The cover-art problem
The track is finished. The cover is whatever you made in 20 minutes.
You finished mastering at 2 AM, the release is set for Friday, and the cover art is a phone selfie with a filter. Spotify Canvas is a static image. The release-day Instagram post is the same image cropped square. Your favorite indie acts have artwork that looks like *something* — yours looks like a default upload.
You don't have a budget for a $3k boutique album cover. You tried Midjourney and it gave you back something that screamed 'AI cover' the moment anyone looked. You tried Fiverr and got a stock-photo collage. You're shipping a real song with placeholder visuals, and the streams reflect it.
Pick an artist. Their voice carries every single, the album, the music-video stills, and the tour poster. One direction across the whole release cycle.
Why it fits musicians
Built for the release cycle, not just one cover.
Singles, album, and tour in one voice
Single covers, EP/album cover, music-video stills, tour posters, merch art. Same artist's voice across the whole project — listeners recognize the era from the artwork alone.
Built for monthly singles
New single every 4 weeks means a new cover every 4 weeks. Same artist on retainer, fresh cover per drop. The visual project compounds.
Doesn't look like AI cover-art
Artist-driven, not Midjourney-averaged. Reads as a real cover from a real artist, not 'every other AI Spotify upload.'
All the formats labels need
3000×3000 cover, vertical Spotify Canvas, square Instagram, vertical Stories, banner for Bandcamp, tour poster sizes. One brief, every format.
From mix to release
From phone-selfie cover to a real release in days.
Tell us about the music
Open @slop. Genre, era you're channeling, three album covers you envy, a draft of the track if you have it. The mood you want listeners to feel before they press play. A paragraph works.
Pitches come back
Within a day, 4–8 artists pitch cover concepts. Pick the voice — that's the artist holding the era.
Cover lands first
The chosen artist ships the cover at every spec — 3000×3000 master, Spotify Canvas, social variants. Ready for distrokid, DistroKid, Bandcamp, Soundcloud.
Rollout fans out
Per-track art, lyric-video stills, music-video stills, social rollout. Same voice across everything that ships with the music.
Tour and merch follow
Tour poster, city dates, merch art. The era extends from the music into the live show without restarting.
Project shapes
From a single drop to a full album cycle.
Some musicians need a single cover. Some want the artist on the whole album cycle. The brief flexes.
One artist, one cover
Single cover in the artist's voice. 3000×3000 master plus Spotify Canvas, social variants. Quick turnaround, locks the visual direction.
Cover + tracklist art
Album cover plus per-track art for streaming, lyric video stills, social rollout. One direction across the whole record.
Stills, thumbnails, episode keys
Music video keyart, thumbnail, episode-style title cards if it's a multi-part visual. Same voice as the album cover.
Posters, merch, social
Tour poster, city-by-city date posters, merch art, social rollout. One direction across the run.
Whole-album-cycle retainer
The artist on the era — every single cover, the album cover, the music videos, the tour. Voice locked across 12+ months of release cycle.
The math for indie acts
What a cover designer charges. What you actually run.
| Approach | Typical cost | Time per release | Coherence across the era |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boutique album-cover designer | $1k–$5k per cover | 4–8 weeks | Excellent — but expensive at single-cycle pace |
| Fiverr / freelance designer | $50–$500 per cover | Days per single | Inconsistent — different gigs drift |
| DIY in Photoshop / Canva | Hours of your time | Saturdays before release | Reads as DIY — and listeners notice |
| OKSLOP brief + retainer | Subscription — see plans | Days per single, weeks per album | Locked to one artist across the era |
Costs are rough market ranges, not quotes. A subscription covers covers, music-video stills, tour posters, social, and the retained artist from one credit pool. See plans.
What ships per release
Every visual surface. Same voice.
Single & album covers
3000×3000 master at every spec — DistroKid, Bandcamp, Apple Music, Spotify, Soundcloud. Plus Spotify Canvas vertical loop.
Music-video stills & thumbnails
YouTube thumbnail, video keyart, social cuts. Same voice as the cover, ready for the release rollout.
Tour posters
Tour poster, city-by-city date variants, festival lineup adaptations. Print-ready and social-ready.
Social rollout
Release-day post, lyric cards, story templates, countdown art. Coordinated across Instagram, TikTok, X.
Merch art
T-shirt graphics, poster art, sticker packs, vinyl gatefold designs. Same artist's voice from streaming to physical.
Press kit & EPK
Bio header, press photo treatments, Bandcamp banner, label one-sheet. The professional surface around the music.
Distribution considerations
Yours to release. Yours to tour.
- Full commercial license — streaming, vinyl, CD, cassette, merch, tour posters, ads.
- No per-stream royalties, no revenue share, no surprise clauses.
- Privacy tier available — keep unreleased work off the public catalog.
- Credit pool covers covers, music-video stills, tour posters, merch, and the retained artist.
Musician FAQ
Questions artists actually ask.
For album art
If you mostly need single covers (no full era rollout), see the album-art keyword page.
See album artDesign your own artist
Tune an artist to your sound — shoegaze-blur, hyperpop-glitch, folk-illustration, jazz-mid-century. Hold the look across the era.
Design an artistPlans & pricing
One subscription covers covers, music-video stills, tour posters, and the retained artist.
See plansLet's get to work on the era.
Tell us about the music. We'll match you with artists, draft the brief together, and have first pitches back tonight.