Where Do I Find How to Configure My Album Art With Cd Baby

Why making acceptable embrace art is then important.

In the streaming era, you need cover art for every single and album you release. Non only should that artwork Wait practiced; it also has to meet the visual guidelines of the big streaming platforms if you lot want your music to stay available online.

Does cover art nevertheless matter in a streaming earth?

Back before streaming and fifty-fifty downloads, when tape stores ruled the music world, an album encompass was often all a shopper had to go along when they were browsing the shelves.

How many unsuspecting teens in the '80s stumbled onto Iron Maiden in a store and bought The Number of the Beast or Piece of Listen sight unseen and sound unheard due solely to Eddie's grisly mug staring back at them?

Accept a await at these covers and tell me you lot wouldn't exist horrified/intrigued if yous came across them among the racks without knowing who the artist was:

Only it's non only Maiden — or even heavy metal — that makes iconic cover art a priority. Throughout the history of popular music, musicians have called to adorn their albums with immediately recognizable covers. I glance at the Schizoid Man on the comprehend of Male monarch Cherry's landmark prog debut In the Court of the Crimson King and you lot know you're in for a wild ride into the experimental side of rock.

Similarly, Joy Division'southward choice of a simple data plot visualization of radio pulsar signals centered against a blackness background was a perfect representation for the stark, cold post-punk sound on Unknown Pleasures .

And nosotros can't forget the endlessly imitated cover of Dr. Dre's The Chronic , featuring a portrait of Dre framed in a design similar to the Zig-Zag rolling papers he used to wrap his album's namesake.

For all these classic albums and hundreds more, the encompass art is a window into the music therein. Matter is, it's nevertheless that way today.

Even in the age of endless listening for all, the cover you choose for your single or album plays an essential part in representing your music before someone even clicks "play." Heck, having professional person-looking comprehend art might be even more of import now than it was in the concrete media days of yore.

Modern listeners are given more options for music consumption than ever before. If you're scrolling through Spotify looking for new tunes, are you going to click on an artist who couldn't be bothered to represent their work with something at least professional, if not eye-communicable? Or are yous going to queue a song whose fine art looks like an MS Paint experiment gone wrong?

And for your own music: yous put all the hard piece of work into creating it. Why not wrap information technology in a pretty package?

But don't just accept our word for it. The digital platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.) demand artwork that is at the very least legible and consequent with their guidelines. The guidelines listed beneath are in place to encourage a good user experience, and to avoid misleading or disruptive info on cover artwork.

Only how do I make good cover art without spending a bunch of money?

Later in this article we'll show you a super easy (and cheap!) way to design your own fine art, simply before you start on that we'll explicate the digital platforms' artwork guidelines, so you know exactly what to include and what to avoid.

Keep in mind, these rules aren't most limiting your creativity. They're in identify to protect all parties involved (y'all, your distributor, your listeners, and the music platforms). Information technology'southward virtually creating a good experience for fans, fugitive things that could be disruptive, incorrect, or offensive, and making certain your cover art is an invitation to your music, not a warning sign that listeners should plough effectually and listen to someone else.

Aye, even in the ever-changing realm of digital music, there are rules to follow if you want your music bachelor where people can access it. How does CD Baby know these rules? Because we've been successfully distributing music to dozens of platforms for over xv years, and those platforms ship us their submission guidelines. Artwork is the nearly common hangup for artists when submitting their music. Our knowledge of these rules ensures your music goes live and stays live. It's just one of the many reasons to distribute music with u.s.a..

Here are the about ordinarily asked questions about cover art:

Q: Do the covers for each of my releases need to be unique?

A: Yes. Every unmarried release should accept a unique encompass, so as someone scrolls through your discography they can identify each release by the cover alone.

Q: Does the text on my art demand to match the metadata exactly?

A: Yes. The text on your encompass art needs to exactly match the info yous entered for your release (artist name, title of the album or unmarried, etc.). If you entered "Blueprints" as the album name, it can't say "The Blueprint" on the cover art.

Q: Are abbreviations allowed?

A: Sort of. Full abbreviations are okay, but not fractional abbreviations (for instance, "ATM" is fine, but not "AT Machine").

Q: Tin I put my record label on the artwork?

