Cover Art for Internet-only releases

How should we display cover art for Internet-only releases?

In some cases, the band creates cover art even though there is no physical release of an album:

[mp3.washingtonpost.com] http://mp3.washingtonpost.com/bands/mainline.shtml
[bandtoband.com] http://bandtoband.com/index.php?Page=Search&AlbumId=5482

But what is the best approach when there is no cover art at all? For tangible items, the answer is easy enough--just show a scan of the real thing:

[bandtoband.com] http://bandtoband.com/index.php?Page=Search&AlbumId=2868

Would it be appropriate to show a scan of the web site that lists the release? Or is it better to have a default "No Cover Image Exists" image? Is there another option?

I would say No Cover Image Exists, because that's literally true and less misleading than a scan of a website.

If no cover exists, then no cover exists. *shrug* I don't think the website approach works, because the release could be available on multiple sites.

You could take a picture of the 0's and 1's and scan that in. :-)

If you can match the lineup, a picture of the band members might not be out of the question.

That's about all I can think of.

I'd go for the "No cover exists" option as well; or maybe "Internet release" or something. Anything that makes it clear there's not really a cover.

I'll try and make an image for digitial releases that do not have a cover so we have something that is not the standard "Cover unavailable" image we have know which suggests that a cover exists and we just can't find it.


Kevin

How's this?
[bandtoband.com] http://bandtoband.com/index.php?Page=Search&AlbumId=8019


Kevin

Looks good but makes me want to have you go back and revisit "cover unavailable" to make it say something like "Cover unknown" with question marks behind it or something.

Looks good to me...