I’m not sure if this is a brand new concept or not, but I was reading the New Music Strategies blog and this idea of fans designing their own album art caught my eye. The Canadian label, (or band, its hard to tell) ARCTIC is letting their fans create their own CD booklets. People have been creating and sharing their own artwork for live bootlegs for years, but not necessarily for new studio recordings.

ARCTIC has provided all of the liner notes, lyrics, and a chance to stream all of the songs on the album so fans can get a feel for the music. Using Flash, fans can design and print artwork directly from the ARCTIC website. You can’t exactly create from scratch, but by using the images and text provided by ARCTIC, you can create something original. While ARCTIC hasn’t gone as far as letting their fans have a clean slate with endless options from which they can create whatever they want, I suppose it would be possible for a band to take this idea a step further and give their fans complete freedom to create CD booklets from scratch.

I’m not sure how many artists would be thrilled about this idea. After all, there are some people who still believe in the concept of an “album,” putting out a cohesive piece of work that has some connecting theme from the songs themselves to the artwork and liner notes. Admittedly, the album may be a dying art form, but even if you are on the singles or EP bandwagon, giving up the control over your “album” art might be a big move for some.

Giving up a little control, however, might not be a such a bad thing. I think this is a creative approach that allows fans to interact with both the band and other fans as well. On an indie level, bands could hold contests and give away free merch or concert tickets to the fans that design the “best” CD cover(s) and booklets. These types of contests have the potential to create excitement/buzz for new projects and not only help out the band, but also give exposure to new artists and graphic designers.

Who knows if this idea will catch on and become more popular, but either way, it is nice to see someone trying something different and taking some risks.