This is the first ever album cover, designed by Alex Steinweiss in 1938. Until this point album covers were brown paper (they looked like photo albums, hence the name) with the artist and song names printed in black. Steinweiss suggested to is employer, Columbia Records, that an illustration relating to the music might make the album more enticing. Columbia's sales increased 800% and the recording business changed forever. Over the next three decades, Steinweiss designed thousands of covers for classical, jazz, and popular music.
