
However, in some cases the artwork can simply be pictures of CD covers, which means you get the case and/or stickers fouling the artwork. This is great if you really want to see all there is to offer. The difference with Discogs is that it appears to operate a more open definition of what constitutes a ‘release’ and so you get more unofficial releases such as cover mounted CDs and bootlegs. Like MusicBrainz, Discogs is a general music database and operates a community model. Discogs Best for coverageĭiscogs is my next site.

You can also get the images in different sizes.īliss searches both MusicBrainz and Amazon. Images can be denoted as being from the front cover, back cover, the medium itself (e.g. One of the best things about MusicBrainz’s artwork is the surrounding metadata is excellent. MusicBrainz’s link to Amazon means the latter is responsible for storing the album art, and for many releases this means a good range of art including back covers. MusicBrainz submission policy is more open than Album Art Exchange, so there are a lot more albums recorded in it.
Amazon album art database archive#
Next it’s MusicBrainz, a generalised music database that links to both the Cover Art Archive and Amazon for its album art. Don’t say I didn’t warn you… MusicBrainz / Cover Art Archive (and Amazon) Best for high quality data Also, in the past AAX has been quick to ban both individuals and entire countries, leading to some resentment. bliss doesn’t search Album Art Exchange just yet as there isn’t an API, but I’d love it to.

The art is generally of a high quality and high resolution, so it is easily reusable for different applications, whether on a mobile phone or on a big-screen TV. I start with Album Art Exchange (known as AAX to its members) which has some beautiful album covers. Album Art Exchange Best for high resolution To combat the quality/quantity trade-off I operate a sequential checklist of websites, starting with those of highest quality and working my way down. This is because some websites operate strict control policies over the album art that is submitted which keeps quality up but quantity down. That is, there’s a quality/quantity trade-off. I’ve found that the quality of album art from any particular website often varies inversely proportional to the chances of finding the art you are looking for. If you are wondering what websites can provide album art, I hope the suggestions in this blog post help you find what you are looking for. However, some people prefer to look manually, and some people, including myself, just enjoy browsing the wealth of history’s album covers.

Of course, bliss already automatically retrieves album art when it is missing from my collection. I want high quality, high resolution album art and I want it part of my listening experience. What are the best websites for album art? Nowadays I, like most people, want to enjoy album art as a part of the whole album experience. What are the best websites for high quality album art?
