Which images are allowed on artist/musician profiles?
Only publicly released promotional images and flyers are allowed. Publicly released selfies are not allowed, nor are private images from blogs or social media. Images taken during live performances are not allowed except when those are the only available images of a band and said images were publicly released.
Users may not upload images which they have generated with AI, upscaled with AI, or applied filters to, under any circumstance.
Users may not upload images which they have edited, except: users may crop an artist photo from an official flyer, and users may adjust colors and reduce scan patterns from an image that they scanned (using a PC-connected scanning device).
Fully AI-generated artist photos are not allowed unless the artist directly requests that vkgy add them. In such cases, the description should clearly state that it is an AI-generated image, and it should not be set as the default photo for the artist/musician.
Images with problematic content or nudity are allowed so long as they are tagged appropriately. They should not be censored.
Official photosets may be added so long as said photoset was publicly released online by the band.
Scans of official photosets may not be added unless: the band is already disbanded, and there are no other high-quality images of the band available, and only photoset is added.
Scans of magazine content are not allowed, except when said content is an official artist photo. Full-page spreads, editorial photos, and text content may not be added. Scans of flyers from magazines may be added.
Which images are allowed as the default on artist profiles?
If a band is active, the most recent official group photo should be set as default.
If the band is not active, the most recognizable or representative photo should be chosen. Within reason, it may be appropriate to select a higher quality but “less iconic” photo.
Official photography should always be chosen over live photos.
AI-generated images should never be set as the default, unless an artist directly requests vkgy to do so.
Images with problematic should not be chosen as default unless there are no other options.
A logo may be chosen as default only if it is the only image available.
Which images are allowed as the default on release pages?
Only official cover art or cleaned, straightened, cropped scans (as done via a PC-connected scanning device) are allowed.
As much as possible, the default image should represent what the release looks like when closed, with all packaging in tact. For example, a CD that comes in a translucent blue jewel case should have a translucent blue hue over the cover, and a CD that comes in a cardboard sleeve should use the sleeve as the cover art.
When necessary, cover art may be uploaded as a PNG to preserve transparency (e.g. an octogon-shaped case).
Camera photos that include background elements (e.g. a table that the release is lying on) are not allowed.
The highest quality or largest resolution version should be chosen as default.
The most accurate version should be chosen as default, even if it is not the highest quality. In other words, if the cover art widely shared online does not reflect what is actually shown on the physical release, a scan of the physical release is preferred.
Images with problematic content or nudity may be set as default so long as they are tagged appropriately. They should not be censored.
What is a scan?
A scan is a digital image of a physical item which is generated by putting the physical item face down on a scanner. A scanner is a device which connects to a PC and features a wide image sensor that slowly moves across the device to capture an image.
Any “scan” made with a phone, webcam, camera, or any device other than a PC-connected scanner, is not actually a scan: it is a photograph. Even if an app or program was used that contains “scan” in the name, the resulting image is not a scan, but a photograph.
Any “scan” made by finding an image online and editing it in software like Photoshop is not actually a scan: it is an edited photograph or edited image. It is impossible to produce a scan without owning the physical item.
Real scans are preferred to photographs because they capture color, detail, and proportion much more accurately than a photograph.
