#Custom album cover wall art how to
#Custom album cover wall art skin

HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU CHARGE A BAND FOR THEIR CD OR ALBUM COVER ART? And this is never a good thing, because later you might see your art printed on posters, tees, hats and all sorts of merchandise, with no mention of your name, and you will feel used. You might just hand it over and let them do anything they want with it. If you aren’t charging for the art, then you will most likely get sloppy about everything else, such as, what you are agreeing to allow the band to do with the art besides putting it on the CD cover. The mere act of exchanging money implies that the art is valued, and the artist has say in how their art is displayed, how their name will appear on the cover, and what the art can be used for in addition to the cover (i.e. You have to pick and choose which bands will use your art, and if you’re giving it away, then you run the risk of over-exposure by making your art too easily available.ģ – When people pay for art, the artist actually has MORE control over the art. Everyone else gets paid, so why shouldn’t the artist? (The band will get paid when they sell their music.)Ģ – You don’t want to over-expose your art in the music world. The album cover art fee is just added to that cost of having an album made. On the very cheap end, they are investing about $4,000+ to make an album. If a band is recording an album, they have to come up with money to rent studio time (about $300-$500/day), pay for mastering the album (about $500+) and then having the CD’s made ($300+). (I’ll go into detail on that more later in this post.)īelow are my top reasons for charging small bands for your art:ġ – Making an album is a costly endeavor. But, if giving a great deal, be stricter on your restrictions as to how they can use it. If it’s a small garage band with no budget, and you LOVE their music and want to be a part of what they’re doing, then it’s okay to give them a killer deal on the art. The amount of money you charge doesn’t matter as much as the fact that SOMETHING is paid for the art. Sorry to tell you that, but, I’m trying to save artists from this terrible fate that I’ve witnessed in older artists. And then your relationship with art becomes a dark one. And then the energy gets stuck, usually right in your solar plexus, and after years and years of giving art away you begin to feel used. When you don’t value your own art, no one else will, either. To keep proper balance, your art has to flow outward while the money flows inward. Money is an exchange of energy and energy has to flow both ways. Or they will accidentally leave off the artist’s signature, or they will fail to provide the promotional value that they promised. If there is no value placed on your art, chances are they won’t use the art properly. It spreads out into the Ether of the Universe. When someone doesn’t want to pay for art, it has little to no value to them, and this feeling of no value transcends the band. This is how they will learn about business, and music is indeed a business.Īlways charge a fee, even if it’s just a small fee.

#Custom album cover wall art skin

Why? If it’s a major label backed by a record company, they can afford your art.Īnd, if they are a small garage band making their first album, they need to have some skin in the game. SHOULD YOU GIVE YOUR ART TO A BAND FOR FREE?

#Custom album cover wall art how to

Read on, and like I always do, I’m going to go deep into the philosophy of getting paid and how to go about pricing your work. First, should you give it away for free? And second, how much should you charge? Linkedin A recurring question I get from artists is: “ Should I give my art to a band for Album Cover Art in exchange for exposure, or should I charge them? And if so, how much?”