Does good packaging boost sales, or did it ever?

In short, the answer is yes. An Atlantic Records executive once said, "If the group is big, it don't matter what the cover is. You can wrap it in a brown paper bag it makes no difference to sales. " The 1979 release of Led Zepplin's In Through the Out Door was wrapped in exactly that and the sales were more than a little dissapointing. Proof, if it were ever needed, that we do judge records much like books - by their covers.

This statement, taken from CD-Art: Innovation in CD Packaging Design by Charlotte Rivers, I would say relates to the current market as much as the music market back then.

Cover design has seen some of the finest examples of graphic design in history, and in turn has launched the careers of some of the greatest, most influential graphic designers around today. Obvious examples include Peter Saville, and Vaughn Oliver.

Another interesting point made by Rivers is 'One hopes that even in the event of such technological advances, consumers will still want to purchase the CD package, even if they can download the same album online... although many people are not concerned with the peripherals, and are happy enough with just the music itself. Rivers goes on to say ' CD packaging as a medium looks closer and closer to becoming a mere memory in the long history of album cover design.

According to Wikipedia.org and this is worth noting that '...physical music products, with a physical "album cover", continue to outsell digital downloads by a substantial margin.