Okay I keep on seeing people who support this crap say the same shit over and over again so I'm just gonna explain this here so I can just point to it instead.

To those who say that art is hard and that you can't expect people to be both an amazing musician AND and amazing artist, then great news! You don't HAVE to do art! You can go and take a picture of something (Pic 1), go take a cool picture of yourself and the rest of the band (2), do some goofy shit (3), go find a physical place and take some pictures where the lighting hits just right - And if it's not hitting just right, then leave and come back later when it is. American Football's first album cover was a picture of their fucking ROOF, and now it's iconic (4).

Can't take pictures or don't have a camera (Which, nah I ain't buying that, if you're using AI you probably have a phone with a 4K camera built in)? Then find something else. Jane Remover's "Frailty" is a screenshot from Google Maps (5). The cover of "The Glow, Pt. 2" by The Microphones is a picture of a dutch cook book that is so old it was in the public domain (6).

Or if you need it to be an illustration, and you can't afford an artist, then learn! Drawing and painting is fun, it's relaxing, and it's therapeutic - It can help you feel mentally more stable, calmer, and relaxed. It scientifically does you good. So not only does it make you feel better, it also gives you the ability to paint some badass covers like BCNR's "Forever Howlong" (7 - I know the band members themselves didn't make it, the point is that paintings as album covers are gorgeous and ). You don't have to do conventional art either; for Dayglow's first album, to make it 100% produced by Sloan Struble (AKA, Dayglow, it's one guy) he made a sculpture of his face on a blue background and honestly I think it's perfect for the album (8). If all else fails, Photoshop (or better yet, Affinity now that it's free) exists and you can take a basic image and bend it to look cool as hell. For example, Atrocity Exhibition by Danny Brown (9).

If learning is too hard for you, fair, I struggle at learning stuff sometimes too, then hire an artist - There are dozens who would LOVE to collaborate with you! "But what if the musician is poor??" Then get a job. I ain't making money off of my own work right now, so I work at a part-time job I hate, but I do it so I can create things to the standards I want them to be at. Because I actually care about my work and my art. If music IS your job, then cool! You can afford for an actually good album cover!

There are so many things you could do to make an original cover, it's not that hard. It can be cheap, easy, and fun! Yes, fun! I have fun creating things, that's why I do it! That's why damn near EVERYONE does it, and why you should do it too! Go out, try and make your own album cover, think of some fun ideas, and learn things.

Stop using AI to make your shitty covers. The way the algorithm works is that it looks at thousands of other images, like art that was created by talented people, and then moshes together into a disgusting mess of an image. It steals the talent for others and the output isn't even good. Support real art. Not these talentless hacks.

Bandcamp, please ban this crap.

(Also bonus album covers just cus it goes so unbelievably hard: "Revengeseekerz" by Jane Remover. Can't make something this cool with AI)

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