File:BalladRiderCover.jpg

This is the cover art for Ballad of Easy Rider by the artist The Byrds. The cover art copyright is believed to belong to the label, Columbia Records, or the graphic artist(s).

The cover art can be obtained from Columbia Records.

Ballad of Easy Rider (album)

The entire cover: because the image is cover art, a form of product packaging, the entire image is needed to identify the product, properly convey the meaning and branding intended, and avoid tarnishing or misrepresenting the image.

The copy is of sufficient resolution for commentary and identification but lower resolution than the original cover. Copies made from it will be of inferior quality, unsuitable as artwork on pirate versions or other uses that would compete with the commercial purpose of the original artwork.

Header. The image is used for identification in the context of critical commentary of the work for which it serves as cover art. It makes a significant contribution to the user's understanding of the article, which could not practically be conveyed by words alone. The image is placed at the beginning of the article or section discussing the work, to help the user quickly identify the work and know they have found what they are looking for. Use for this purpose does not compete with the purposes of the original artwork, namely the artist's providing graphic design services to music concerns and in turn marketing music to the public.

As musical cover art, the image is not replaceable by free content; any other image that shows the packaging of the music would also be copyrighted, and any version that is not true to the original would be inadequate for identification or commentary. Using a different image as a header would be misleading as to the identity of the work.

Use of the cover art in the article complies with Wikipedia non-free content policy and fair use under the copyright law of the United States as described above.

Album Cover from the The Byrds album, Ballad of Easy Rider

Derived from a scan of the album cover (creator of this digital version is irrelevant as the copyright in all equivalent images is still held by the same party) Copyright held by the record company or the artist. Claimed as fair use regardless.

Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)

Entire front cover, but does not include back or insides of original artwork

Is only as much resolution is necessary to identify and show the style of artwork used for the article, not enough to be used for piracy

Illustrates the appearance of the album and identifies it by recognized features

no free equivalent can equal this image (any would be a derivative of this artwork)

Image in this form is already widely distributed to identify the album as part of catalogs and reviews, so we degrade no market value by providing it ourselves