Thinking about my photo for my Digipak/Advert

I've been looking for a few ideas to do with the photography for my digipak/magazine advert. Typically, they show the artist in a closeup/mid shot, the artists name and the name of the album. These conversions have been followd through a long period time. I have found artists such as The Beatles and Madonna (earlier work) following these conversions on there album covers. However more recent artists seem to do the same such as La Roux and Lady Gaga. These convensions also seem to fit into a lot of genres. The artists listed above are quite different from each other and present their own individual image. Overall, it varies greatly when it comes to use of colours fonts and layout. However they all seem to avoid covering the image of the artist with the writing on the cover. Direct mode of address seems very common amongst these album covers, personally I think this is very effective as it allows the artists to connect with the audience in a more intense way. 
I also noticed that these convensions seem to spread across other cultures. For example I was researching images of album covers and come across some from other countries. Despite the different sort of text (use of symbols rather than letters) the artists name is shown and what I think is the name of the album. 
The image can be edited in many different ways, for example airbrushing, sepia etc... And the location the image is taken in can vary, for example some photos have been taken outside, others ways to expose a background (eg a room) or behind a back drop like a green screen and then the background is edited on.