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OT: Pearl Jam's New Album Cover a Ripoff?


kid music

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I knew a guy in a band in California who put out a CD a few years ago: amazon link . I have this CD; it's actually good. The band got signed to an indie label, played a ton of shows, sold a few thousand cds, then broke up.

 

Okay, fast forward to today:

 

I saw Pearl Jam's new album in Starbucks last week ( Pearl Jam\'s Amazon link ), and it reminded me of the Circle The Cat cd. Here are the similarities, that I could think of:

 

- Both put band name on the top of the front cover

- Both use a thin font for the band name

- Both have a similar size for the band name

- Both have a lot of empty space on the cover

- Both have an avocado on the cover

- Both avocados are sliced

- Both avocado slices still have the pit inside

- Both avocados have a shadow

- Both avocados are in the bottom right corner of the cover

- Both albums are self-titled

 

Now, there are some obvious differences too, but I'm talking about the similarities.

 

Ripoff or coincidence?

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I'm an amature photographer and I have a photograph quite similar to these of the exact same topic. My image is in B&W and it's on a black wool background with a black & silver knife but..... could easily be cropped to match these.

 

My only point is to say that this fruit is very photogenic.

 

Thanx for pointing that out.

I still think guitars are like shoes, but louder.

 

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As big red says what is really new or original all of us are influenced by so many things and we lift little ideas all the time, but that said it is a real big rip off of the original cover, but its not the first or last time we will see such a thing.

 

To answer Vinces question can you "copyright a concept". yes you can and claim intellectual rights on any concept you put on paper. In the industry I work in its done all the time.

Love life, some twists and turns are more painful than others, but love life.....

 

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=592101

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Originally posted by Tedster:

And, perhaps someone from the Pearl Jam camp saw the Circle the Cat CD before...but forgot about it. But somewhere in his subconscious, the idea was still there.

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I think they may have decided to have a picture of an avocado on their album cover. If you set up the various ideas, you'll see that it's very limiting. Your friends CD and Pearl Jams CD are two of the ways you can take that picture.

 

If I was asked to photograph an avocado for an album cover, I would have probably come out with something very similar, without having ever seen either of the other covers.

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BTW - Album titles, like song titles, cannot be trademarked. Anyone can release an album with the same title as another work so long as it doesn't contain trademarked brand names.

 

I don't see the similarity. Your friend's album makes use of a background that blends nicely with the fruit of the avocado, creating a very two dimensional look. Pearl Jam's cover uses a contrasting color background and depicts a very apparent shadow, giving their avocado a three dimensional appearance. They could scarcely be more different and still feature a half-cut avocado as the only element other than words and a relatively solid background. (Not to mention the textural difference between the backgrounds.

 

I'm guessing you could probably find 6 - 10 more albums, if you knew where to look, featuring a similar motif.

It's easiest to find me on Facebook. Neil Bergman

 

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Well they are very similar to the average eye; however, it is not similar enough to be considered a "ripoff" IMHO. Pearl Jam probably know it too. I wouldn't have ever used that picture if I were them. Be CREATIVE Pearl Jam! Eh.

 

Fantastics is probably right; there are so many albums out there.

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I honestly have no idea why there are two threads! I didn't mean to do that, I don't remember doing that, and when I checked the forum about an hour after posting, there was only one thread! I certainly didn't copy and paste, because the links wouldn't have pasted (I don't think). Sorry if I did something wrong; not sure what it was though. Kind of amusing considering the topic.
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Originally posted by Guitars are like shoes. But louder.:

I'm an amature photographer and I have a photograph quite similar to these of the exact same topic. My image is in B&W and it's on a black wool background with a black & silver knife but..... could easily be cropped to match these.

 

My only point is to say that this fruit is very photogenic.

 

Thanx for pointing that out.

So you've been copying my avacodo art work?

bbach

 

Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.

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Sometimes covers appear to be a copy because two designers sees similar art and are inspired, or grab a similar image. Just look at these covers for two albums, one by Vancouver's Battles, dubbed Lycanthropy, the other by Detroit's Volebeats, entitled Mosquito Spiral. You may detect a likeness ...

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/noodlesbad/covers.jpg

 

Just for the record, The Battles' album came out about a year (EDIT: Or more like five months) after The Volebeats'.

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Originally posted by Noodlesbad:

Sometimes covers appear to be a copy because two designers sees similar art and are inspired, or grab a similar image. Just look at these covers for two albums, one by Vancouver's Battles, dubbed Lycanthropy, the other by Detroit's Volebeats, entitled Mosquito Spiral. You may detect a likeness ...

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v487/noodlesbad/covers.jpg

 

Just for the record, The Battles' album came out about a year (EDIT: Or more like five months) after The Volebeats'.

Wow those are identical! But these two covers were both inspired by some other piece of art, right?

 

I believe Circle The Cat designed the cover art themselves, not inspired from something else. The question is what was Pearl Jam's inspiration?

 

I read the Rolling Stone Pearl Jam article in 7-11 yesterday; no mention about the cover, or the meaning behind the avocado, or the significance of releasing a self-titled album now.

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Originally posted by kid music:

Wow those are identical! But these two covers were both inspired by some other piece of art, right?

 

I believe Circle The Cat designed the cover art themselves, not inspired from something else. The question is what was Pearl Jam's inspiration?

 

I read the Rolling Stone Pearl Jam article in 7-11 yesterday; no mention about the cover, or the meaning behind the avocado, or the significance of releasing a self-titled album now.

I think their inspiration was they had an avocado handy. As Pappy said, it's a dull cover. By comparison, Circle the Cat's art actually trys to make the avocado look like something ele - a cat's eye - in a sort of visual sleight of hand that's actually interesting.
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