it was great in the beginning!

Erm, must because most when working with mixed media including photographs its a bit hard to find formal elements to help your work standout.

Just look at Mr. Sundins or Daniel Longs work, they have recognizable vibe, same for Travis, but for the average aspiring artist its somewhat hard to translate their personal intrincancies in a consisten manner.

Specially when doing photography... and its easier when you rely on drawing painting.

As another note, I think its great that the music industry flavors experimental and risky work, its something that would take AGES to come at the Rpg publishing industry.