This post is a collaboration with: PosterMyWall – a free album cover maker

Create a professional album cover in 6 simple steps

Releasing an album is a strenuous, but fun, process!

You’ve created the music, considered music publishing and prepared for release – but you’re still getting started! Finally it’s time to bring all that hard work to fruition and make sure your music reaches the world!

Before you jumping into free music distribution to Spotify and other digital stores, you must create an enticing album cover.

This should not only represent your music, but also appeal to your audience.

Here are some great tips on how to make the perfect album cover for your music.

1. Consider your audience

Whether you’re a Pop artist or Hip Hop rapper, there are different expectations from fans.

When thinking about how to create an album cover, start with some research. Assessing work by your favourite artists is a great first step.

A great piece of album art can help tell an overall story conveyed by an artist.

An album cover Hip Hop artists would use (like Drake’s album cover for Nothing Was The Same) would take a different approach to creating an album cover if you were Taylor Swift.

Going beyond “generic” and telling a story (whilst appealing to your target audience) is the way to make your album cover part of your art.

In the examples below, both artworks depict a profile view of each artist. The differences between each are subtle but are the key details that speak to their audience.

Drake's album cover Taylor Swift's Album Cover

In Drake’s album cover we see the shaving in his haircut, his gold chain and the graffiti font, which are indications to a Hip Hop/RnB audience.

The painted portrait and the blue sky, tell a bit of the album’s story.

In Taylor’s album cover, we see:

These subtleties speak to a different audience to the Drake album.

The shadow over her face, what she might be looking at and the why? of the art start to tell a story of the album.

2. Select the right colors to represent your music

Bands or musicians typically have a special color palette. Their fans automatically associate these colors with them and their music.

When designing your own album cover, it’s important for you to go for colors that represent both your music and your personality as a musician.

When selecting the perfect color palette for your album cover, ask yourself the following questions:

Once you have the answers to these questions, you’ll be able to create a mood board of colors and create the perfect combination to add to your album cover.

For instance, if you want people to dance and feel happy, use warmer, brighter colors together. If the album is melancholic, use blue or some variation of cooler colors, or go with a single, dark-colored tone.

How to create an album cover

3. Add in some on-brand visuals

The images you add to your album cover will be the most central aspect that people take note of.

To create an album cover that catches people’s attention, you need to place specific focus on the sort of imagery you will be adding to it.

Ideally, the visuals on your album cover should be representative of you as a musician and the kind of music you’re creating for your fans. They should also encompass the image you want to portray to your listeners.

Some artists like to go the old school route and add in their own picture as the primary visual on an album cover. This is especially the case if this is your debut album. Others like to add in a visual that best portrays the sort of music they create.

If your music is more melancholic with a slow beat, go for some minimalistic imagery with a blend of colors. If your music is upbeat and chaotic, go for a maximalist image or a collage that showcases everything you want your listener to feel.

How to create cover art

Streaming platforms and stores can be strict about what they display. There are some things to avoid in your album cover design. Avoid:

Nudity, violence or illegal activity will also be contested. So, if you want to depict these in a creative way you will have to be really careful and potentially work with your distributor to get this right.

4. Choose a fun font for your album name

Your album name, like everything else, should be presented in a way that best represents what it’s about.

This will be much easier to figure out once you’ve planned out your aesthetic by following the first three tips.

If you’ve made a hip hop album, a loud font would be a good fit. On the other hand, if you’ve made an indie album, a simple sans serif font would do a good job if you want to depict a more sombre vibe. For some softer, feel-good music, try out a nice cursive font.

5. Consider your design on multiple platforms

Once you’re done designing your album cover, the next step is to get it ready to be marketed. This means releasing your album on multiple other platforms, both online and offline.

Your cover will have to be high resolution and look good as a small box in the corner of a screen. At the same time, your cover also needs to work on large vinyl records, CDs, and billboards.

So, before you finalise your album cover, adjust your design style accordingly.

Keep in mind different places your album will be visible and ensure it still stands out. Adjust your design according to different sizes and see if everything is still visible and aesthetically sound.

You can also resize your album cover into social media posts to amp up your online presence and get your followers excited.

