Mixtape Cover Art- The Best Graphic Designer Online

#1 Mixtape Cover Designer Online.

      Since the internet exploded it seems like everyone and there mama is either a rapper Dj, beat maker, or music graphic designer. I'm not saying anything is wrong with it, but its to the point were the bad out weigh the good lol. 

Being in the music niche for so many years I run into thousands of artist who have either been scammed online in some way shape or form, but most of the complaints that artist had were about mixtape cover designers delivering low budget graphics or they would just get the clients money and never respond back and that's some bulls**t. I can't stand a petty thief the whole goal is to network and help each other get to the next level.

So I decided to make this article to give all you independent artist,beat makers, Dj's, managers, or anyone needing music related graphics a resource that is used by me, my clients, major mixtape websites, and alot of record labels they provide high quality custom graphics.

Whether you need a mixtape cover,itunes artwork, a single cover, logo,  any custom graphics I would Mixtape Cover King. After trying over 23 different  graphic designers to create one of my artists mixtape cover a friend of mine had me check out there site and I can honestly say they have the best work I have seen online with the best prices.Alot of these sites are overpriced I feel based off of the work they provide . I mean $100 to $150 for a cookie cutter design ain't cutting it and on top of that alot of these sites have the nerve to charge you for revisions like its your fault their work is ugly!lol

At Mixtape Cover Kings  they only charge $50 for a high quality 300dbi custom mixtape cover from scratch. The artwork they provide is amazing and jaw dropping I will show you some examples in a minute. Another thing is if your trying to meet a deadline there turnaround within 24 to 48hrs and if you let them know you need it with a day they will do a rush order with no extra charge and that comes in handy. On top of that they provide free unlimited revisions with their work so once you receive the mixtape cover art if you have any changes are add ons you would like they do it no problem. You can checkout some of the work they've done for some of my artist below.

 BEFORE                                                        

AFTER

As you can see the graphics are clean Hi def and the theme fits the title. I got this cover back within 10hrs of placing my order and there was no changes needed.The designer at http://www.Mixtape Cover King is good at taking your idea and bringing it to life thru your cover art  design. 

If your looking for graphics that will attract attention to your project at an affordable rate I would recommend them hands down.You can visit there portfolio here http://www.MixtapeCoverKing.com/mixtape-cover to see other work they have done and also if you want to get a design created.

 

Know what iTunes Can’t Do for you and How to Make Sales Know what iTunes Can’t Do for you and How to Make Sales Online Online

The music industry evolves fast, and it drifts with the shifts in fashion, technology and people’s tastes.  This explains why the music as product is among the first to go fully digital and be sold over the internet.  I’m going to explain in this post how you can sale your music online.  I am going to tell you just how much you should expect of these online stores before you take the next step.

What Online Music Stores like iTunes, Amazon

The feeling of finally getting to upload your music and let online music stores pay you is probably the most thrilling feeling for any upcoming musician. But  there are a few things you must know.

iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and the many many other music streaming and selling services are not marketing tools; all they do is sell your music to their subscribers.  Getting your music to these digital content platforms is like getting your mixtapes on a music store stand; they do not market your music, they just make it available to the buyers.Just like you mixtape covers you need attention grabbing graphics to entice people who view you music to listen.

Most musicians fail to realize that getting music on to these platforms is one thing, getting the average listener to buy it is another thing.  Before and after getting your music online you must promote and market them as a product, these sites will just give you exposure and nothing else.  It would be unfortunate to set your expectations too high if you are just starting out and don’t have a huge fan base.  You will not start making bucketloads of money in a few weeks just because you are on iTunes.

As I mentioned before, iTunes is an online market place that gives you exposure to millions of music lovers all over the world.  Although it does nothing to promote your music, it is a platform with amazing tools you can use to reach these music lovers and if you have just what they want and you catch their attention the right way, you may be making bucketloads of money if you do it right.  Here’s how you can get started.

How to promote your music online and make sales on iTunes

The best way to market your music and get it downloaded more is by linking it from a source outside iTunes.  You can create a website to promote your music or give out links on social media, blogs, forums or via email to people you know.  Once you get your music on iTunes or any other marketplace, the next task will be to promote your music and convince people to buy it on iTunes.  This is why you see ‘Available on iTunes’ on web pages.

How do you promote your music?

Well, there are many ways anyone can sell anything online, and music, being downloadable content, is among the easiest to sell.  You will need to make people listen to you, to love your music and to connect with them on a fan-to-celebrity level.  It takes effort, money and time to build an image and get people to notice your content.  But thanks to the internet, you no longer need to deal with an agent or manager just to be found.

Step 1: Start building a brand right where you are.  Get your own musician page on Facebook and connect with the friends you know.  Promote your link and make many friends by sharing your music and engaging with them.  Remember that whenever you link to your content on iTunes, clearly indicate where the link is heading and re-check to ensure it links to the music track the listener wants.  Always do this on every link you describe or share – even on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, email and websites.

