I Tried Editing the Cover Art for a Song but Its Not a Square

Why making acceptable embrace fine art is so of import.

In the streaming era, you need cover art for every unmarried and anthology you lot release. Not only should that artwork Wait good; it likewise has to meet the visual guidelines of the large streaming platforms if you want your music to stay bachelor online.

Does cover art still affair in a streaming globe?

Back earlier streaming and even downloads, when tape stores ruled the music world, an album embrace was oftentimes all a shopper had to go on when they were browsing the shelves.

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

Accept a wait at these covers and tell me you wouldn't be horrified/intrigued if you came across them amid the racks without knowing who the artist was:

Only information technology's non just Maiden — or even heavy metal — that makes iconic cover art a priority. Throughout the history of popular music, musicians take chosen to adorn their albums with immediately recognizable covers. One glance at the Schizoid Man on the cover of Rex Crimson's landmark prog debut In the Court of the Crimson Rex and yous 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 confronting a black groundwork was a perfect representation for the stark, common cold mail-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 blueprint similar to the Zig-Zag rolling papers he used to wrap his album'south namesake.

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

Even in the age of countless listening for all, the cover y'all choose for your single or album plays an essential role in representing your music before someone even clicks "play." Heck, having professional-looking embrace fine art might be fifty-fifty more important at present than information technology was in the physical media days of yore.

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

And for your own music: you put all the hard work into creating it. Why not wrap it in a pretty bundle?

But don't but accept our word for it. The digital platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.) demand artwork that is at the very least legible and consistent with their guidelines. The guidelines listed below are in identify to encourage a expert user experience, and to avoid misleading or confusing info on cover artwork.

Just how do I brand adept cover art without spending a bunch of money?

Later in this article we'll testify you a super easy (and inexpensive!) style to design your own art, merely before you start on that we'll explain the digital platforms' artwork guidelines, so you lot know exactly what to include and what to avoid.

Keep in mind, these rules aren't nigh limiting your creativity. They're in place to protect all parties involved (you, your distributor, your listeners, and the music platforms). It's nearly creating a good experience for fans, avoiding things that could be disruptive, incorrect, or offensive, and making sure your cover art is an invitation to your music, not a warning sign that listeners should turn around and mind to someone else.

Aye, fifty-fifty in the ever-irresolute realm of digital music, at that place are rules to follow if you want your music bachelor where people tin can admission information technology. How does CD Baby know these rules? Because we've been successfully distributing music to dozens of platforms for over fifteen years, and those platforms send united states their submission guidelines. Artwork is the most common hangup for artists when submitting their music. Our cognition of these rules ensures your music goes alive and stays live. It'due south just 1 of the many reasons to distribute music with us.

Here are the most commonly asked questions about cover art:

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

A: Yep. Every unmarried release should have a unique encompass, so every bit someone scrolls through your discography they can identify each release by the encompass alone.

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

A: Yeah. The text on your embrace fine art needs to exactly friction match the info you lot entered for your release (artist name, title of the album or unmarried, etc.). If yous entered "Blueprints" as the album name, information technology tin't say "The Blueprint" on the cover fine art.

Q: Are abbreviations allowed?

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

Q: Can I put my record characterization on the artwork?

A: No. While this is popular in clandestine hip-hop and EDM scenes, the major platforms practise not permit the label being on the cover art.

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

A: Parental Informational warnings are non required, since there is an "explicit content" tag on the platforms. Merely if yous include a Parental Advisory alarm in your embrace art, there must exist at least ane track with explicit lyrics.

Q: Does even my featured artist information need to lucifer?

A: Yep, that needs to match besides. If you have a featured artist listed in the text on your cover fine art, that featured artist must exist included in the metadata for the release.

Q: Can I use copyrighted imagery?

A: Admittedly non. Some sectors of the Internet may be the Wild West, only copyright infringement is never okay. Don't use characters, logos, or products that vest to other people, companies, or institutions. Merely put a piece of tape on that Red Bull can so we can't see the logo. And nosotros're distressing, but this also includes the Wu-Tang logo.

Q: Can I put the name of the artist I'1000 covering on the art for my cover single?

A: No. The name of the artist y'all're covering is non immune on the artwork for your release. Otherwise it looks similar it'south them performing and not you lot.

Q: Can I use a watermarked image?

A: No. If you use a stock image, 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 use the phrase "The Original" if yous're referring to a comprehend vocal (because duh).
• Avoid stretching your image to a different attribute ratio. That leads to blurriness (non the creative kind), pixelation, awkward borders, or another form of aesthetic assault.
• Avoid upscaling your image to a larger size. You'll probable be committing the same crimes as above. For case, taking an Instagram photo with a filter then blowing information technology upwardly to 3000×3000: yep, that's gonna expect like crap.

