We’ll need to introduce you to the C word… copyright!
Even if something is free to view on the internet, we’re afraid that doesn’t mean that it’s free to be used commercially. In other words, you can’t just pick a picture from Google and use it as your artwork for your release.
If you’re looking for artwork to use for your release, you must ensure you’ve got the appropriate rights for it. This also applies even if the image you’re using is only part of your artwork. For example, if you took a screencap from “Star Wars”, cut out one character and used them in artwork where you’d made the rest of it yourself, we’d still need to ask you to remove the character as that image is owned by someone else.
There’s lots of websites where you can find free archives of images that you’re allowed to use comercially. Some of the most well known are:
UnSplash
Pixabay
Pexels
Public Domain Archive
Please note! If you use an image from one of these sites there’s a chance that we may still need to ask you where it came from. If this happens, just send us the original link you downloaded the image from (so be sure you make a note of where you got it from) and we’ll be able to confirm it’s all okay for us to upload to stores.
Have a watch of our handy video below for more tips!
Check out the full RouteNote Style Guide here!
See also:
Are there any types of things I can’t include in my release artwork?
What is considered offensive artwork?
How can I prevent my artwork from being misleading?