How much does artwork/presentation matter?

[Zealotry]

Is your decision to purchase or not purchase an album ever affected by the artwork and packaging? In a double-blind, are you more likely to take a chance with an album that has a glossy, high-res Travis Smith or Sven DeCaluwe piece on the cover than one that looks like it was drawn by Napoleon Dynamite? Are you more or less likely to check out a disc represented by a strange/surrealistic/abstract image or one with a concrete image that leaves little to the imagination?

 

[Occam's Razor]

I guess we can all more or less agree that one of the initial attractions of metal were covers.As for me, I bought a lot of what Andreas Marshall painted without knowing the music beforehand, e.g. Running Wild...then, the Cathedral covers, some Seagrave etc.
Smith's introduction to the metal scene was "Bleeding" by Psychotic Waltz, and it is still one of his best works ever. However, he lost some of his value when his art started to pop up on every second cover.
Another thing is: covers make you buy items you do not necessarily need. Think about Maiden and the fans that collected everything with Eddie on them.
As for preferences, I do not really care about the motive, as long as it fits the music. Take Hammers Of Misfortune's vinyl-cover for "The August Engine" - slightly amateurish, but fitting. In that respect, the Graveland cover fits as well: sloppy, trashy shit - just like the music...

 

[Jim LotFP]

one that looks like it was drawn by Napoleon Dynamite?

You've seen that Firebird cover too, eh?

I can't say that cover artwork is especially important since so much of my purchasing these days is done by virtue of the band releasing it, without even knowing what the cover art looks like before it's in my hand.

For commercial purposes in actual record stores, I think it is more important to be "not bad" than it is to be "good". A good cover never hurts, but a bad one can kill you.

As for overall presentation, as long as proper lyrics or production notes are present... whatever. Ignoring production notes and lyrics because they clash with the artistic presentation of the booklet means I'm going to hate you and write mean things about you.