At Spotify for Artists, we know there’s more to a musician than meets the ear, so we’re always developing ways to expand the creative possibilities you have to tell your story. Since the days of Michael Jackson’s Thriller or even as far back as The Beatles’ first visual album, A Hard Day’s Night, creative expression has changed the way fans experience music. In the age of streaming, we know you’re looking for more ways to provide visual context for your music.

Enter Canvas. We’ve been testing it with select artists for some time, and today, we’re also inviting some of the most active Spotify for Artists users to join the beta. So far, it’s been a big hit with artist teams and fans alike, reaching millions of listeners every day. We’ve seen some amazing use cases of Canvas, and wanted to share more details and resources for artist teams about what Canvas is, why listeners love it, and how to think about your Canvas strategy for new releases and catalog. On our new site, you’ll see some of the most powerful uses of Canvas over the past year — which we hope will inspire even more creativity.

Here's everything you need to know about Canvas and the beta program:

What is Canvas?

Canvas is part of our continuing efforts to give Spotify for Artists and Spotify Analytics users the ability to create their own innovative visual experiences. This feature gives your music the power to move — literally — by allowing you to create and feature your own looping visuals in the “Now Playing” view, the most viewed location in the Spotify mobile app on Android and iOS. It’s a way to get noticed and build a vision — and an excellent way to share more of who you are with your listeners, hopefully turning them into fans. Adding a Canvas can help keep your listeners hooked; we’ve seen that adding a high-quality one to a track can increase streams, saves, artist profile visits, and shares.

Through the expanded beta, we hope to inspire artist teams to treat Canvas as a critical and unique part of their release strategy. However, it’s not just for new releases—once in the beta program, artists can express themselves across their entire catalog by adding a unique Canvas to any track or album.

The goal is for you to have richer ways to express yourself and to allow listeners to engage with you and your music even more deeply. We’re continuing to work on additional features, as well as more tools and metrics to help you better understand how your art is reaching your audience.

What to know if you’re in the beta

Canvas is a chance for artists to further their listeners’ experience with whatever compelling visual content they develop: continuous loops or hard cuts that will lead viewers further into a visual identity and add texture to an album’s narrative. Once you get your invite, or even if you're not on the list just yet (more on that soon), this is an opportunity to think further outside the box, get personal, and increase the capacity to touch listeners in a multidimensional way.

Check out the Canvas Policy Guide for details and specs, read through our Canvas Metrics Guide to see how to track these, and scan our top 10 Canvas tips to see how, if invited into the Beta, this new format can be the most effective for you.

If you haven’t received an invite and are interested in joining the beta, sign up for our waitlist so you’ll be the first to know about any new announcements.

–Spotify For Artists