6. What is the size of an album cover?

The dimensions for album covers are:

Digital

For digital releases, such as to Spotify or Apple Music, your artwork needs to be at least 1600×1600 pixels. Although, 3000×3000 is recommended.

CD

When it comes to making artwork for print, you must consider the dpi (dots per inch). A higher dpi produces a higher quality image when printed. Therefore, you should work with at least 300dpi.

A CD cover dimension is 4.72×4.72 inches. This in pixels at 300dpi is 1416×1416.

Vinyl

As with CD, vinyl covers must be printed.

At 300dpi, a 12 inch album cover would need to be 3600×3600 pixels.

Final thoughts

Your music deserves to be heard, which is why it’s so important to get the album cover right.

The key takeaway here is to focus on individual elements and make sure each one is perfect.

Online design tools like PosterMyWall’s album cover maker include a lot of fabulous album cover templates. These will help inspire you to get started on your own.

Throughout the designing process, remember to stay true to yourself as an artist. Show people what your brand is like and what your music represents.

So this is Christmas 🎶

And this year we wanted to go the extra mile to bring the Vampr community – our users and investors alike – an exclusive and timeless gift which will only be available for a limited time only.

We’ve recently partnered with the legends over at MNTRA, who build world-class sounding virtual instruments. Check out the video below to see one of their beautiful looking plugins at work – these guys are trailblazers and pioneers in the space.

This December we’re teaming up to develop an exclusive Vampr branded virtual instrument called FRCTURE.

We won’t spoil all the details just yet on what this instrument will look like or sound like – suffice to say this is one of the coolest projects we’ve ever been involved with and in a couple of weeks time it will be yours to download FOR FREE!

Check out some pictures below of the team recording various analogue sounds to bring you a completely unique sounding instrument, bespoke for the Vampr community.

Stay tuned towards the end of the month for download information and a closer look at this soon-to-be-yours one of a kind instrument.

app to find musicians

app to find musicians

app to find musicians

app to find musicians

app to find musicians

Itttt’sssss Chrrissssstmassss! Want to make and release a Christmas hit? Want to know the best Christmas song release dates? Read on! 🎄🎶

Christmas is a time considered especially difficult to release music as an independent artist. If it’s not a Christmas song or album you’re releasing, it’s generally recommended not to release in November or December. However, considering Christmas song release dates will be essential if you are releasing Christmas music.

This article will tackle how to release music in the holiday season. Firstly though, it will outline some pointers for how to make Christmas music…

Chuck some sleigh bells on it: what makes a Christmas song?

You’ll want to do some serious Christmas music bingeing to think about what it takes to make a hit Christmas song. Get yourself in the mood by putting on your Santa hat and playing a huge playlist of Christmas songs.

You have a few different options when it comes to making Christmas music:

In any instance, you (and your producer) will need to follow some rules to make a song feel “Christmassy” beyond just the lyrics…

And yes, it does include bells. 🛷🔔

Covering Christmas songs

Approaching Christmas music, it might seem obvious to put your own spin on a tried-and-tested hit.

Advantages of this include:

Disadvantages of covers include:

Public domain Christmas songs

Christmas songs in the public domain are another choice if you don’t want to write the lyrics/music. You must be really sure they are in the public domain. Otherwise you could end up, at a minimum, having to pull the release, at worst a court case.

Collaboration, Record Labels and Publishing

If you’re a composer who doesn’t write lyrics or sing… Or, if you’re a singer who needs a composer/producer to make a backing track for your Christmas lyrics… You need to find music contacts to work with and make your Christmas hit a reality! 🤶🎶

Alternatively, if you’re in contact with a record label or music publisher you can ask them about their roster. If they have anybody who would be able to help you finish your song, they may connect you. They’ll likely want a piece of the action, but it can often be work it to get your music finished and out there in the world.

If you’re not working with a music publisher, sign up and submit to Vampr Publishing through the app now!

Writing original Christmas music

There are increasing numbers of sad songs being made about Christmas. But generally, Christmas music is going to be lyrically covering topics such as:

There are no rules about what you write your original Christmas song about. However, when you open up your DAW ready to write a song, it is worth considering that generally people are looking for an escape. A period of belief in the sentiment that people are generally good, and hopeful happy endings exist.