Practice Non include the following:

• Contact info
• Advertizing messages ("Buy my new single!")
• References to contextual fourth dimension ("Brand new!" "Only released!")
• UPC barcodes (those go on the back cover of a physical product)
• References to product format (CD, vinyl, digital single, rpm, etc.)
• Availability ("Available on Spotify, Apple tree Music, etc.")
• Nazi logos or other mean crap (there are laws in some territories – and likewise information technology's 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 fine art is only in that location considering it's grandfathered in)
• Pornography (we know it when we see it – so does Apple)
• Pictures of a clear CD jewel case or any other physical media. (First, it's been washed already. Second, it's not immune)
• A bare white or blank black square image with no text
• Avoid excessive or irrelevant text/information
• Text messages
• Images that include a bunch of text
• "Aye but Kanye…" – Nope

Here'due south a few things that ARE allowed, though nosotros nonetheless become asked about it a lot by artists:

• Casing rules don't apply to cover art, so y'all can take all caps or lowercase or whatever mix of the 2 yous want
• You can utilize the same image for every single, as long as the text differs on the cover for each one
• You can have an image with NO text, but you can't reuse that image (without text) for another release
• It'southward okay to apply the name of the artist you are covering, if:
• Information technology'southward a tribute release (and not just a i-off cover song)
• Your artist proper noun appears larger than the creative person y'all're covering
• You must take "Tribute to" larger than the original artist name
• Karaoke tracks must include "Originally performed by" on the comprehend fine art
• Karaoke tracks must be designated as such in the "karaoke" genre
• Fan art — as long as information technology'south clearly distinguishable from the original (It's okay to use your own cartoon of Totoro on your cover of the Totoro song, but not if it'south So Skillful it looks like the original)
• Public Domain images — simply be prepared to provide proof that what y'all're using is in the Public Domain
• Stock art — equally long as you lot've read the usage guidelines and are following those rules
• Your social media handle — as long as you lot don't mention WHICH social media platform

Here are the guidelines for the art file itself when you're on the CD Baby Art Uploader page:

• A foursquare image
• Preferably 3000×3000 (so it will wait good when scaled down). It'south always meliorate to have art that is likewise large than likewise pocket-sized. Remember that you lot can scale down a large paradigm without distorting it, but scaling up a pocket-sized image will make it look blurry and pixelated
• A .jpg or .png file (and putting ".jpg" at the cease of a .pdf filename, while artistic wishful thinking, doesn't work to convert the image file)
• The color calibrated to RGB — if in Photoshop; no CMYK or uncalibrated image files (Tip: open a .png in Paint and save equally a .jpg and information technology will automatically convert to RGB)

Okay, that'southward a lot to call up virtually, and if you're a new artist looking to dress your starting time release with some proper visuals — or if you're an experienced artist just looking for some quick artwork on the cheap — we've got a few tips for yous. If you don't want to become through the rigmarole of hiring am expensive designer with Photoshop expertise or learn the complex pattern techniques yourself, y'all tin really create simple but constructive cover artwork yourself in very little time and little to no coin.

Here are two ways to get an anthology comprehend setup for free (or less than $5):

Selection ane: Using a Canva Album Cover template

Canva is a freemium tool that helps you design just virtually anything. They have a whole section of professional-looking album encompass templates for you to get started. It'due south quick and fun to use their tool, likewise! And it's a heck of a lot cheaper than buying Photoshop, or paying someone who has it to design your embrace art. We encourage you to get into Canva and play effectually.

Hither'southward a walkthrough of how to build an album cover using Canva:

1. Become to Canva's album cover section here .
2. Click on "Start Designing Your Cover".
3. You lot'll take to create an business relationship. Information technology'south free.
4. On the left-hand side, yous can select whatever of the templates. When you hover over the template, information technology will show if it's complimentary. If information technology's not free, information technology'll usually price $1. In this graphic below, we've chosen a free template.
5. Canva'southward templates default to 1400×1400. While this is adequate for the platforms, we recommend using an image that'southward 3000×3000, since that will scale better for future use. If you begin with an album embrace template, yous Tin can use the "Resize" tool to make your design 3000×3000, but that is a feature merely bachelor to Canva Pro members (ummm, tin can y'all say "free trial," anyone?)

half dozen. Now that we've settled on the template, let'south update the text for our album. Allow's say we're releasing a single called "Boogie Dusk" and the artist's name is Good Cheese.

We can click on the text in the graphic and blazon in what nosotros want:

At the end, hit the "aA" push button to make sure yous have proper casing for your piece of work. Otherwise, it won't pass inspection.

Later on updating the artist proper name, you tin tweak the font shape and size and rearrange the text blocks:

7. Last affair before our album is consummate…allow's get rid of the white space past clicking and moving each slice of the template:

8. Everyone is familiar with stride 8. We're going to look at our album typhoon and ask ourselves, is it good enough?

We obsess over the font option and the colors. It could e'er be better.

We regret our band name. Why did we pick Practiced Cheese?

9. Somehow we determine that yes, the anthology cover is proficient enough. And we love Good Cheese (and good cheese).

Our adjacent stride is to download the epitome so we can upload during our submission process. Click the download push button in the upper correct corner. And and so cull either a PNG or JPG as the file type:

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

Many album art covers show an image of the artist. If you lot have a smartphone, information technology'due south probable yous already have enough of photos that could serve every bit an album cover. (Just brand sure they're high resolution and not blurry.)

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

5. Once it'southward loaded, you can drag your prototype into the bare canvas:

6. You may demand to resize the image to fit the sail:

7. Nosotros can add text or other fun stuff to the graphic. The left-side card will give you lot all sorts of options. Simply we decide to go with just the image.

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

And that'southward information technology! Once yous download the image file you tin upload it on the Art Uploader page.

As long as you've followed the artwork guidelines we outlined above the inspectors will approve the art, which ensures it passes the standards of the digital platforms and volition non be pulled. Beyond that information technology's downward to your creativity and visual make as to whether your cover artwork volition grab someone'southward attending plenty 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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