How to create SoundCloud, Mixcloud, Hearthis.at artwork

Are you looking for the latest image dimensions for SoundCloud, Mixcloud, and Hearthis.at?

I know I was. And I couldn’t find any good guide on the subject, so I made my own.

Every DJ, musician, artist, podcaster and producer knows they need artwork for their favourite music distribution platform.

A good looking Soundcloud banner, profile pic and album artwork can help you stand out. And ultimately this can help you obtain those all-important fans, downloads, plays, or music sales.

Now, before we start, I just want to say there’s no perfect size for artwork. Every music hosting site has different layouts and size requirements.

Also, to make it more complicated, certain music hosting sites display their banners, album covers, etc, differently between devices.

For example: if you create a banner for the web version of SoundCloud, the same banner is cropped and resized when viewed via the mobile app. It will look and appear different.

I’ve included notes on how each platform handles artwork differently. In the end, it’s up to you whether you optimise your images for desktop or mobile app.

It’s difficult to get a consistent looking header banner artwork across all devices no matter the website. Profile pics and album covers are a little easier to deal with.

This guide was written and has been verified correct as of December 2019.

Soundcloud Artwork

Creating SoundCloud artwork isn’t straightforward for two reasons.

1. Firstly, SoundCloud obscures your banner artwork with the profile picture.
2. Secondly, and what’s worse, is your profile artwork moves position when viewed between devices.
3. Soundcloud changes the aspect ratios and shape of artwork depending on how it’s viewed.

Lastly, many musicians and DJ’s don’t realise that SoundCloud can publish a podcast feed to iTunes.

It’s the reason why SoundCloud recommends uploading a square profile picture to their site which is atleast 1400 X 1400 in size. These artwork dimensions are the minimum required by iTunes’s podcasting submission requirements.

Soundcloud Artwork Sizes & Restrictions

The following are the recommended images for banners and artwork for SoundCloud:

• Soundcloud banner size = 2480 X 520 pixels = 62:13 ratio. You can use JPG or PNG images no larger than 2mb. Images must use RGB colour space.
• Soundcloud profile = 1400 X 1400 pixels (max 3000 X 3000 px) = 1X1 ratio. JPG or PNG, and no images larger than 2mb. Images must use RGB colour space.
• Soundcloud cover art = 800 X 800 to 6000 X 6000. 1X1 ratio. JPG or PNG. No images larger than 2mb. Images must use RGB colour space. You can upload larger images but they auto resize 800 X 800 pixels.

Soundcloud Artwork Tips

Your profile pictures and album covers are the most important items to get right. These images are displayed consistently on different devices (Desktop vs Mobile app).

Soundcloud header banners get resized and they’re obscured by your profile picture. Also, the position of the profile picture changes when it’s viewed via the SoundCloud mobile app. This makes creating creative banners difficult because if you make your banner to suit one device it might not look the same on another device. I think part of the reason why SoundCloud recommends using simple banners is that your image change depending on viewing device.

Also, the background colour of SoundCloud is white. You can create some nice-looking effects if you blend the edges of your banners into white. Or use black and white patterns when creating your banners. Doing this gives the effect that your artwork is mixing into the to your SoundCloud profile page.

Likewise, making your profile picture background the same background colour as your banner artwork can also create a cool effect too. I made mine using some free swatch patterns I found online.

Also, if you’re wondering where you can find free artwork for SoundCloud, and you’re looking for tools to edit your SoundCloud artwork just scroll down to the bottom of this article. I share the various tools, websites I use for this task below.

What Font Does Soundcloud use?

If you’d like to know what font SoundCloud uses (just in case you’d like to match your fonts).

Soundcloud uses the Interstate font for its menu links. And it uses Lucida Sans Unicode for its body text. The heading for tracks (which are links) uses the Interstate font.

The body is set at 12px tall and uses a line-height of 1.4em. And it uses the hexadecimal colour #333.

How can I download Soundcloud artwork?

I like to collect any good examples of good artwork which I come across on SoundCloud. These can serve as examples and inspiration when you’re looking for ideas for your own artwork.

However, SoundCloud doesn’t make it easy to download artwork from their website.

I tried to accomplish this task with the Image Downloader Continued plugin on Chrome, and the plugin couldn’t detect any images.

So, if you want to download SoundCloud headers, banners and album artwork you will have to use the code inspector in your browser.

I would also recommend that you do this sort of work on a laptop or PC and not on a mobile device. It’s tough to find the artwork links on a mobile device.

Here how you download images from SoundCloud using Chrome. It’s a similar process with Mixcloud and Hearthis.at.

1. Place your cursor in the middle of the artwork.
2. Press right click and then choose ‘inspect’
3. This will open the code inspector panel. Move your cursor down to the panel. We now need to find the image link inside the appropriate Div tag.
4. You will notice that if you move your mouse over the different Div’s it highlights certain sections on the webpage. The Div/section you want is: profileHeaderBackground m-visualLoaded.
5. Open this tag.
6. You will see part of the code which is called ‘style=background-image: url(some-address.jpg)
7. Copy the web address. The web address for the Soundcloud banner images starts with https and ends with .jpg
8. Paste this into another windows browser bar.
9. This will open the image in your other window. Now you can right click and save the image.