You’ll want to wrack up on Christmas words to use in your lyrics. As well as the obvious options like Santa, reindeer, snow and decorations, really get into all of the elements of Christmas. From emotions felt during festive events to wrapping up in coats and scarfs.

Yes, get your bells and sleigh-bells out, plus anything else that may sound Christmassy. Shakers that give the effect of snow can work too!

Once it’s done, you’ll definitely want to submit your song to be considered for sync opportunities.

What are the best Christmas song release dates?

If you’re trying to be ahead of the curve, you probably needed to release Christmas last year 😂

Many people in the industry advise that around August is a good time to start preparing for your Christmas release.

The fact is, if you’re trying to release music for around the Christmas period and you try and outpace the market – you’ll probably end up releasing too early. This may leave your potential listeners feeling like it’s not a good time for them to listen to that music.

You want listeners to be discovering and listening to this music at times when they’re relaxed and trying to find Christmas music. You’ll also want your marketing, promotion and presence to coincide with that.

Having said that, if you want to be in the Christmas spirit when you create the music, you’ll want to be writing and recording in season. That means last Christmas really was the best time to start making the music!

How close should you release music to Christmas?

Traditionally, record labels would release Christmas albums in late October/early November. In past times, stores wouldn’t be open close to Christmas. But now, the internet means people will be still active and in “consumption mode” right up to the day, some people even on the day itself.

And it’s not just Christmas music. Labels tend to hone in on the 4th quarter of the year because of the retail spike associated with sales and Christmas gifts.

The major labels are particularly active in this time. This means bigger marketing budgets are being thrown around. It’s a harder time to compete for attention than the rest of the year.

The fact is though, things have changed since the old industry norms. If you have a following that you feel will be actively online on and around Christmas, the lines are now more blurred. If you know your audience will be watching you at this time of year, give it a shot!

With that in mind, staff at music companies still have time off at the holidays.

DSPs ask that releases are submitted within specified time windows in order for your music to reach the store in time.

If you want to release your music by the end of the year, please make sure your Christmas song release dates align with the following:

Christmas song release dates

Planning and scheduling a Christmas music release

It’s usually more about the campaign around the release than purchasing time windows these days.

With that in mind, next year you may want to think about planning and scheduling your release campaign earlier in the year.

A promotion campaign for a release is advised to be at least 6 weeks for a single, and at least 3 months for an album.

Releasing with Vampr distribution allows you to set the date of your release well in advance.

Using tools like Hootsuite, you can also schedule your social media content. This will mean it’s ready to go live and support the campaign without you having to panic and rush everything together near to the release.

Of course, you can also post supportive content around the time. People will want to see you doing festive things, so ensure the vibes of your content really fits with the season!

Wishing your happy holidays and a successful release! 🎄

Today we are pleased to announce that Vampr is now offering free music distribution to all our users!

Access Free Music Distribution here!

Here’s how it works:

Regular Vampr users can now send their music to Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and all leading DSPs free of charge while keeping 80% of their royalties.

Vampr Pro members will have access to the same service but will instead keep 100% of their royalties when it comes time to cash out 💰

We expect this move to be a game changer from a user acquisition standpoint and also opens up a new stream of revenue for the company.

We can’t wait to be the proud distributor of over 1M talented rising stars – here’s to the moon ✨🚀

Distribution A&R

How to publish a song

Want to publish your music? Keep reading to learn how to publish a song and earn royalties – whether it’s on your own, with your team or to get a publishing deal.

In the digital age of being a DIY artist, many songwriters are asking how to publish a song. This is a valid question. The purpose of a music publisher is continually evolving. It needs to be in an ever-changing technological landscape!

To some extent, artists and songwriters can publish their own music, but – they may find it gets harder as their catalog and network grows.

There’s a growing list of technology platforms using music in new and disruptive ways. Examples such as TikTok, Twitch and gaming platforms like Fortnite and Roblox mean it’s important that music publishing keeps up.

Fortnite music party

The metaverse will be the next huge disruption to the music industry, but it should bring a lot of “micro sync” royalties. Music continues to become a more algorithmic lean-back experience and so the importance of back catalog management and constant music pitching is becoming even more important.

Changes in the use of music with technology demand new approaches to the publishing business. The music industry must ensure artists and writers are being paid properly for the use of their work.

