How to Buy Art for CD Covers

CD in need of a creative cover

You can find many sources for royalty-free art on the web. The advantage to choosing royalty-free art is that your CD cover will stand out with photos or illustrations that are original, versus common art that is available for free. For CD covers, you will probably want to choose photos or illustrations. Here are some helpful tips for buying art.

Instructions

Royalty-free Art

1. Keep in mind that some popular sources of royalty-free art include iStockphoto, Shutterstock, Jupiter Images, Dreamstime and Photos. Some providers like Getty Images and Photos Plus are geared toward the higher demand of corporate users of royalty-free art, such as entire design or marketing departments. You will need to register for a free membership before you will be able to purchase royalty-free art for your CD covers.

2. 

   Pay for your royalty-free art. These suppliers accept standard credit cards like Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express as well as PayPal. Most will also permit you to purchase with an international money order or check drawn on a U.S. or Canadian bank in U.S. funds.

3. 

   Understand that your options for royalty-free art include photos, illustrations, flash, video and audio. A "Vector" illustration is art that can be modified by changing the size and even the colors. You must have Vector editing software like Adobe Illustrator, Freehand or CorelDRAW to modify these illustrations.

4. Depending on your choice of supplier, you may buy credit packages or subscriptions for royalty-free art. Credits usually expire within one year of purchase. The website Photos sells single images for as low as $5. Another method for buying royalty-free art is subscription. Photos Plus currently offers a subscription option of one month for $249.95 to which the subscriber is entitled to 750 downloads per month. Other supplier subscriptions allow you to buy a daily amount of images which expire on midnight each day of the program plan.

5. 

   As you look through stock images, you will see sizes like x-small, small, medium, large and x-large. Images vary considerably but for example, an x-small might measure 299 x 401 pixels while a large could be 2236 x 3140 pixels. Your actual cost will be based on the size of the image. A large photo might cost $10 for 12 credits. Vector illustrations won't show a size because the size can be modified to your specifications. Illustrations like these typically run between five and 15 credits.

6. Know that the cost of the image is related to the license you require. You must purchase a "license" so that you do not infringe on a copyright. To buy art for your CD cover, you will require a content license agreement with standard license terms. This basic license permits one user to reproduce an image on a CD cover up to 500,000 times. Licensing can be confusing. Despite the CD being available for resale, you do not need to buy an extended license. Since what you will be selling is music or instruction, the image is part of your packaging, like a brochure.

Use Your Imagination to Choose Art for Your CD Cover

1. 

   You want to select an image that will help sell your CD. Like dressing for success, an exceptional package is very important. For example, say you are a member of a band named Fun-loving Cats and Dogs. You may choose art that reflects the band's name.

2. 

   Or, the title song of your CD might be Hungry Eyes so you could choose an image that relates to the title song.

3. Keep in mind that the key to buying art for your CD covers is to select images that positively reflect your name, the theme of the CD or focus on a particular song or track. Use your imagination. Brainstorm with band or team members. With millions of royalty-free images to choose from, a little creativity and a reasonable expense, you can buy art for CD covers that stands out.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure that the art you select for your CD cover comes with the correct kind of license. If your CD is so successful that you sell more than 500,000 copies, you need to upgrade your license.

Resources

• Dreamstime
• Photos.com
• iStockphoto