What is Spotify For Artists? (And How Can I Use It to Help My Music Career?)

Spotify describes Spotify for Artists as a personalized dashboard designed to help you manage your Artist profile and gain deeper insights into your audience.

In other words, it allows you to control what information listeners see about you while providing valuable data on who your fans are and where they’re listening. Additionally, it gives you powerful tools to attract more listeners, plan tours, select singles, sell merchandise, and even pitch your music to Spotify’s playlist editors.

Spotify is the undisputed heavyweight champion of streaming platforms, meaning that for hundreds of millions of listeners, it’s the first place to discover or search for new music—including yours.

The search and discovery aspect is incredibly important. Whether somebody saw you perform live, heard you on the radio, discovered you via playlists, or just heard your name pop up in a conversation, their next step is often to go to Spotify and check your Artist Profile.

However, having people land on your Spotify page doesn’t guarantee they’ll become devoted fans. Seeing your Artist Profile gives users the first opportunity to make up an opinion about you—before they even press play. The truth is that people listen more to artists who they find interesting. Polishing your Artist Profile serves as your first chance to impress your potential fans, and you want to get it right. Spotify for Artists is your Artist Profile editing portal. Ignoring it could mean missing out on potential fans.

Of course, before you can turn listeners into fans, they need to find your profile first—and Spotify for Artists has got your back there, too. Spotify playlists are now widely recognized as a key for music and artist discovery. According to Spotify’s 2023 data, nearly 2 billion discoveries (discovery meaning the ‘first’ time a user listens to a given track) happen on the streaming platform every single day, with both algorithmic and editorial playlists playing a significant role.

Interestingly, Spotify has also found that people tend to stream music—particularly happy and upbeat music—more on Monday than on any other day of the week. This could be due to people seeking motivation and inspiration for the week ahead and the newly presented challenges. On Mondays, Spotify also refreshes the Discover Weekly playlist, its weekly selection of music recommendations, giving listeners even more incentive to listen to and explore new music.

As mentioned earlier, one of the biggest advantages of Spotify for Artists is that it allows you to submit your tracks for official playlist consideration. Plus, you can monitor key statistics that influence algorithmic playlists, giving you valuable insight into your growth.

But enough about playlists; let’s learn more about what makes Spotify for Artists so influential when it comes to expanding your reach and building your career.

In today’s music industry, data is power. With insights on everything from your Spotify monthly listeners and top tracks to the cities in the world where your music is trending, Spotify for Artists is your gateway to a deep pool of crucial stats. What’s more, it’s presented in an incredibly friendly and intuitive interface that requires absolutely no prior experience. Whether you’re planning a tour, selling merch, or refining your marketing strategy, these insights are invaluable.

Ever wondered who’s been listening to your tracks and where they’re tuning in from? Let’s say a DJ has played your song at a festival in Cartagena, Colombia, or perhaps a radio station in Melbourne, Australia, has had one of your tracks on rotation. Many listeners have heard your music and have been listening to it on Spotify ever since. Suddenly, you’ve built a fanbase in places you never expected.

But you’re based in Scranton, New Jersey. How would you know? In the past, you might have never known about this surge in popularity. Now, Spotify for Artists tells you everything you need to know about your audience, including:

• Location: The countries and cities where your music is most played

• Demographics: Age and gender breakdown of your listeners

• Listening behavior: Other artists your fans enjoy

• Playback source: The interface from which your listeners click ‘play’ to stream your music—directly from your profile, from someone else’s profile, via a playlist, or a radio station edited by Spotify.

Beyond listeners-related data, using Spotify for Artist also helps you track your performance on the platform. You can view how many streams you gained over a given period, how many streams you’ve generated in total, how many monthly listeners you have, and how many people subscribe to your music overall. Additionally, you can see the percentage changes in these numbers over time.

Armed with this knowledge, music promotion possibilities are limitless. For example, let’s say you can see from your stats that your latest single is most popular with women aged 18-27 in the New York area (and yes, you can get exactly this level of detailed data from Spotify for Artists). Now, you can use this information to create highly targeted online ads for your next single, aimed at precisely this age, gender, and location. Or perhaps you want to build up the streaming numbers for the current release in specific areas in key cities like London, LA, or Berlin. You can target that specific demographic in those locations and adjust your campaign accordingly.

What’s more, Spotify for Artists also lets you track engagement in real time. This option lets you directly measure the effectiveness of your promotions. By comparing streaming data with key events—like ad launch, press coverage, or radio play—you can see what’s driving listener growth.

Or, perhaps you see a big jump on a specific day. Why did that happen? It’s a safe bet you got some coverage or exposure you weren’t aware of. You can search Google, Twitter, and other online sources for your track, your artist name, and the date, and there’s a good chance you will find the source of the boost. Once you identify what worked, you can replicate the strategy or reach out to those who’ve helped you to arrange future collaboration for future releases.

