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The Grafiks+ blog

Notes from the
cover art trenches

Release playbooks, design rules that move streams, and honest takes on the tools indie artists actually use. Written by the team that ships 40+ covers a week.

How a cover gets played: 5 rules we learned from 10,000 covers

How a cover gets played: 5 rules we learned from 10,000 covers

After six years designing covers for independent artists, we ran the numbers on which ones actually pull streams. These five rules show up every single time.

Apr 18, 20266 min read

Is Spotify Canvas worth making for every release?

Is Spotify Canvas worth making for every release?

Spotify says Canvas increases streams 5%+. After looking at actual data from 200 independent releases, here's when it's worth your time.

Apr 14, 20265 min

Canva vs Photoshop for indie artists — which to actually use

Canva vs Photoshop for indie artists — which to actually use

You don't need 12 years of Photoshop experience to ship a good cover. Here's when Canva is enough, and when PSD is worth the learning curve.

Apr 10, 20264 min

Are AI-generated covers safe for your music release?

Are AI-generated covers safe for your music release?

Midjourney, ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion — the legal grey zone around AI covers is real. Here's what you need to know before you ship.

Apr 6, 20266 min

The 7-day release week checklist for indie artists

The 7-day release week checklist for indie artists

Everything you should have ready 7, 3, and 1 day before you drop — organized so nothing slips through.

Apr 2, 20265 min

Ready to stop overthinking the cover?

Templates for every genre, every format, $14/mo.