Level Up Your Music Artwork with Canva [FREE RESOURCE]

So the music you’ve been working on is finally finished. You’ve listened to it a million times, edits have been made, and you’re ready to present it to the world in the most ground-breaking way possible. You know that a lot of that comes from delivering an amazing visual image, but you aren’t a professional designer. The fact of the matter is, your music deserves to be wrapped up in the prettiest bow because it’s YOURS. Album, track, and even marketing related artwork like social media assets can feel daunting because it’s a visual representation of the sound you’ve crafted. If you aren’t a Photoshop wizard or can’t afford a freelance designer, don’t worry - there’s a solution to this, and it’s accessible through BeatStars. 

Unveil the curtains to reveal Canva, a graphic design platform used to create social media graphics, presentations, posters, business cards, and other visual content. It’s a simple to use tool that offers drag and drop features and pre-made templates so you can spend less time worrying about crafting the perfect visual assets and more time creating music. There’s a number of reasons why you should be taking advantage of the free BeatStars Canva integration, but we’ll run through three of the most important.

Establish Your Brand Identity 

Growing and scaling your business means establishing a strong, recognizable brand identity. Without solid brand identity, it’s hard to gain recognition or paint a picture of what you’re all about. Everybody knows McDonald’s red and yellow arch or Coca-Cola’s iconic lettering. While you obviously aren’t a global food or beverage brand, that same recognizability can be achieved by making use of consistent fonts, colors, and styling. Strategic use of color can convey different feelings and emotions, while specific typeface can help your listeners perceive your brand in the way you’d like for it to shine.  

Improve Your Music Marketing Efforts 

Not only can you create playlist, track, and album artwork in Canva, but you can also design social media posts, Gifs, business cards, YouTube thumbnails and videos intros, and website pages. Marketing is 50% logistical strategy, and 50% visual storytelling; the two work cohesively together, and your brand’s design can ultimately help or hurt your marketing efforts. If your image is all over the place, then achieving visibility will be a difficult feat, which is a majority of what marketing is. Once you have your colors, fonts, and feel narrowed down, creating quality materials for social media or traditional marketing efforts (like posters and business cards) will be a quick and simple task. 

Good Brand Identity Can Increase Revenue 

Creating consistent brand identity across your channels doesn’t just create a good first impression, but it’s also known to increase your business’ revenue. In fact, consistent presentation of a brand has been seen to increase revenue by 33 percent. (source: Lucidpress) When customers buy from you and enjoy their exchange with you and your music, it’s easier for them to remember you for repeat business if you have a signature color and style. According to Reboot, using a signature color can increase brand recognition by 80%. If past or existing customers remember your brand through its visual aspects, you are improving your business’ retention. Finding new customers can cost five times more than selling to existing customers. A five percent increase in retention can drive a 25-95% increase in revenue. (Source: BrightEdge) Make a visual identity so compelling that existing customers will have no choice but to keep visiting your page for more. 

How To Craft Your Identity 

A solid brand identity can only help you. Learn more about how you can get started making album, track, playlist, social media, and marketing artwork through Canva with our official ‘Canva For Musicians’ sheet. Download the resource for FREE below and start leveling up your brand’s image.