# (UK) Classic album covers issued as stamps **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 7, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-classic-album-covers-issued-as-stamps/524034 "2010-01-07T15:48:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-classic-album-covers-issued-as-stamps/524034/1 "2010-01-07T15:48:43Z")
> [@](#): > > A series of classic album covers including Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells and Parklife by Blur has been issued as a set of stamps by the Royal Mail. > > Other well-known record sleeves to have been made into first-class stamps include Pink Floyd’s Division Bell. > > The design on each of the 10 stamps shows a vinyl record coming out of its recognisable album cover. > > The Post Office said the issues had transformed each record sleeve into “miniature works of art”. [Story link](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8444156.stm). Nice idea but it looks like a pretty random choice. God knows who owns the rights to Beatles covers. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-classic-album-covers-issued-as-stamps/524034/2 "2010-01-07T16:20:55Z")
I dunno about random - they are all pretty distinctive covers. The only one I didn’t recognise right away was the Coldplay one. I wonder why they chose The Division Bell rather than Dark Side of the Moon. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-classic-album-covers-issued-as-stamps/524034/3 "2010-01-07T16:38:34Z")
You can make custom US postage stamps using your own image. Is there anything to stop you from using a picture of any album you want? ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-classic-album-covers-issued-as-stamps/524034/4 "2010-01-07T17:58:46Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > You can make custom US postage stamps using your own image. Is there anything to stop you from using a picture of any album you want? I think the Royal Mail keep a pretty tight (actually, make that total) control over what’s issued on the stamps - there’s a bunch of rules about use/positioning of the Queen’s head, for one thing, and there certainly _used_ to be rules about not showing a living person except for the Queen (not sure that still applies, however). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-classic-album-covers-issued-as-stamps/524034/5 "2010-01-07T18:00:52Z")
Probably falls under “fair use” - if you’re just using them for your own mail, you wouldn’t be making any money from them. [Stamps.com](http://Stamps.com) tends to be pretty leery of printing even _potentially_ copyrighted images, though, IME. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-classic-album-covers-issued-as-stamps/524034/6 "2010-01-07T18:38:40Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > there certainly _used_ to be rules about not showing a living person except for the Queen (not sure that still applies, however). That’s Paul Simonon on the cover of London Calling and he’s still alive so the rule must have been relaxed. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-classic-album-covers-issued-as-stamps/524034/7 "2010-01-07T20:03:15Z")
Bit of a random choice, agreed. _The Division Bell_? No idea why anyone would choose to commemorate this album on a stamp at all. I guess it’s too obvious just to pick ten bona fide classics so they’ve bowled a few googlies in there. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-classic-album-covers-issued-as-stamps/524034/8 "2010-01-07T20:10:17Z")
It all depends on who was willing to grant the rights. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-classic-album-covers-issued-as-stamps/524034/9 "2010-01-07T20:20:56Z")
> [@PrettyVacant](#): > > God knows who owns the rights to Beatles covers. The Royal Mail issued a [series of Beatles stamps](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6212271.stm)in 2007. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-classic-album-covers-issued-as-stamps/524034/10 "2010-01-07T20:25:32Z")
> [@PrettyVacant](#): > > [Story link](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8444156.stm). Nice idea but it looks like a pretty random choice. > > God knows who owns the rights to Beatles covers. FWIW, the covers of ‘With the Beatles,’ ‘Help!’ ‘Revolver,’ ‘Sgt. Pepper,’ ‘Abbey Road’ and ‘Let It Be’ were featured on a set of British stamps from 2007. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-classic-album-covers-issued-as-stamps/524034/11 "2010-01-07T20:28:01Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > That’s Paul Simonon on the cover of London Calling and he’s still alive so the rule must have been relaxed. Also Bowie on the _Ziggy Stardust_ cover and the Stones in figurine form on _Let It Bleed_. But only the Bowie cover actually shows a living face, and reduced to postage stamp size it’s little more than a dot. So I think they did consciously avoid covers that feature a recognizable person. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-classic-album-covers-issued-as-stamps/524034/12 "2010-01-07T20:46:07Z")
Weren’t there some Beatles stamps a few years ago? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-classic-album-covers-issued-as-stamps/524034/13 "2010-01-07T21:25:51Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Weren’t there some Beatles stamps a few years ago? 😉 Maybe they need to do a Duran Duran _Rio_ stamp. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uk-classic-album-covers-issued-as-stamps/524034/14 "2010-01-08T12:38:37Z")
I’m just glad to know that the cake from ‘Let It Bleed’ was baked by Delia Smith.