Apple Music Cover Art Rules
artists.apple.com
artists.apple.com
If you as artist want freedom of expression at the cost of mass distribution on a platform like Apple Music, then do your own thing and maintain integrity to your vision without compromising, even if it may mean less people might have access. Maybe the people you wanna reach don't even use Apple Music.
If you as artist want to insist upon your aesthetic and vision, but still want the potential reach that Apple Music might provide, and you as artist have the clout and muscle to insist upon it even if it rustles feathers, then by all means, flex and see what you can finesse with your influence & sway. Maybe you'll get special treatment. Maybe you won't, and instead create buzz in the pop culture gossip rags that you tried and failed, or Apple Music made a special case for you. Either way, it might end up as free press, if your goal is attention.
Otherwise, I think this guideline is helpful so you can get your music on a massive platform, with as little back & forth as possible, since FAANG type companies will most likely have all sorts of guidelines and legal issues for all types of content, given their global reach across multiple mediums, etc.
The artist/ designer in me these days isn't offended by these guidelines, and is actually glad they're clear and straightforward. That being said, I could see myself being offended maybe say, 10-15 years ago, but even then I'd prob still wanna work within the constraints rather than insist upon my creative choices that would go outside those bounds – unless I had full conviction I needed to express myself in a way that broke their rules and disqualified me from getting approved.
...which we will butcher by rounding the corners in all of our apps.
2. If designs change, having the corners around is necessary for future proofing
On Apple Music, Ween's album GodWeenSatan: The Oneness has album art that isn't a square, it's a slightly wide rectangle. When it's in a carousel with other albums it's not even vertically centered, it's bottom-aligned so it's a bit shorter than all the other albums. Though if you click into the album itself they put some magenta letterboxing on the top and bottom that's slightly darker than the pink on the album cover.
They're probably just future-proofing the data.
Corners have been getting less round over time, and Apple is preparing for a day when corners become right angles again. And also for a day when everyone wants just circles, or ovals, or stars, or some other shape.
I suppose it doesn't make sense for the streaming generation, but I liked flipping through my albums
[0] https://music.apple.com/us/album/satan-worshipping-doom/5565...
[1] https://music.apple.com/us/album/nothings-shocking/101851820...
I used to (stupidly) browse through Apple Music's "New Music" just to be presented with images that I wouldn't want shown on my TV if I happened to be casting in the living room nor at work.
IMO, there should be a filtered setting that blurs photos that might be in any ways explicit. We label the songs... why not the albums?
[0]: https://music.apple.com/us/album/slow-deep-and-hard-remaster...
https://music.apple.com/us/album/bagged-and-boarded/15816775...
As evidenced by how big record labels are struggling to get artists to sign contracts with them.
Oh, wait.
Rating other people's comments, what a delightful blast from the past! Are you posting from Digg in 2005?
Who are Apple to say I can’t put another artists photo on my album?
Sounds to me like it’s primed for some artist(s) to break as many rules as possible with a legitimate release to see how Apple actually respond.
Are you not able to purchase music and import to the Music app with whatever metadata you want?
I am not posing a rhetorical question, I do not have experience with the Music app outside of using the Apple Music subscription service so I would like to know if they do restrict these kinds of things.
It's also user-configurable whether the app will move your files into its folder and organization scheme or just leave them alone where you put them.
"On other CD's he has bought at Wal-Mart, record companies had removed songs or altered artwork on the covers to make them acceptable to the discount chain, although Adam said he was not aware of it.
Adam's mother, Arlene, said she did not like Wal-Mart's policy. ''It should be my decision instead of theirs,'' she said."
https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/12/arts/wal-mart-s-cd-standa...
> No barcodes
Well, too bad for the Barcode Brothers:
https://www.discogs.com/release/224392-Barcode-Brothers-Flut...
I red the article with the idea that I am going to snap at Apple for starting with "Express yourself" and then placing a bunch of restrictions, but then I red the restrictions and I can't find anything that I could object to. Even when they say "No blurry, pixelated, tilted, or cropped images" they clarify "unless intended".
There is infinite freedom within the rules. There is no need for you to spam my phone screen with additional hashtags, handles or copies of information that I already have on my screen.
"No dates" - would Pulp Disco 2000 be allowed? Who knows?
Maybe their machine learning was all getting confused.
edit: I will add - I really couldn't care if it were just Apple blocking some music from their store - appleid is too much of a hassle anyway! But it'll drag the whole music industry into having to work with the lowest common denominator bland cover art.
> No blurry, pixelated, tilted, or cropped images unless intended.
Notice the 'unless intended.' I imagine they're trying to avoid hastily or poorly uploaded artwork.
I would say that is often a good description of the artistic intent.
Jesus fucking Christ
"No Dates" is funnier, plenty of compilation albums and so on must break that, plus stuff like Prince's 1999. Not sure what that's really meant to catch.
[1] Other record stores are available, and they may even still be in business.
"Only include relevant information such as artist name, release title as text, and the exact song title or album as released."
Two albums in a row I was involved with had real problems with Apple due to some additional text on the covers, which was essential to their conceptual nature, think Tull's "Thick as a Brick". One was stylised as a movie poster, the other as a book cover.
"Well, you should have seen the cover they wanted to do! It wasn't a glove, believe me."
I worked in radio in the 1990's and remember a song called "Parental Advisory" which had a Parental Advisory logo as part of the album art. I think there was an actual album called Parental Advisory that had nothing but the PA logo on its cover.
I wonder if those are in Apple Music.
I feel like Apple left a few fun low-hanging edge cases on the table here. Also no barcodes; but does that include QR codes?
I later found out that you cannot remove your profile photo, even upon request. Nor can I replace it with something other than my face.
Can’t say I’m a fan of that policy, for privacy reasons.
I can't see Apple getting away with similar rules to passport photos or police mug shots.
It also seems wrong for artistic reasons. Unsurprisingly Daft Punk seems to be an exception to this rule. I guess they were lucky enough to start the anonymous artist thing and become famous before Apple decided you're not allowed to do that on their platform.
And what about music projects that aren't necessarily a concrete band but a revolving crew of people that could come and go at any time? It seems simple and limiting to act like all music should have one or more human faces attached to it.
0. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_controversial_album_...
"No year or dates." - 1989 by Taylor Swift
"No references to physical packaging, digital packaging, or retailers (for example, vinyl or CD)." - Yeezus by Kanye West
Wild
Perhaps not the best thing to openly advertise to others.