This can make efficient music publishing tough for an independent artist, even with a team to support them.

Whether you’re looking to cover it alone, with your team, or looking to work with (or get signed by) a bigger publisher, this post will help you understand the ins and outs of music publishing and how you can publish a song.

What does a music publisher do?

A publisher is a person or company that tries to place your music on different markets to find spots for your song or album. That spot can be a TV commercial, a song for a video game, a melody for a movie, a jingle for a radio station and so on.

Additionally, music publishers normally handle all the paperwork to ensure that your song is properly credited to you, so you’re compensated for it.

Music Publishing and copyrights

Music publishing has existed since the beginning of the music industry – way before recorded music. It is the business of generating and collecting royalties for the composition and lyrics of music and it works around the licensing of the publishing right.

All recorded music has 2 associated copyrights: master and publishing rights. These copyrights are licensed to people who want to use the music, in exchange for a license fee or royalty.

Essential reading: all about music licensing.

Royalties received for music publishing include performance royalties. These are granted when your music is played live and when your music is broadcast on radio or television. You also get what’s called mechanical royalties for sales (and streams) of recorded music.

Do I need a publisher to publish my music?

Even though it isn’t strictly necessary, the truth is that having a publisher can be beneficial for your music and allows you to focus on other things.

If you were to do the job of a publisher, you would have to build a contacts list, send emails with music and album links, follow up, fill in all the forms when submitting your songs, and so on. That would leave you with less time to focus on making music.

Additionally, collaborating with a publisher is a great way of networking and can open provide many opportunities for your music.

The difference between music publishing and distribution

People new to the music business often confuse music publishing and music distribution. Let’s better understand their differences.

Music distribution is the business of releasing a recording of music to be bought (and streamed) by listeners and fans. Released music generates master royalties, subject to how many records are sold or streamed.

If you’re looking to get your music on services like Spotify, you need music distribution, not music publishing!

Music publishing, on the other hand, is the business of generating, collecting and managing royalties for musical compositions and lyrics. As mentioned above, it involves 2 types of copyrights (master and publishing) that are collected from television, movies, radio, games, and other sources.

💡👉 Free music distribution here

how to publish a song to spotify

How to publish a song and earn sync fees

A major area of interest for a musician, songwriter or composer is sync licensing. When your music is used in films, TV, games, adverts and more, the person using the music will have to pay for a sync fee.

Some broadcasters will also have to pay ongoing royalties whenever the show, film or documentary is played to the public.

As there are 2 copyrights in recorded music, the sync license is also made up of 2 licenses: the sync license and the master license. The former would be granted by the publisher of the song, and the master the owner of the recording.

Typically, somebody “pitching” the music will be able to sign off for both the sync and mastering licenses. They could own both rights or have special contracts to act on behalf of the rightsholder. This is known in the industry as “one-stop”. Want to know how to publish a song? One of the easiest ways is to pitch one-stop music.

Read more about how to tag your music as “one-stop”.

How to publish a song for micro syncs

Micro syncs are small payments paid for small usages of music. Examples include YouTube videos with limited viewers and short-run web adverts.

Micro syncs can accumulate and result in bigger payments as the traction of the content picks up.

There’s a growing interest in music publishing towards micro syncs. This is because of the hugely growing “content creator” market.

As these huge tech companies get used to paying for licenses for the use of music, revenues in these areas grow for rights holders.

Music publishers manage the registration of songs and collect royalties from these platforms. But, for the DIY artist managing their own publishing, you could contact content creators directly:

Pitching a song for cover versions

With permission from the publishing owner, anybody can record their own version of a song.

Sometimes songwriters (or, more likely, their publishers) pitch songs to labels and artists. The original songwriter takes songwriting credits (and publishing royalties), but not typically the fame.

Additionally, a song being performed and recorded by an artist and becoming associated with that artist doesn’t make it their song.

Music publishers pitch for or accept offers from other artists who want to use the song. When this occurs, it is called a cover version.

Covers can be very valuable. You can use cross-genre or era to create new attractions and audiences for the original song.

New recordings of cover songs also generate new publishing royalties.

how to publish songs for covers

Finding work for your music catalog

A lot of the work and business involved with music publishing is about creating and managing relationships.

