Alex Steinweiss – Creator of the Album Cover

It seems quite remarkable that it took until 1939 for the music industry to take advantage of the natural advertising real estate of the record sleeve. Until that point, record sleeves were plain and drab. In 1939, Columbia Records in New York hired a young 23-year-old to become the art director of the company. His name was Alex Steinweiss and he was given the job of creating ad’s for Columbia’s latest recordings.