A: No. While this is pop in cloak-and-dagger hip-hop and EDM scenes, the major platforms do not permit the label being on the comprehend art.

Q: Do I need to put a Parental Advisory warning on my artwork if my music is explicit?

A: Parental Advisory warnings are not required, since at that place is an "explicit content" tag on the platforms. But if you include a Parental Advisory alert in your cover art, at that place must be at least one rails with explicit lyrics.

Q: Does even my featured creative person information need to lucifer?

A: Yeah, that needs to friction match too. If you have a featured artist listed in the text on your cover art, that featured creative person must exist included in the metadata for the release.

Q: Can I use copyrighted imagery?

A: Admittedly not. Some sectors of the Net may be the Wild West, but copyright infringement is never okay. Don't use characters, logos, or products that belong to other people, companies, or institutions. Just put a piece of record on that Crimson Bull tin can and then we can't see the logo. And we're deplorable, but this as well includes the Wu-Tang logo.

Q: Can I put the proper noun of the artist I'grand roofing on the art for my comprehend single?

A: No. The name of the artist you're covering is not allowed on the artwork for your release. Otherwise it looks like it'due south them performing and not you.

Q: Can I use a watermarked image?

A: No. If yous use a stock prototype, PAY to download the image without the watermark. And no, calling your album "Getty Images" doesn't make it okay.

Other artwork minutiae:

• Don't utilize the phrase "The Original" if you lot're referring to a cover song (because duh).
• Avoid stretching your image to a different aspect ratio. That leads to blurriness (not the artistic kind), pixelation, awkward borders, or some other form of artful assault.
• Avoid upscaling your epitome to a larger size. You'll likely be committing the aforementioned crimes equally in a higher place. For instance, taking an Instagram photo with a filter and then blowing information technology up to 3000×3000: yeah, that'southward gonna look similar crap.

Exercise Not include the following:

• Contact info
• Advert messages ("Purchase my new unmarried!")
• References to contextual time ("Brand new!" "Just released!")
• UPC barcodes (those proceed the dorsum cover of a concrete product)
• References to product format (CD, vinyl, digital unmarried, rpm, etc.)
• Availability ("Available on Spotify, Apple Music, etc.")
• Nazi logos or other hateful crap (there are laws in some territories – and too information technology'south gross)
• Gruesome images of graphic violence, or images that refer to violent content in the music (Cannibal Corpse is cool and all, but their older gory art is only there considering it's grandfathered in)
• Pornography (we know it when we encounter it – so does Apple)
• Pictures of a clear CD jewel example or any other concrete media. (First, it'southward been done already. 2nd, it's not allowed)
• A blank white or blank black square image with no text
• Avoid excessive or irrelevant text/information
• Text messages
• Images that include a bunch of text
• "Yep but Kanye…" – Nope

Hither's a few things that ARE allowed, though we still become asked nearly information technology a lot by artists:

• Casing rules don't use to cover art, and then yous tin can accept all caps or lowercase or any mix of the 2 you want
• Y'all can utilize the aforementioned prototype for every unmarried, as long every bit the text differs on the encompass for each i
• You tin have an epitome with NO text, just you can't reuse that image (without text) for another release
• It'due south okay to apply the proper name of the artist y'all are covering, if:
• It's a tribute release (and non just a one-off cover song)
• Your artist name appears larger than the artist yous're covering
• You must have "Tribute to" larger than the original artist name
• Karaoke tracks must include "Originally performed by" on the comprehend art
• Karaoke tracks must be designated as such in the "karaoke" genre
• Fan art — as long as it'south clearly distinguishable from the original (It's okay to use your own drawing of Totoro on your cover of the Totoro song, but not if it'southward SO Adept it looks similar the original)
• Public Domain images — but exist prepared to provide proof that what you're using is in the Public Domain
• Stock art — as long every bit you lot've read the usage guidelines and are post-obit those rules
• Your social media handle — as long every bit you don't mention WHICH social media platform

Here are the guidelines for the art file itself when you lot're on the CD Baby Fine art Uploader folio:

