Project Overview
TAD has rapidly become the go to tool for the independent musician. Allowing it's users to quickly and easily create high-quality thumbnail artwork for their digital releases, it solves a problem that has been plaguing musicians since the age of internet music began; "How can I make my own professional artwork when I'm a musician with no graphic design knowledge or budget?"
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Fuse Mobile / Apps For Musicians
Project Brief
“How can I make a square for Soundcloud with some writing on it?” was the original brief. During the period of conception Lee Jones (Co Founder) was an independent musician who just wanted to simply make cover art for his music that did not look out of place on a digital platform, side by side with major label artists thumbnail artwork.
The simple idea of a 'square with writing' was a good enough concept from which to begin, and keeping the user experience intuitive and easy to navigate has been the guiding principle throughout development. As it progressed new and exciting ideas came to the table; to add your own brand logo as a PNG file, to work from a variety of classic album templates, to be able to export at 3000x3000px (the new industry standard for iTunes).
The goal was always to make an application that musicians with no graphic design skill-set, could use straight off the bat to achieve professional quality results. Even with the vast amount of design options available, TAD still manages to retain it's simplicity and ease of use for musicians to achieve great results quickly.
Project Need
With the decline in tangible physical sales and industry investment, more musicians than ever before are taking the independent approach to releasing their music.
Whether using free music hosting sites such as Soundcloud, Apple Music & Bandcamp, or digital aggregators such as CD Baby or Ditto Music to supply their music to online stores, the noise coming from the internet has never been louder.
With each release, on any streaming or sales platform, there is a requirement for accompanying artwork; a corresponding thumbnail that is the visual representation of the song or album. With millions of active daily users across this wide variety of platforms it made perfect sense that if one struggling artist was having this problem then there must be many more, every day. And there should be a solution.
TAD's user demographic is a widely cast net amongst all musicians globally. Whether it is an English rock band releasing a new single, a DJ in America posting a new mixtape, or an Aussie folk singer touting his latest EP, the requirements are the same across all genres worldwide, and this common need that has to be met for sharing your music with a world-wide audience finally has a simple solution.
User Experience
With TAD you have the options to start with a template (based on a large variety of classic album designs) or start your design from scratch.
Upon adding your own photos and logos (with transparency) within minutes you can create a professional looking cover.
With hundreds of extra options to add text, frames, filters and stickers you can further embellish your cover and create your own unique masterpiece.
Upon completion of your thumbnail you can export at a number of different resolutions, catered towards your desired platform (ie. 3000X3000 iTunes ready)
With an easy to navigate one-screen design and an intuitively simple workflow, a great looking cover-art design for an online release can be achieved in literally minutes.
Project Marketing
TAD's main focus is reaching independent musicians and offering them a solution to their artwork problems.
As an independent, self-funded company we have had a small marketing budget, and have relied solely on the work of the team for marketing. There has been a strong email outreach campaign to print and online media that resulted in some invaluable press during the launch and coverage on key outlets such as the Silicon Valley website Product Hunt, and features on some very influential music-tech blogs helped drive early adopter installs. Word of mouth, a strong currency within the DIY musician community, also helps our numbers to grow exponentially daily.
A pro-active content marketing campaign has been used to build and grow a strong online social media presence, with a brand voice that speaks to and engages our target audience of DIY Musicians. Regular articles posted from TAD's home site are bringing large amounts of traffic to the landing page, increasing visibility and awareness of the product whilst driving our email sign-ups and install rate.
Music industry professionals have also been particularly supportive of TAD:
"TAD allows every musician to have great cover art. Simple and brilliant"
Sam Panetta, Producer & Artist Manager
(Kylie Minogue, Crowded House, Kisschasy)
"Tad the App is a fantastic little platform for young independent artists to design their own cover artworks. It's low-cost and easy to use, allowing artists to spend more time and money on what matters most... the music"
Beth Deady, MGM Distribution
Project Privacy
TAD does not collect any personal data and follows best practice when collecting any personal data from email sign ups or any other marketing activities.
Entertainment & Leisure
Apps have overtaken entertainment & leisure. They influence what and how we watch or listen to, where and how we eat, dine and play, how we book and how we interact before during and after entertainment events. We're looking for apps that make entertainment even more entertaining.
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