If you’re in a band, a solo musician, or even in a business, building up your brand is important and essential to the growth of your operation. People will say what they want about this, but how you look and how others view you is vital – and that includes even supposed “little things” like graphics, logos, and album art. Especially album art – even if you have killer music, someone may easily get turned off by lame artwork.
Unfortunately, some musicians today tend to be very cheap about this sort of thing, settling for low quality art and design if it means they can get it comparatively cheap. Is this a wise move? Not usually, unless you have a friend that’s willing to do you a “favor”, or have the means to do it yourself. If it’s the latter – that’s awesome! You’re likely more self-sustaining than most bands already, and that’s a huge plus. But if you’re not in that category, and you try to get away with paying very little, your image will definitely suffer.
Below, you can find a person (we blacked out his name, he doesn’t need the attention) who went on a giant rant against illustrators and graphic designers, due to their supposedly “high” prices. He also decries them as greedy and lazy, when he likely has no discernible skills of his own. Check out the photo below, and then a few more screenshots and industry professionals weighing in on what they charge for their work.
Devon Nash (Crooked Designs): Typically charge $50 for logos on average. Stickers are around the same price, and album cover/ t-shirt designs are $100+ for me. I do other designs here and there like flyers, cover photos, and little things that I decide the price on those depending on the job. I’ve been doing graphic design for about 7 years now, had jobs making a logo for the guys who sing the “Bad Boys” theme song for cops, made designs for bands, brands, and big companies. it’s a blast, and I enjoy doing it, but people definitely try and cut your prices down because it’s “too much” although I’ve always kept my prices below average.
Good artwork can make or break your band or company. it’s the first selling point for you. it’s the first people look at before they actually start to look into your music or products. if you don’t catch someone’s attention right off the bat then you can definitely set yourself back. I’ve seen it happen so many time, where bands have great music, but they have a shit logo, shit album cover, and shit merch.. and people don’t take them seriously. it sucks but that’s how it is, and that’s where we can help. you get what you pay for.
Evan Draper: I had a designer who didn’t care what I could pay him, so we settled on $100 for a logo and an album cover. He listened to one of my songs and got back to me in like an hour with a design. I wasn’t huge on it, so he went back and did it all over again. In another hour, he sent me a really awesome cover and logo files (I have it as my cover photo rn).
For only $100, I think that’s insane. The guy literally gave me a cover overnight that fit perfectly with what I play. I will never not respect people like that.
Nye Gomes: No one understands how expensive graphic work is until they need it or become graphic designers. Everyone in the scene lowballs all the time and most people still think it’s ridiculous. My professor literally will not do anything for less than $100. He won’t even turn on his computer for a client for less than that. As a freelance designer, he charges $100/hour minimum. The only person he still charges $50/hour for is a client he’s been working with for years.
As someone who’s a neutral party here but has been in the music industry for many years, I can say this – you get what you pay for. If you’re willing to risk people making fun of your album art and being shot down in your local scene, then go for it. You don’t necessarily have to spend a ton of money on graphic design-related things, but don’t be surprised when you find out high quality work isn’t cheap. The question is, what are you willing to pay to make sure your brand is well-represented?
