are;

Main image

Artist name

Album title

Release date of the album

Record label logo

Reviews from other media industries

Previous successes e.g latest singles released

Beyonce’s I Am Sasha Fierce album poster

This album poster follows the

codes and conventions stated

above.

The poster stands out to use with

the main images that juxtapose

each other; one is Beyonce-

presented in a innocent way

through the natural makeup and

accessories. For example Beyonce

can be seen with a rosary bead

bracelet on her hand. In

juxtaposition, Sasha Fierce on the

right (Beyonce’s dark alter ego) in

the same pose and shot type as the image on the left. Sasha is seen with heavy eye catching makeup

and wearing a glamorous dress. Both images are in black and white, this adds a sense of antiquity to

the album poster. The theory of voyeurism can be applied to both images as is in a close up for us to

enjoy looking at. The split/divide of the two images, gives us two different sides of Beyonce that we

chose to like. This adds a sense of fun and danger to Beyonce’s star construction, making it appealing

for the audience and fans.

The album poster also has the artists name in a big bold font (bigger than the album title), this

suggests to us that the artist’s name is more important than the album title as Beyonce is known by

millions of people all of the world- so her name would catch our attention quicker than an album

title. It also follows Goodwin’s theory of the record label demanding for the artist to be in close ups

and in focus during music videos and album photo-shoots.