Step 2: All musicians start on YouTube today.  While iTunes has the largest and most organized library of music on the planet, most fans you will get will not be on it, but on different online resources.  YouTube is one of them, and it plays a crucial role in branding and selling yourself as a product.  Share your music on YouTube and promote it on Facebook, whichever way works, and make sure people actually like what you share and how much you share.  Don’t focus on selling at this point.

Step 3: It’s time for you to have a website.  Once you have enough following on YouTube and Facebook, create a website dedicated to you as a brand and your music as the product.  Encourage people to visit by making special content available on your website and include a shop page where they can be directed to iTunes.  There are countless ways to direct traffic to your website that we will not cover here, but all this is to ensure more people listen to your music and like you as a brand, as a person and as a celebrity.

Step 4: Engage with your fans and encourage them to bring their friends too.  iTunes has secret tools that talented artistes benefit from – rankings.  The more effective your promote yourself outside iTunes and get people to listen to and buy your music, the more recommendations the tracks will get to other iTunes listeners.  You should build yourself as a brand even before getting your music on iTunes, rumor has it that it even speeds up the process and could get you better deals.

Step 5: Lastly, you must figure out how to retain people who land on your iTunes page.  Getting people to click on your ‘buy on iTunes’ link is a completely different thing from getting them to actually buy or even favorite your music.  Therefore, as an entrepreneur, you can increase your conversion rates and make more sales instead of traffic landing on your iTunes page and bouncing right off by using iTunes as just a step closer to your customers, and nothing more.

iTunes is a great stage where the world can watch next idols emerge from the crowd, and for you as the artist it can be the magic formula where you will get to sell yourself to the world.  It all depends on how you use it.

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Mixtape Cover Design

How to Sell your Music on iTunes, Amazon, Napster, Spotify and Others

Start Selling Your Music

Back in the age of Compact Disks (CDs), it was every musician’s dream to get their music on the local store racks and get as many people as possible to buy their disks because it was the best way to sell music after cassette tapes.  The times have changed and people are acquiring digital content online.  Every musician strives to get his or her music online, to get them on music retail and distribution services like iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, Napster and others.  Getting your music listed for sale in these sites is not as difficult as it used to be, and I am going to show you how you can get it done.

Step 1: Do you qualify to work with Apple directly?

Apple, and most other online music retailers today do not deal with musicians directly for the obvious reason that there are millions of musicians and other artists who would love to have their creative works listed on these sites.  However, you should check the iTunes’ application to determine if meet the requirements that could qualify you to deal with Apple directly.  These requirements are pretty hard and are meant for the very established musicians.  To get your music directly on iTunes, you would have to:

• Have a catalog with at least 20 albums.
• Have JAN, UPC and EANs for all the product you wish to distribute.
• Have ISRCs for all tracks you wish to distribute.

Step 2: Will you have to use a middleman?

If you don’t meet the requirements to deal with Apple and other music distributors directly, your next move will be to find and sign up with an aggregator who provides submission services to get your tracks on most online music retail stores.  Apple has a list of approved aggregators you can choose from (see the list here) but you don’t have to go with that as there are many companies today that act as middlemen to get your content online.  Some of the most popular services today are TuneCore, CDBaby, Song Cast, Nimbit, ReverbNation, The Orchard and Route Note.

Step 3: Choose an aggregator

There are many aggregators who act as the middlemen in getting your content to the largest music marketplace in the history of the industry – the internet.  These aggregators promise all kinds of bells and whistles but each offers different benefits.  While comparing the different aggregators, put your needs first.  Make a list of the services you expect to receive and find the aggregators that offer them.  Most musicians look for companies that submit music to over 10 distribution sites besides making hard copies of your music on CD and DVD available locally.  Pay close attention to other factors as well such as fees, after sales services and bonuses before settling on one aggregator to get your talent online.

Step 4: Get your music ready with a dazzling cover art

Before you upload your music, you want to make sure that people can actually see and listen to it and the best way to achieve this is to appeal to their visual sense.  Music lovers can tell a lot about the quality and type of music just from the mixtape cover design and same thing goes for selling singles or whatever on online sites you need to have attention grabbing graphics.  Even when you plan to sell your music digitally, it is wise to ensure your music is properly visually represented with the right artwork, logos and color schemes.  You will have to upload high quality original square images at least 1,000 x 1000 pixels images in JPEG (.jpg) format and further prepare the audio by converting your music to 16 bit WAV format at 44.1 kHz stereo sound.  You can do all this using the iTunes PC or Mac software available on Apple’s homepage.

Step 5: Understand what benefits there are to selling your music

Before you take the next step, first do some research to understand what benefits will come your way on successful upload of your content and be familiar with the intrigues and challenges of selling online.  To be an effective musician, you must be an effective entrepreneur.  iTunes and all the popular music distribution services are focused on serving you, it is imperative that you read their ToS and subscribe to their newsletters to be appraised in time of any changes that have a direct impact on you and your music.

These are the most important steps to follow to get your music online.  An aggregator is a very important entity in the whole process, you should ensure that you choose the right company to get your content found and to pay you when you make a sale.  Once you settle on one company, visit their web page and you will get more detailed information and how to register to hand over the rest of the process to the professionals.


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