How do I change my SoundCloud Artwork?

Changing artwork on SoundCloud is much easier to accomplish using a laptop or a PC. To my knowledge, I don’t think you can change your profile art and album covers using the SoundCloud app.

Changing your artwork on a PC is easy. If you want to change your profile and header image you will:

1. On the Soundcloud site, navigate to your profile via the main menu at the top of the page.
2. Hover your cursor over either your profile picture or your header banner.
3. A button labelled ‘update image’ will appear. Click this.
4. You can now replace and change your SoundCloud artwork.

Soundcloud album artwork must be changed at track level. You will need to:

1. Navigate to your track and find its page.
2. You can tell you are on the correct page as your album artwork will appear on the right of the page and you should see a bigger version of your album cover.
3. As with the last step just hover your cursor over your image and you will see the option which allows you to change your covers.

To add, I don’t think this can be done via the SoundCloud app.

Where can I download Soundcloud banner PSD?

I’ve created a free PSD file which can help you create great-looking Soundcloud banners. If you like a copy just click here.

If you’d like to thank me for the download just leave a comment below.

Mixcloud artwork

Mixcloud is a popular online music streaming service primarily used by DJ’s.

Mixcloud, like SoundCloud, allows you to change 3 pieces of artwork, they are:

• Main Banner and header: 1460 X 370px
• Profile Pic: 160 X 160px
• Album artwork: 160px X 160px

Mixcloud artwork tips (Desktop)

Mixcloud obscures your banner artwork on all devices. You are asked to upload an image which is 1460px wide and 370px tall. But Mixcloud obscures the top and bottom portions of your banner image on the desktop.

To make matter worse, the obscured areas aren’t small either. Added up these hidden areas represent approximately a third of your total image height. And these unseen areas are not equally removed too – the bottom is covered more than the top.

Mixcloud banner images are approx. 160px in height once you take into consideration the removed areas.

Additionally, the visible portion of your artwork changes when your artwork is viewed via their mobile application. This makes it difficult to create a consistent looking banner between devices because the viewed part moves.

So, if you’re want to create a Mixcloud banner which looks consistent between devices, you may want to just use a pattern, texture or neutral looking image.

Any image with any noticeable positional features (like a head or text) will get cropped differently when viewed via desktop or mobile app.

If you want to feature a headshot, I’d recommend placing it in your profile picture. Same goes for any text you want to include.

If you want to add text or a feature to your Mixcloud header, keep your text/feature centred and leave a gap of about 1/3 from the top. Also, make sure whatever key art text/features are small because much of your banner image will be cropped when viewed on the mobile app.

Luckily the profile picture stays left when the screen width is reduced.

Lastly, make sure you view your images on both your PC and the Mixcloud mobile app so get an idea of how your banner is being manipulated. You’ll have to play about with your positions and banner element size to get a consistent look between devices.

What font does Mixcloud use?

If you want to match fonts with Mixcloud then you’ll want to use the Open Sans font.

Mixcloud uses a single font throughout their website. The site designers just stylise the Open Sans font differently in parts of the website.

For example, they capitalise and add weight to the fonts used in the header, whilst the body font uses the default Open Sans settings.

How can I download Mixcloud Artwork?

Just like SoundCloud, Mixcloud obfuscates the image URLs making them harder to find and download. It also means that an image download extension can’t sniff the image URLs.

You will have to use a code inspector, in a similar fashion to the SoundCloud section, for finding image URLs.

Once you have your image URL copy it into another tab or window. You’ll then be able to right click and download the file.

How can I change my Mixcloud Artwork?

In the desktop version of Mixcloud, both your profile and banner artwork must be changed in your settings section. This section can be found by clicking on your artist name in the main menu and selecting the settings menu in the drop-down box.

Where can I download Mixcloud banner PSD?

I’ve created a free PSD file which can help you create Mixcloud banners.

If you like a copy just click the button just: click here.

The above download also contains a PSD template for your Soundcloud banners too.

Hearthis.at artwork

Hearthis.at is a music distribution platform founded in 2013. It has a very similar in look to SoundCloud, but the site packs way more features than its bigger and older rival.

The only downside of Hearthis.at is its audience size. The DJ mix upload site is dwarfed by both Soundcloud and Mixcloud when you compare the number of users each site has, and the number of people visiting the website.

Personally, I find Hearthis.at to be the most innovative out of the three music hosting websites. They are constantly bringing out new features and useful tools for DJ’s.

They also make it easy to import your music to their platform if it’s hosted on the other two platforms. So, if you have your DJ mixes hosted on those sites, why not place them on Hearthis.at? You have nothing to lose. And it’s always handy having your DJ mixes backed up somewhere else.

