Digipak Promotion
As I have talked about here, The Hoosiers broke away from their record label in 2011 because of a marketing dispute and set off as an independent band. This gives us the opportunity to see the difference in promotion between a major record label and an independent band. Out of the Hoosiers' four albums, two of them were produced and marketed by RCA Records, while the latest two were handled independently. This can give us a side-by-side view on the differences between them with a chance to exclude any anomalies.
The first thing you notice at a mere look would be the difference in colour and intricacy. This could be a statement about them becoming more serious, possibly even breaking away from the image RCA was trying to impose upon them (See Dyer's Star theory for more). The more likely possibility is that independently, the Hoosiers no longer have the people or resources to make the colourful and interesting designs as found on The Trick to Life and The Illusion of Safety covers. Evidence for this can be found in the fact that their latest two album covers involve real life images, this could be by choice or further breaking away from RCA's persona, or it could be the fact that they do not have the skills, people or software to make graphical images anymore.
However, breaking away from RCA is not completely a bad thing in terms of their album covers. In The Secret Service cover, through the windshield you can see a sign reading "Welcome to Nowhere", a reference to their previous independent album The News from Nowhere. This lighthearted reference is a friendly nod to their fans that have suck with them for this long, and show that they now have more control over what they are doing now.
This personalization can also be seen in their website. Shortly after breaking away from RCA, the Hoosiers released an extended play of their last album, The Illusion of Safety, called Bumpy Ride. Further evidence of them using real images instead of graphics is seen, but also the style of their brief description is a lot more personal to the Hoosiers and their fans, as well as being much more engaging and friendly. While The Illusion of Safety has a very professional description, merely stating the release date, Bumpy Ride takes a far more relaxed and casual wording approach.
Similarly, in The News from Nowhere's description, the Hoosiers took it as an opportunity to thank all of their fans that made the album possible, as it was crowd funded.
