Top Tools for Music Artists to Design your Cover Art on Your Own

Mar 10, 2023 by Malek - 0 Comments

As a music artist, designing your new song or album cover art is an essential part of branding and promotion. You want to make sure that your album or song cover art is visually appealing and accurately represents the style and genre of your music. In the past, designing album or song cover art required the help of professional graphic designers, but with the advancement of technology, there are now many tools available for music artists to use on their own. In this blog post, we’ll explore some of the best tools for music artists to use for designing their new song or album cover art, including Canva, Adobe Express, and PicsArt.

Canva

Canva is an easy-to-use online design tool that offers a wide range of design templates for music artists to choose from. I’ve personally been using Canva for the last 5+ years for most of my graphic design. The image at the very top of this blog was designed in Canva! With Canva, you can easily customize the design templates to fit your brand and style. Canva has a drag-and-drop interface that makes it easy to add images, text, and other design elements to your album or song cover art. You can also upload your own images and use them in your designs. Canva offers both free and paid plans, with the paid plans offering more design features and templates.

 

 

Adobe Express

Adobe Express is a mobile app that music artists can use to create their album or song cover art. With Adobe Express, you can choose from a variety of design templates or create your own from scratch. Adobe Express offers a user-friendly interface that allows you to easily add text, images, and other design elements to your album or song cover art. You can also upload your own images and use them in your designs. Adobe Express offers both free and paid plans, with the paid plans offering more design features and templates.

PicsArt

PicsArt is a mobile app that music artists can use to create their album or song cover art. With PicsArt, you can choose from a variety of design templates or create your own from scratch. PicsArt offers a user-friendly interface that allows you to easily add text, images, and other design elements to your album or song cover art. PicsArt also offers a wide range of filters and effects that you can use to enhance your designs. PicsArt offers both free and paid plans, with the paid plans offering more design features and templates.

Designing your new song or album cover art doesn’t have to be a daunting task. With the tools we’ve discussed in this blog post, music artists can easily create visually appealing and effective album or song cover art that accurately represents their brand and style. Whether you choose to use Canva, Adobe Express, or PicsArt, each tool offers unique features and templates that can help you create a design that stands out. So go ahead and give these tools a try, and see how easy it is to create amazing album or song cover art on your own.

How to Set Up a Spotify Pre-Save Campaign to Maximize the Release of Your New Music

Mar 04, 2023 by Malek - 0 Comments

You’ve spent months (or maybe even years) writing and recording your latest album. Now it’s time to release it into the world and start getting some well-deserved recognition for all your hard work. But how can you make sure that your music gets heard by as many people as possible? One great way to do that is to use Spotify’s pre-save function. Here’s what you need to know about how it works and how it can benefit you as an artist. 

Spotify’s Pre-Save Function: The Basics

Spotify’s pre-save function allows artists to promote their new music on the platform before it is officially released. When a user pre-saves an artist’s upcoming song or album, it is automatically added to their Spotify library on the day of release. This ensures that the artist’s new music is front and center when the user opens up their Spotify app, making it more likely that they will listen to it.

Additionally, when a user pre-saves an artist’s new music, that artist gets a notification. This is a great way to connect with fans and let them know that you appreciate their support. 

 

Benefits of Using Spotify’s Pre-Save Function

Increased Reach

First and foremost, it helps increase the reach of an artist’s new music. When a listener pre-saves a song or album, all of their followers on Spotify will see that they have saved it. This helps promote word-of-mouth marketing for the artist and exposes their music to potential new listeners. 

Gauge Fan Interest

Additionally, using Spotify’s pre-save function allows artists to better gauge interest in their upcoming releases. If a lot of people are pre-saving an artist’s new song or album, then that is a good indication that there is significant interest in it. This information can be used by artists to make decisions about future releases, such as which songs to promote more heavily or where to allocate tour dates. 

Build Anticipation For The Release

Finally, using Spotify’s pre-save function is a great way to build up hype for an upcoming release. By letting listeners know about new music ahead of time and giving them the opportunity to save it, artists can generate excitement and get people talking about their upcoming release long before it drops. 

