A Spotify profile checklist

Claiming the profile

Spotify creates your artist profile automatically when your music is first uploaded. You can't create one yourself. You claim it through Spotify for Artists: submit an access request with a link to your website or social channels, and Spotify reviews it by hand, which can take a few days. Only one request can be active per profile at a time, and if someone on your team has already claimed it, that team's Admin has to invite you.

You don't have to wait for release day. Before a first release, ask your distributor for your artist link or URI, and send it to Spotify with the UPC or EAN of the upcoming release. If your distributor is one of Spotify's preferred providers, access is automatic when you request it. Give the distributor that same artist link for every release after, so nothing lands on a duplicate profile.

Photo and header image

Spotify's minimums are 750 × 750 px for the avatar, 2660 × 1140 px for the header and 690 × 500 px for gallery images, as JPEG, PNG or GIF, up to 20MB.

The content rules matter more than the sizes. No text, advertising or busy backgrounds. No promotion of an upcoming tour or release. No image of a person without their consent. The release poster belongs on Instagram; the profile wants a clean photo.

Bio

You get up to 1,500 characters. Write it with the same romanised spelling of your name that you use everywhere else, and use @tags to link artists, albums, playlists and tracks on Spotify, such as a collaborator or the latest album. Say who you are and what to play first. Everything after that is optional.

Artist pick

The Artist Pick sits at the top of the profile. It can be a song, album, music video, playlist, concert or merch, with an image of at least 690 × 500 px and a short message. It stays up for 180 days unless you change it, so it goes out of date without anyone noticing. Change it at every release, and set a reminder in between.

Canvas

Canvas is the 3–8 second vertical loop that replaces the cover art in the Now Playing view of Spotify's mobile app. The spec is 9:16, between 720 and 1080 px tall, as an MP4 or JPG. You can add one to any track, including upcoming releases, if you're the first main artist on the track or a main artist on both the track and the release, and you hold an Admin or Editor role.

Spotify suggests footage with no talking, singing or rapping, since a loop that short can't sync to the lyrics. Avoid rapid cuts and flashing, and keep the important part away from the edges, which some phones crop. Its content policy rules out URLs, ticket sellers and asking for follows or likes. A few seconds of the music video without lip-sync works. A reel with your handle on it doesn't.

Playlists

You can feature any playlist on your profile under Artist Playlists: new music, your catalogue in order, songs you love. Build it in your personal Spotify account, then add it from Spotify for Artists. Admins and Editors can add, reorder and remove them.

Countdown Pages

A Countdown Page lets fans pre-save a release, preview the tracklist, watch countdown videos and shop merch before it comes out. On release day, everyone who pre-saved is notified and the release is added to their library. Eligibility is narrow:

• At least 3,000 monthly active listeners.
• New, original albums and EPs only. Singles aren't eligible, and neither are deluxe or anniversary editions, reissues, remasters or compilations.
• Your distributor delivers the finished release in the standard way, and the option to create the page appears within 72 hours of the metadata arriving.
• On a release with more than one main artist, only the first-named one can create it, and it appears only on that artist's profile.
• Only a limited number of split-rights releases are supported for now.

The checklist

The pitch itself is covered in How Spotify editorial pitching works, and why it's followers, not listeners, that Release Radar reaches in Followers vs listeners.