Tips for Hearthis.at artwork

Hearthis.at allows more customisation than Soundcloud and Mixcloud for artwork. You can change the following artwork elements on your Hearthis.at profile:

• Header/Background image: 1420 X 280 PX.
• Profile Picture 176 X 176 PX. Round by default on the website version. Also has a border around it. The image reverts to a square on the mobile app version.
• Album artwork: 200px X 200px with rounded corners. You can upload larger images, but they will be scaled down to a 200px square.

The above sizes work when the site is viewed and used on a desktop PC or a laptop.

One nice feature of Hearthis.at is that you can change the artwork which is behind your track. Plus, you can also turn this artwork into a slideshow if you upload multiple images for the same track.

Just so you know, your background images are stretched and shrunk to fit the browser size.

Tips for Hearthis.at artwork on the mobile application

The Hearthis.at mobile application shares few similarities with the desktop site when displaying your artwork. The application doesn’t use the header background picture and the profile picture images.

Only your album artwork is used in the Hearthis.at mobile app. Additionally, your artwork is displayed in different way depending on how the application is being viewed or how it’s set up.

Without going into too much detail, you’ll struggle to get your album artwork to look consistent on every device.

The outer edges of album artwork are often cropped and obscured on the mobile app. So, if you want to include a profile picture or text with your album art, I’d recommend placing it in the middle.

To conclude: you will have to play about with your album artwork if you want it to look good on both the desktop site and the mobile app.

What font does Hearthis.at use?

The desktop version of Hearthis.at uses a combination of two fonts. It uses Open Sans for the body text, and it uses Roboto for the headings.

How can I download Hearthis.at Artwork?

You can download artwork from Hearthis.at two ways. Chrome plugins like ‘Image Downloader Continued’ can detect album artwork images.

However, for all other images you will have to use the code inspector. You will need to:

1. Open the code inspector in your web browser.
2. Background images are in the section:  page-top artist-page artist-page-header-9202890 profile-background-container.
3. Once you find the above section, the image URL can be found in the inspector bar. Look for the CSS tag called: .artist-page-header-9202890:after
4. Once you have the Hearthis.at image URL, you can then copy this into another window, and right click and save.

How can I change my Hearthis.at Artwork?

Your artwork on Hearthis.at must be changed using the online desktop version of their website. I couldn’t find a way to change artwork using the mobile.

All artwork can be edited on your profile page: Click your name in the main menu and then “View Profile”.

You will see a camera icon which is slightly ghosted out. Just click that to edit.

To edit album artwork, hover your cursor over any existing artwork, the edit button will pop up and just click it. This will bring up a menu which allows you to alter track details. At the very bottom of the popup menu are the options which allow you to change your track picture. You will also find the options to create a slideshow in this section too.

Where can I download Hearthis.at banner PSD?

Want a Photoshop file which will help you create good looking Heathis.at banners?

If you like a copy just click the button just: click here.

Where can I find free artwork for Soundcloud, Mixcloud and Hearthis.at?

Below is a list of stock image websites I use in the creation of my DJ mix album artwork:

https://unsplash.com/

https://www.pexels.com/

Google Advanced Image Search

When using Google Advanced Image search, I recommend that you change the ‘usage rights’ parameter at the bottom of the page. Make sure you set it to ‘free to use or share’ or similar – that way you end viewing images which should have no commercial licence applied to them.

If you lack Photoshop skills. Or you’re impatient and just after a quick fix for your header banner artwork, I’d recommend you just stick to using patterns, backgrounds, and textures. You should be able to find these types of images for free using the above sites and methods.

Where can I down the fonts that Soundcloud, Mixcloud and Hearthis.at use?

Probably one of the most comprehensive collections of free fonts is Google Fonts. You can every font I’ve mentioned in this article on that site.

How can I resize my images for Soundcloud, Mixcloud and Hearthis.at?

As I’ve mentioned previously you need not pirate Photoshop when creating your artwork for your music hosting platform.

Photopea.com is a superb free online image editor which is great for creating art for SoundCloud, Mixcloud and Hearthis.at.

Like Photoshop, it has a cropping tool which can be set to specific width and height. It can also open Photoshop files too, so it can be used to open the Soundcloud banner template PSDs which I include in this guide.

Also, Photopea comes bundled with loads of web fonts too, including the ones which I mention in this guide.

Takeaways

• There’s no single perfect banner size which works across Soundcloud, Mixcloud, and Heathis.at.
• Mixcloud is the hardest to design banners for because it obscures parts of your banners.
• Use Photopea for editing your design. It’s free and will open PSD (photoshop) files.
• All your art designs will be treated differently by the mobile app’s version of Soundcloud, Mixcloud, and Hearthis.co
• On every site your profile picture is the most consistent between devices and viewports.

Have you used my banner tutorial to create a good-looking design? Why not share a link to it in the comments below.

Here’s the link to templates again just in case you missed it: Click here to download

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