 

2 Ways to Launch a Pre-Save Campaign

Distrokid Hyperfollow

Distrokid Hyperfollow is a tool from Distrokid that allows you to quickly and easily set up your pre-save campaigns for streaming services like Apple Music, Deezer, Amazon Music, and of course Spotify. The key benefit of using this tool is that it allows you to create playlists featuring songs from other artists as well as your own tracks. This way, people who follow any playlist created through Distrokid Hyperfollow will be able to listen to your song when it drops. Setting up a pre-save campaign through this tool is incredibly easy; all you need to do is log into your account on their website and select the “Create Pre-Save Campaign” option. From there, all you have to do is enter the details of your song including its title, artist name, release date, album art etc., and then click “Create Pre-Save Campaign” again. That’s it!

smartURL

Another great tool for setting up pre-save campaigns is smartURL. This platform allows you to create custom URLs for each of your songs that direct users directly to streaming platforms like Spotify where they can save them for later listening. One great feature of smartURL is its ability to integrate with other popular services such as Mailchimp and Hootsuite so that you can easily share these links with others without having to manually copy/paste them into emails or social media posts. To get started with smartURL, simply sign up for an account on their website and then enter the details of your song including its title, artist name, release date etc., along with any additional information such as artwork or lyrics if desired. After that, simply click “Publish” and you’re good to go!

If you’re an artist with new music coming out soon, be sure to take advantage of Spotify’s pre-save function! It’s a great way to promote your music and build up hype for your upcoming release. Plus, it doesn’t cost anything to use—so what do you have to lose?

How to Get Your Song Featured on Spotify Playlists as an Independent Artist

Feb 22, 2023 by Malek - 0 Comments

If you’re an aspiring singer or rapper, getting your music on Spotify playlists can help you reach a wider audience and gain more fans. But how do you go about getting your songs featured on Spotify playlists?

Here are a few tips:

Create a profile on Pitchfork

Once you’ve done that, you can start submitting your music for consideration for inclusion on Spotify playlists. When submitting your tracks, be sure to include all of the necessary information, such as your artist name, the song title, and a link to the track itself. You should also include a brief description of why you think your song would be a good fit for the playlist in question.

Research

Research which playlists would be a good fit for your music. There are numerous Spotify playlists for all genres of music, so take some time to research which ones would be the best fit for your sound. You can also check out the playlist descriptions to see if they’re currently accepting submissions from independent artists.

Quality of Key

Make sure your music is high-quality and ready for public consumption. Before you submit your music to any Spotify playlist, make sure it’s of the highest quality possible. This means ensuring that your audio is top-notch and that your song is radio-ready. If it’s not, it’s unlikely that any playlist curators will take your submission seriously.

Submit Direct

Submit your song directly to the playlist curator. Once you’ve found a few potential Spotify playlists for your song, reach out to the playlist curator (usually found in the playlist description) and pitch them your track. Include a link to where they can listen to your song, as well as a brief description of why you think it would be a good fit for their playlist. Generally speaking, the more specific you can be, the better chance you have of getting featured.

Follow up

Persistence is key! Follow up with the playlist curator. After submitting your song, don’t just sit back and wait for a response—follow up! A quick email or social media message thanking them for considering your track can go a long way, and shows that you’re truly passionate about getting featured on their playlist.

Getting your song featured on Spotify playlists can help increase your visibility as an aspiring artist and reach more fans. By following these tips, you can increase your chances of getting featured on popular Spotify playlists and jumpstart your music career!

Have you had your song featured on a Spotify playlist? What techniques have worked for you to make this happen?

How to Register Your New Song with a Performance Rights Organization (PRO) in 2023

Feb 17, 2023 by Malek - 0 Comments

So, you’ve written a new song and you’re ready to get it out there into the world. The first step is to register your work with a performance rights organization. Doing so will ensure that you are compensated whenever your song is played publicly. But what exactly is a performance rights organization, and how do you go about registering your song? Read on to find out.

What Is A Performance Rights Organization? 

A performance rights organization, also known as a PRO, is an entity that collects performance royalties on behalf of its music creator members. In the United States, there are three main PROs: Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), and Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC).

 

What are the differences between the three PROs?

