I love cover art, 80% of the reason I go to the review section on pitchfork is just to look at the album covers lol

I think every thing being digital is the reason we'll see it more often cuz like you said, in a record store the genre and little "A-Z" dividers are there but online you're using to the search function

I think since most people are already putting in the name of a specific artists it makes it easier to leave out the text when you know that search function is going to take you right to the artist

plus sometimes it does look more like art without the text or parental advisory badge there

I don't stream at all, do most apps show the actual cover of the album a song is from in the window or is it just some generic picture like the way google play just throws one on in the library?