• A foursquare image
• Preferably 3000×3000 (so information technology will look good when scaled down). It'south always better to accept art that is too large than likewise small. Call up that you tin can scale down a big image without distorting it, just scaling up a small prototype will go far look blurry and pixelated
• A .jpg or .png file (and putting ".jpg" at the end of a .pdf filename, while creative wishful thinking, doesn't work to catechumen the epitome file)
• The color calibrated to RGB — if in Photoshop; no CMYK or uncalibrated image files (Tip: open a .png in Paint and save as a .jpg and it will automatically convert to RGB)

Okay, that's a lot to think about, and if you're a new artist looking to dress your first release with some proper visuals — or if you're an experienced artist but looking for some quick artwork on the cheap — we've got a few tips for you. If you don't want to get through the rigmarole of hiring am expensive designer with Photoshop expertise or learn the complex design techniques yourself, you can actually create simple merely effective cover artwork yourself in very little time and little to no money.

Here are ii ways to get an album comprehend setup for gratuitous (or less than $5):

Pick 1: Using a Canva Album Cover template

Canva is a freemium tool that helps you design merely about annihilation. They have a whole section of professional-looking anthology cover templates for you to become started. It'southward quick and fun to use their tool, besides! And it's a heck of a lot cheaper than buying Photoshop, or paying someone who has it to design your cover fine art. We encourage you to get into Canva and play around.

Here'south a walkthrough of how to build an album embrace using Canva:

1. Go to Canva's album cover section here .
2. Click on "Beginning Designing Your Cover".
3. You'll accept to create an account. It'south free.
4. On the left-hand side, you can select any of the templates. When you hover over the template, it will show if it's costless. If it'south not free, it'll usually cost $i. In this graphic below, nosotros've chosen a free template.
5. Canva'due south templates default to 1400×1400. While this is acceptable for the platforms, we recommend using an image that's 3000×3000, since that will scale better for future employ. If you lot brainstorm with an anthology cover template, you Can utilise the "Resize" tool to make your design 3000×3000, but that is a feature only bachelor to Canva Pro members (ummm, can you lot say "complimentary trial," anyone?)

six. At present that we've settled on the template, let's update the text for our album. Permit'southward say nosotros're releasing a single called "Boogie Dusk" and the creative person's name is Skilful Cheese.

We can click on the text in the graphic and type in what we want:

At the end, striking the "aA" button to make sure you have proper casing for your piece of work. Otherwise, information technology won't pass inspection.

After updating the artist name, y'all can tweak the font shape and size and rearrange the text blocks:

7. Last matter before our anthology is complete…allow'southward get rid of the white infinite by clicking and moving each piece of the template:

viii. Everyone is familiar with step viii. We're going to await at our album draft and ask ourselves, is it expert enough?

Nosotros obsess over the font selection and the colors. It could always exist ameliorate.

We regret our band name. Why did we option Good Cheese?

nine. Somehow we decide that yes, the album encompass is good enough. And we love Good Cheese (and practiced cheese).

Our next step is to download the image so nosotros can upload during our submission process. Click the download push in the upper right corner. And and so choose either a PNG or JPG equally the file type:

Our album is exported equally a PNG file and ready for a submission.

Many album art covers show an image of the creative person. If you accept a smartphone, it's likely you already have plenty of photos that could serve as an album cover. (Only make sure they're loftier resolution and not blurry.)

4. Click on "Upload an epitome or video" and choose your image.

5. Once it's loaded, yous can drag your paradigm into the blank canvas:

vi. You may demand to resize the prototype to fit the canvas:

vii. We can add together text or other fun stuff to the graphic. The left-side menu will give you all sorts of options. But nosotros decide to get with only the image.

8. We can download the resized image in Canva by clicking the download button in the top right corner. Make sure to cull a PNG or JPG equally your file format:

And that's it! Once you download the image file you lot can upload it on the Art Uploader page.

As long as y'all've followed the artwork guidelines we outlined above the inspectors will corroborate the fine art, which ensures it passes the standards of the digital platforms and will non be pulled. Beyond that it's down to your inventiveness and visual make equally to whether your cover artwork will grab someone's attention enough for them to click play.

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Source: https://diymusician.cdbaby.com/releasing-music/common-cover-art-mistakes-that-will-get-your-music-removed-from-streaming-services/

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