Do a lot of OST releases have variant cover art? McCall sent me Racing Lagoon (Digicube release, original print, I believe), and it has a different cover than the one I usually see online. How many variations can exist for any given soundtrack release?

The only time I've come across two different covers were for Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, which is a domestic CD.

Cover 1: http://www.chudahs-corner.com/soundtrac … =ZENCD-100
Cover 2: http://www.amazon.com/Chaos-Theory-Spli … B00070FUG2

I'm trying to think of any other albums that have more than one cover art, but I can't come up with anything concrete (excluding slipcases). My FF S Generation CD has Cloud and Aeris on the cover, but I may have seen one somewhere with Squall on the cover instead. Hmm...

In my case, when the cover art of the album I got was different from that shown online, it was  usually because the slip-case was omitted.

In U.S. vs. Euro CDs, the cover arts often differ between the U.S. and Euro releases; at least, for the CDs I've bought.

I've also noticed that some retailers will put up early cover art, but won't update it with the final cover art when the album is actually released.

As many as they feel like making. ^_~ Considering all the different regions and countries, that could potentially add up to a lot. And of course, it's not just the cover art -- variations can exist in the liner notes, included extras like stickers or ads, disc art, tracklist and songs, and other aspects.

As for whether "a lot" of OST releases have different cover art, well, "a lot" is subjective, but I've come across my share of variant covers.