Streaming data can be a game-changer when planning your next moves. It can even help you choose your next single. In the past, such a decision was mostly based on intuition and guesswork, but if the stats show that a song you initially saw as just an album track has taken on a life of its own, maybe it’s time to give it a proper push. You can shoot a music video, get some remixes, or submit it for playlist placements.

When it comes to touring, there are huge possibilities, too. For a start, you or your booking agent can approach promoters in different areas with solid proof you already have a following in their city. Once gigs are booked, demographic insights like age and gender can help finetune your marketing efforts—whether through online ads, posters, or in print. You can also use location-based data to connect with media outlets in regions where your fanbase is growing, strengthening your PR efforts.

Additionally, data from Spotify for Artists might even influence your musical direction. If you see that you have a huge following in Brazil, you might consider using some Portuguese lyrics in your next dancefloor smash (just make sure you’re respectful of other nations’ cultures and languages)! Or maybe reach out to a local music artist you like for a collaboration?

Spotify for Artists also offers invaluable data for maximizing your Spotify Playlist exposure. As we reported in our article on how to grow your Spotify playlist followers, many people prefer listening to playlists over entire albums. It’s also worth mentioning that according to Spotify’s 2020 statistics, people spent 2.3 billion hours listening to Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist alone within a period of 5 years. Just for reference, 2.3 billion hours are equal to 266.5 thousand years of continuous streaming!

With Spotify for Artists, you can learn where people have discovered your music and identify which playlists are driving your streams. This knowledge will help you build up a relationship with the playlist curators already playing your music, making it easier to pitch new releases. It also helps you work out what types of playlists are featuring your music, helping you target similar curators for potential placements.

Let’s also not forget about Spotify’s official Editorial Playlists, which account for more than a half of all Spotify listening time. You can include all relevant data in your pitches to Spotify curators, demonstrating your popularity in a particular region or genre, and more. The possibilities are limitless—the key is to use your data-driven insights to increase your chances of getting playlisted.

Overall, Spotify for Artists is much more than just a way to design a shiny shopfront; it’s a way to analyze your brand, plan your marketing, and measure your success daily. You can even assign access to the data and features to other members of your team, including bandmates, your label, social media manager, PR teams—whoever you like. You decide how much access they get. This allows you all to work together to maximize the information you get from Spotify for Artists and, ultimately, get more streams and gain more success.

In the past, claiming your Artist Account on Spotify required at least one release and a specific number of subscribers. Fortunately, the process is now much simpler. You don’t need to fill in a form or have 250 existing subscribers. Verification is now available to all existing artists.

1. Open the Spotify for Artists app or visit the desktop homepage.

2. As an artist, click ‘Claim’ and then ‘Continue.’

3. Log in with your Spotify account. You have to have at least a free Spotify account to use Spotify for Artists.

4. Identify the artist profile you want to claim.

5. Enter your Spotify Artist URI. If you haven’t released music yet but have submitted a release to a label of your choice, you can ask them for your URI. The same applies if you’re signed with a label. If you’re unsure about how to upload music to Spotify, explore our extensive collection of Spotify-related articles for helpful guidance.

6. Complete the verification process. It may take a few days to access your Spotify for Artist profile. Afterward, you’ll need to verify your identity through the artist’s social accounts. Verification times may vary, but Spotify usually finalizes the verification process in 2–6 weeks.

After claiming your profile and securing that coveted Blue Tick to prove you’re verified on Spotify, it’s important to add your details. Your Spotify Artists Profile is your chance to turn casual listeners into fans—so, don’t waste it.

To attract and retain fans, your profile should represent you and your music while remaining consistent across all your different channels, such as Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok. Simple things like using the same colors, fonts, and artwork cement you in people’s minds, newsfeeds, and playlists. More interest means more shares and streams.

Let’s look at some key elements you can customize.

First impressions matter. You don’t need to spend a fortune on pro shots or logos, but don’t use blurry selfies from a night out, either (unless that’s the look you cultivate… ). Just keep it clean, make sure you have permission, and ensure they adhere to Spotify’s simple specifications (e.g., no hate speech or symbols).

Avatar image: This is the small image paired with your music when navigating the platform or shown at the top left corner of your artist profile. Avatar images must be at least 750px x 750px.

Header image: This is the cover image that appears at the top of your artist profile. Header images must be at least 2660px x 1140px, but preferably 6000px x 4000px.

All images must be in the following file formats: JPEG, PNG, or GIF. Images must not exceed 20 MB. It’s also advised that the images show your face in the center.

