How to create an artist account on Spotify
Having an artist account on Spotify can help you get your music to more people, as the platform is populated by millions of users from all over the world. Below you will find all the necessary indications to proceed.
Upload your music via a service
The first thing to do, to learn how to create a Spotify artist account, is obviously having achieved a track / album. Put simply, you need the "raw material": music.
Once the work is done, you have to go through one of the many distribution services present online. The latter allow even the songs of independent artists to arrive on the platform, so if you are a novice artist you may want to consider going this route.
There are multiple services of this type, but those recommended on the official Spotify website are: DistroKid, CD baby, EmuBands, The orchard, FUGA, Believe, Absolute Label Services, DENMARK, BEGINNING, National Digital Aggregator, InnerCat Music Group, Uniqueopia GmbH, Redeye Worldwide, FUGA, EMS, IDOL e AudioSalad.
Most of these services are paid: often the requested amount is not very high (eg on DistroKid they are requested 20 dollars a year to be able to upload albums and songs in an unlimited way). Some may even preclude access to independent artists, granting distribution only through arecord label. In short, I advise you to read them well service descriptions.
In any case, to make this guide, I used RouteNote, a service that allows you to publish your music for free on Spotify. Clearly the support and timing they may not be exactly on par with paid services, but if you have a bit of goodwill you will still be able to achieve your goal without too much trouble.
Well, taking RouteNote as a concrete example, what you need to do at this stage is connect to its official website and press the button Sign Up present at the top right. After that, choose whether to subscribe to the service by logging in with Google, Facebook, Twitter o Soundcloud or whether to complete the registration form via email address. In the latter case, you need to complete the fields Username, Email, Password e Password confirmation, check the box I'm not a robot and click the button Join RouteNote.
If you have chosen to sign up via the email address, please check yours e-mail box (also the box SPAM / Junk mail, you never know) and press the button Confirm Email Address. Perfect, now you have successfully created your RouteNote account and can start uploading your music.
Then go back to the official RouteNote website, click on the button Log in located at the top right, type username e Password, check the box I'm not a robot I awarded Submit. Now, hover the mouse cursor over the text Distribution present at the top left and press on Create New Release. Successively, insertion il UPC / EAN code (uniquely identifies a song, if you don't have it available leave the blank space and RouteNote will generate it for you) and the song / album title (Release Title) and click the button Create Release.
Once this is done, you will enter the editor, where you can configure your next release. I remind you that you must respect the Copyright and follow all current rules, so as not to run into problems with your music. RouteNote applies the "2 strike" rule: at the second infringement of the rules, the account comes permanently closed. I therefore advise you to be very careful.
Either way, all you have to do to upload your song is to use i buttons which are located at the bottom left. By pressing on Album Details, you will need to complete the fields Language (Tongue), Album / Single / EP Title (song / album title), Album version (album version), Artist Name (artist name, you can also select roles and add other artists using the button Add Artist), Primary Genre (primary gender), Secondary Genre (secondary gender, if any), Composition Copyright (name that will be associated with the copyright of the composition), Sound Recording Copyright (name that will be associated with the copyright of the recording), Record Label Name (name of the record label), Originally Released (original release date), Pre Order Date (start date of pre-orders, optional) e Sales Start Date (sales start date, optional).
Also, you will have to choose if it is a 'compilation album and whether or not there are inside it explicit content (Explicit content). If you don't know how to complete the copyright fields and you are not in a record company, RouteNote itself suggests entering your stage name. If you want some advice, to avoid homonymy problems, I invite you to choose one original stage name that is not already present on Spotify. Once you have finished editing, press the button Save and Continue, present at the bottom right, to move forward.
At this point, I premi sulla voce Add audio, insertion il song name in the field Track name I awarded her Choose file. You can upload to the maximum 15 tracks and the supported files are only those ad high quality.
You must therefore equip yourself with 3kbps / 320khz MP44.1 or FLAC at 44.1khz. All songs must have this quality, otherwise they will not be accepted by RouteNote. Also, since the tracks will have to pass gods controls, I invite you to do your utmost to make the song live up to it, but I'm sure you'll do your best.
You can add more songs by pressing the button Add Track which is on the right. Remember to check that the song names and associated files are correct before pressing the button Save and Continue.
You will therefore be asked, for each single song, to complete the fields Track Name (track name), Title Version (used to distinguish different versions of the same album, e.g. Live, Club Remix, Radio Edit), Track Number (track number), Artist Name (artists featured in the song, you can add other people via the button Add Artist) is ISRC Codes (if you have no special needs, leave the one generated by the system).
Finally, you just have to choose if they are there explicit content (Explicit Content), select the song language (Audio Language) and click the button first Save and Continue e poi quello I'm Finished.
Then press the button Add Artwork and drag inside the box the cover of your song / album, following the instructions of the system. In particular, the image must have a resolution of at least 3000 3000 pixels x, weigh less than 25MB, possibly be a colors and have extension .jpg.
Also, RouteNote indicates that it must be relevant and professional quality. Clearly there are some prohibited practices (for example, you can't put your website on the cover), so I recommend that you read them thoroughly indicazioni that are provided to you by RouteNote. Once the artwork is loaded, click on the button Save and Continue.