Music publishers help “work your catalog”. Firstly, this means doing things like pitching a song you write for other artists to perform and, secondly, pitching your music for sync placement opportunities.

Traditionally, publishers would work with composers and songwriters. But now, recording artists and producers are also frequently on a music publisher’s roster. This means that a publisher can always be ready to create work to a brief from:

…and more.

How to publish your own music

If you want to publish your own music, there are some steps you can take to act as your own music publisher in the most basic form.

The first thing you will need to do is sign yourself up with a Performance Rights Organisation (PRO):

What are Performance Rights Organizations (PROs)?

Performance Rights Organisations (PROs), also known as Collection Societies/Agencies, are bodies that exist to:

There are different PROs for different territories. They all come with different costs, processes and effectiveness. Some territories have multiple PROs, so you have to do your research and choose which is best for you.

PROs are typically networked with other PROs so that cross-territory collection can take place. However, the relationships between PROs vary. If you are performing well outside of your own territory, it may be worth signing up with other PROs.

Wikipedia lists the major PROs in each territory

It’s important to sign up as a songwriter to a PRO and register your works, especially if you’re already getting broadcast or live exposure to the public. You can also register as a publisher of your song. Our advice is to do this using a publishing admin partner.

What is publishing admin?

Publishing rights are split into two parts – the songwriter and the publisher. You may have signed up to a PRO as a songwriter, but if you are unpublished you can also register the song to collect publishing royalties.

NOTE: Always make sure you discuss this with your publisher when you take a publishing deal. They will need to re-register the song with them as the publisher, which will require you to remove yourself as the publisher.

You can do this directly with your PRO. But, another way to take full control of all of your publishing royalties is to work with a Publishing Administrator.

Publishing Administrators manage and collect royalties on behalf of a rights holder. They do not claim any rights, and usually just take a small cut of the royalties they manage as payment for their work.

One of the biggest and most easy access to Publishing Admin companies is SongTrust. The advantage of using them over only your PRO is their collection network.

Vampr users get a big discount when they sign up with SongTrust.

Enter VAMPR as the discount code to receive a 20% discount on the one-off registration fee.

If you’re not yet signed up for a PRO, this is probably a cheaper alternative. You don’t need to sign up for a PRO if you’re collecting with SongTrust!

Vampr Publishing admin with Songtrust

How much does it cost to publish a song?

The cost of publishing a song depends on several factors, including:

Can I publish my music for free?

Many services charge you to publish a song, but there are some solutions that are free.

If you want to know how to publish music for free, you should check out a service like Vampr Publishing. It’s free, non-exclusive and the deal is particularly favorable to the artist (65%-35% split in favor of the artist instead of the 50%-50% split that most companies offer). More on this below.

What is co-publishing?

A traditional publishing deal gives a publisher a percentage of the publishing rights. This is sometimes called a co-publishing deal.

Co-publishing deals can be very complex. They can involve:

The potential benefit of co-publishing is, of course, that advance. This is a lump sum paid to a songwriter or composer upfront.

What is sub-publishing?

Sub-publishing is a partnership with another publisher. They will look after pitching, collection and administration in other territories. Different from a co-publishing deal, sub-publishers act more like overseas agents for their partner’s catalog. They take a cut of the royalties they collect but don’t own any of the rights.

Sub-publishing is very useful because there are lots of overseas royalties that aren’t covered by generic “international” collection agencies. It also gives you a team on the ground who knows the popular artists or is connected with the local film or advert agencies.

How to publish and license a song with Vampr Publishing

Of course, in the digitally-empowered era, the DIY approach can get you a long way.

This is especially true if you work with a partner who brings you opportunities and doesn’t limit you or lock you in.

Whilst working with music publishers or record labels isn’t always the best idea, with Vampr Publishing we’ve taken a different approach.

We’re listening to submissions and accepting music we’d like to be represented as part of our sync catalog. 💿🎧🔥

Rather than following the traditional publishing models, we’ve discovered the magic sauce:

If you want to be considered as one of our roster artists and represented for sync – sign up for Publishing and submit some music on the Vampr app now!

Rooms is our biggest innovation yet! It provides users with a whole new way to interact and network.

Chat with like minded people about the things you love the most in a modern approach to the forums of the past 😎

Available today from the App Store and Google Play Store ✌️