ASCAP – The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers is a membership organization of over 650,000 songwriters, composers, and music publishers. ASCAP licenses the public performances of its members’ works and distributes royalties to them based on the frequency with which their works are performed. ASCAP is the largest performance rights organization in the United States.

BMI – Broadcast Music Incorporated is a membership organization of over 700,000 songwriters, composers, and music publishers. BMI licenses the public performances of its members’ works and distributes royalties to them based on the frequency with which their works are performed. BMI is the second largest performance rights organization in the United States.

SESAC – The Society of European Stage Authors and Composers is a membership organization of over 30,000 songwriters, composers, and music publishers. SESAC licenses the public performances of its members’ works and distributes royalties to them based on the frequency with which their works are performed. SESAC is the smallest of the three major performance rights organizations in the United States but is growing at a rapid pace.

 

How To Register Your Song With A PRO 

The process for registering your song with a PRO will vary slightly depending on which organization you choose. However, in general, you will need to create an account and then submit your song for review. Once your song has been approved, it will be added to the PRO’s repertoire and you will start earning royalties whenever it is performed publicly. 

It’s important to note that you only need to register your song with one PRO in order to receive payment for public performances. However, if you are planning on performing your song live or licensing it for use in film or television, you will need to obtain additional licenses. 

 

PRO Song Registration vs. Copyright

It’s important to note that registering your work with a PRO does not automatically copyright it. Copyrighting your song is a separate process that needs to be completed with the U.S. Copyright Office. However, registering your work with a PRO will provide some legal protection in case anyone tries to plagiarize or perform your song without permission.

As a budding artist, it’s important to make sure that all of your legal bases are covered before releasing your music into the world. Registering your work with a performance rights organization is a crucial step in ensuring that you are compensated fairly for your creativity. Now that you know the ins and outs of registration, what are you waiting for? Get started today!

How to Distribute Your Music in 2023

Jan 19, 2023 by Malek - 0 Comments

You’ve just spent months in the studio perfecting your new album. The mixing is done, the mastering is done, and now it’s time to put it out there for the world to hear. But where do you start? How do you get your music on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and all the other major music platforms?

The answer is music distribution. Music distribution is the process of getting your music from your computer onto all the major streaming platforms. And while it might seem like a daunting task, it’s actually not that difficult. In this blog post, we’ll go over some of the best music distribution platforms so that you can get your new album out to your fans as quickly and easily as possible.

 

Tunecore

Tunecore

Tunecore is a digital music distribution company that was founded in 2005. It is one of the most popular distribution companies and has distributed music for artists such as John Lennon, Kendrick Lamar, and Wiz Khalifa. Tunecore offers both a basic and an unlimited plan. The unlimited plan gives you the option to release an unlimited number of songs and albums for a yearly fee. Tunecore also offers marketing and promotion services to help you get your music heard by new audiences.

 

CD Baby

CD Baby is another great option for independent artists who want to distribute their own music. Like Tunecore, CD Baby offers worldwide distribution to all the major streaming platforms. They also offer a range of marketing and promotion services to help you reach new fans. One of the things that sets CD Baby apart from other distributors is that they offer free UPC codes which you can use when releasing physical copies of your albums (e.g., CDs). This can be a big help if you plan on selling physical copies of your albums at shows or through your website.

 

DistroKid

DistroKid is a bit different from Tunecore and CD Baby in that they don’t offer any marketing or promotion services. However, they do offer some unique features that make them worth considering. For example, DistroKid allows you to release an unlimited number of songs and albums for one low annual fee. This makes them a great choice for artists who are constantly writing and recording new material. They also have some partnerships with YouTube and Instagram which can help you reach new fans through those channels.

As you can see, there are a variety of digital music distributors that can help you get your music out into the world. Deciding which one is right for you depends on your specific needs and goals. All three of the companies listed above are reputable and have a long history of helping artists release their music. If you are looking for a distributor that offers more than just digital distribution, then Tunecore or CD Baby may be a good option for you. If you are mainly interested in digital distribution, then Distrokid might be the best choice. Whichever route you decide to go, all three companies can help you achieve your goal of getting your music heard by new audiences and fans around the world.

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