At this point, press the button Manage Stores and choose i digital stores on which you want to publish your creation. Among those available there is obviously also Spotify. To select it, just check the box present under its logo.
At the bottom of the page there is also the field Territories: enter the Countries where you want to publish your works, select the outcome from the list that appears on the screen and press on Save and Continue.
Perfect, you have now configured your song correctly. You just have to check the terms and conditions box and press on the item Distribute Free, to submit your songs for i routine checks by the RouteNote team.
If you decide to post in a way free, you will collect the85% of royalties. To get the 100% of royalties, you will have to pay dollars 10 for a single, dollars 20 for an EP or dollars 45 for an album. For all the details of the case, I invite you to consult the official RouteNote website (in English).
In any case, the timing of publication they may also require several weeks and your tracks must be approved, so you'll have to take some patience. Once you've submitted your music to RouteNote, I recommend that you log into the service from time to time. In fact, you may not receive any confirmation emails regarding the publication of your work.
To check if your song / album has been approved, just hover the mouse cursor over the item Distribution present at the top left of the main page of RouteNote I will select the voice Discography. Otherwise, you can simply search for your music on Spotify and see if everything worked out.
Perfect: if everything went well, you should have managed to publish your first work on one of the most famous music platforms in the world!
Request your own artist account
How do you say? Your music has finally been released on Spotify but has been put in a wrong generic profile? No problem, this happens often and I'll tell you how to solve it right away.
Well, if you've used RouteNote, all you have to do is go to the official website of the latter, press on the writing You will need to fill out this form and complete the module that appears on the screen. In particular, you need to enter yours email address linked to the RouteNote account, yours stage name, UPC code of the track / album, the link to the track posted on the wrong profile and the link to correct artist profile (if you have one, otherwise leave the empty field and RouteNote will create one for you).
If you don't know how to find the UPC code, just log in to RouteNote, place the mouse cursor over the item Distribution (top left on the main page of the service) and select the item Discography. From here you can see all Tracks you have published and also find the UPC code. For what concern track / album link involved, I recommend that you follow my tutorial on how to share a Spotify link.
Once you have completed the form correctly, just press the button SEND and the RouteNote team will take care of your request. It can take up to 14 days to correct the profile and create a new one (in case you don't have one available). However, as you may have guessed by now, RouteNote will eventually have created a Spotify artist account for you.
If you have not used RouteNote as a distribution service, I recommend that you follow Spotify's official guidelines instead (in English) or contact the support team of the service you used to upload your music.
How to verify Spotify account
At this point, the distribution system you used will have created an artist profile on Spotify for you. However, in order to "take control" of the latter and be able to manage it and analyze its statistics, you need to verify and get the "blue check".
Having a profile verified on Spotify it may seem like a utopia to many. In reality, the platform does not have too “stringent” rules regarding the so-called “blue check”, since there is no limit in terms of followers. Just make sure you are the true owner of the artist profile involved.
To do this, you need to connect to the official Spotify for Artists website and press the button CLAIM YOUR PROFILE present in the center of the page. At this point, type yours stage name or paste the link to artist profile and select il outcome correct.
Then press the purple button LOG IN TO SPOTIFY and log into your personal account via Facebook or by entering email address e Password. You just need a simple one free Spotify account to then associate with yours artist profile. If you don't have a profile yet, I recommend that you consult my guide on how to sign up for Spotify.
At this point, press the button NEXT present at the bottom right, enter your real name (Full Name) and yours email address in the fields provided, check the box I'm not a robot and click again NEXT.
Once this is done, read the indicazioni present on the screen and press the purple button NEXT located at the bottom right. You will then need to give Spotify access to at least one social profile between Twitter e Instagram. This step will be used by Spotify to verify that you are actually the author of the songs published on the artist profile involved. Pressing ontwitter icon or on that of Instagram, you will be prompted to do the login to your account and to grant theautorizzazione.
It is of fundamental importance that they exist within the social account you have connected references to your music. In fact, remember that Spotify must verify that you really are the owner of the artist profile. In my case, posting a screenshot within the control panel RouteNote worked.
But be careful not to show it to others sensitive information. You can also think about sending Spotify the UPC code of your songs through the testo field which prompts you to enter other information, such as your own official website.
In short, the important thing is that you prove to Spotify that you are the real owner of the artist profile. In any case, do not worry in case of bankruptcy: the company will contact you as soon as possible through theemail address you provided and will explain the problem to you. I therefore advise you to follow the indicazioni that will be given to you by Spotify and you will see that everything will be fine.
Once you have obtained the "blue check" and received theconfirmation email, you will be able to access the Spotify for Artists website. From there you will be able to monitor all statistics related to your songs by simply pressing on the item Audience which is located at the top.
By pressing, instead, on Profile you can change theprofile picture and cover of your artist page. Furthermore, I would like to point out the existence ofofficial application for smartphones and tablets, which you can download for free from the Android Play Store or the iOS App Store.
In short, now you have all the elements available to start your career. I wish you a big good luck for everything!
I want to emphasize that Spotify is a constantly updated platform and therefore the methods of accessing the artist profile may change according to the will of the company offering the service.
How to create a Spotify artist account