Your artist bio is a chance to introduce yourself to listeners. You can’t tell your whole life story in 1,500 characters, but you can focus on engaging details. Simply say something about yourself and your music that you think people might relate to or find interesting.

If stuck, try this: Where are you from? When and why did you begin making music? Who are your influences? Think about something about you that might be intriguing to others. If you can’t think of anything, ask a friend or someone who knows you well what makes your music or journey compelling.

The image gallery, which displays pictures in the About section of your profile, can be even more valuable than your artist bio. People love visual content, and including catchy images can present another chance to share something personal about yourself and your music. Some artists treat it much like their Instagram Stories, while others use it purely for music-related images, such as images from gigs, behind-the-scenes shots, or studio sessions.

In the Spotify gallery, you can showcase up to 125 images and you can upload at any time, and as often as you like. The pictures must be at least 690px x 500px and cannot exceed 20 MB.

Once set up, the Events field will automatically display upcoming concerts and festivals you have listed on one of the ticketing partner sites like Ticketmaster, Eventbrite, Songkick, DICE, Gigantic, and AXS.

Your concert listing must include:

• At least 1 artist name

• Start time

• Venue name

• Concert name

This feature is invaluable for keeping your fans in the loop and making sure they know when and where to see you. Spotify also shows concerts and sends recommendation emails to fans based on where they are located, who they follow, and who they listen to, further increasing event visibility.

Selling merchandise is fantastic for connecting with fans and generating income, and this section on your profile is filled with a selection of t-shirts and sweatshirts, posters, cups, digital records, and more. Even better, offering your merch through the artist dashboard might be a great way to make money on Spotify. Selling your merch via Spotify for Artists is currently possible through the platform’s integration with Shopify, making it easier than ever to list and sell up to 125 items.

Spotify also allows you to pin up to two items at the top of your Merch tab on your artist profile. Additionally, you can choose to tag certain published items with associated releases. Tagging makes merch items appear on the album and single release pages and on the ‘Now Playing’ view for every song on the release.

Curated playlists are such a vital music career-builder that we’ve dedicated a whole guide to them, and Artist playlists are important too. They’re a great way to engage with your fans and keep them returning to—and sharing—your profile.

Try curated selections of your own tracks, a playlist that inspired your album, other people’s playlists… anything. Remember that people love to know what inspired their favorite artist’s work of art, so don’t be afraid to include other people’s music.

The Artist’s pick is the perfect place to showcase what’s going on in your world RIGHT NOW. This feature allows you to choose a new release, another musical project, upcoming shows, a playlist, or something from your back catalog and pin it to the top of your artist page with a short message.

You can add background images to make the place really stand out. If you’re releasing a new album, you can also create a playlist of songs that inspired it and share it there. Overall, it is completely up to you to decide what you want to showcase in the Artist’s pick, but bear in mind that this is your chance to personalize your profile and make it more interesting.

One advantage of digital music distribution is access to real-time information and deep analytical data. With Spotify for Artists, you gain instant insights into who’s listening, where they’re streaming from, and how they are discovering your music. These statistics are divided into two main categories: Music and Audience.

Clicking on the Music tab will reveal four sections: Songs, Releases, Playlists, and Upcoming.

Songs and Releases provide data on Streams, Listeners, Views (those who clicked through to your profile), Saves, and Release Dates. You can view these statistics over a specified time period: 24 hours, 7 days, 28 days, the Last 12 months, or all time.

Playlists detail the number of streams and listeners for all types of playlists you’re featured in, including Algorithmic playlists (generated by Spotify, like Discover Weekly), Editorial playlists (curated by Spotify’s editorial team), and Listener Playlists (created by users, including influencers and fans).

For each playlist, you can view the author (Spotify, you, or a third party), number of streams, number of listeners, and date added. If a playlist has more than one of your songs, you can check the per-song stream breakdown.

Since a huge percentage of streams often come from playlists, tracking this data helps you understand where your audience is coming from and why playlist placements matter so much.

Audience figures are where things start getting detailed, providing a deep dive into your listener demographics. You can analyze:

• Unique listeners: the number of people who have streamed your music

• Discover sources: How listeners discovered your tracks (your profile, user’s library, different playlists, or other sources)

• Segments:

  • Active audience: listeners who intentionally streamed your music from active sources, like artist profile or their personal libraries, in the past 28 days.

  • Previously active audience: Listeners who streamed your music from active streams in the past two years but not within the last 28 days.

  • Programmed audience: Listeners who streamed your music in the past 2 years only from programmed sources like Spotify radio, autoplay, or other listeners’ playlists.

• Demographic: Age, gender, and location (country and city).

• Related artists: See which artists your audience listens to. This is helpful for collaborations or targeting similar fanbases.

Such insights present powerful tools, helping you tailor your promotions, tours, and future releases.