You need to express yourself and think that this is good for you in music. For this reason, you made your first song and would like to make it heard by other people. Spotify is an important platform for achieving this goal, but getting an artist account is not easy.
There is a lot of conflicting information online and, in general, there is a lot of confusion on the subject. In fact, you couldn’t find in-depth information and in the end you came here, on my guide. It went like this, didn’t it? Well, I’d say you’ve come to the right place, at the right time!
In today’s tutorial, in fact, I’ll explain how to create a Spotify artist account . In case you are wondering, I will show you all the steps to be carried out: starting from the publication of the first track / album up to checking the profile to get the much sought-after “blue check”. All this through practical examples. Furthermore, I anticipate that the procedure can be completed completely free of charge.
Courage: why are you still standing there motionless in front of the screen? Do you want to open your artist profile on Spotify? I would say yes, since you have come this far and are reading this guide with interest. Come on then, all you have to do is take some time off, make yourself comfortable and follow the quick instructions below. That said, there’s nothing left for me to do but wish you good reading and good luck for your musical career!
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 indications to proceed.
Upload your own music through a service
The first thing to do, to learn how to create a Spotify artist account , is obviously having made a song / album . Simply put, you need the “raw material”: music.
Once the work is done, you have to go through one of the many online distribution services. These last ones allow you to also get the songs of the independent artists on the platform, so if you are a novice artist you might think about taking this route.
There are many services of this type, but those recommended on the official Spotify website are: DistroKid , Baby CD , EmuBands , The Orchard , FUGA , Believe , Absolute Label Services , DANMARK , AWAL , National Digital Aggregator , InnerCat Music Group , Uniqueopia GmbH , Redeye Worldwide , FUGA , EMS , IDOL and AudioSalad
Most of these services are on payment : often the amount requested is not very high (eg on DistroKid $ 20 per year is required to upload albums and tracks in unlimited ways). Some may even deny access to independent artists , granting distribution only through a record label . In short, I suggest you read the service descriptions well .
In any case, to make this guide, I used RouteNote , a service that lets you publish your music for free on Spotify. Clearly the support and timing may not be exactly on a par with those of paid services, but if you have a little good will you will still be able to reach your goal without too many problems.
Well, taking RouteNote as a concrete example, what you need to do at this stage is connect to its official website and press the Sign Up button on the top right. Then, choose whether to sign up for the service by logging in with Google , Facebook , Twitter or Soundcloud or if you complete the registration form via e-mail address.
In the latter case, you must complete the Username , Email , Password and Confirm Password fields , tick the box Not a robot and click on the buttonJoin RouteNote .
If you have chosen to subscribe via the e-mail address, check your e-mail address (also the SPAM / junk mail box , you never know) and press the Confirm Email Address button . Perfect, you have now successfully created your RouteNote account and you can start uploading your music.
Then return to the official RouteNote website , press the Log in button located at the top right, type in your username and password , tick the box I am not a robot and press Enter . Now, hover the mouse cursor over the word Distribution at the top left and click on Create New Release . Next, enter the UPC / EAN code (uniquely identifies a song, if you don’t have it available leave the white space and RouteNote will generate it for you) and the title of the song / album (Release Title) and click on Create Release button.
Once this is done, you will access the editor, where you can configure your next exit. I remind you that you must respect the copyright and follow all the rules in force , in order not to run into problems with your music. RouteNote applies the “2 strike” rule : at the second infringement of the rules, the account is permanently closed . I therefore advise you to be very careful.
In any case, all you have to do to load your song is to use the buttons on the bottom left. Pressing on Album Details , you will have to complete the fields Language , Album / Single / EP Title (song title / album), Album version (album version), Artist Name (artist name, you can also select roles and add other artists using the Add Artist button ), Primary Genre , Secondary Genre (secondary genre, if present), 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 ( pre-order start date, optional) and Sales Start Date (start date of sales, optional).
In addition, you will have to choose if it is a compilation album and if there are explicit content inside it (Explicit content). If you don’t know how to complete the copyright fields and you’re not in a record company, the same RouteNote suggests you enter your stage name.
If you want an advice, to avoid problems of homonymy, I invite you to choose an original stage name that is not already present on Spotify. Once the changes are complete, press the Save and Continue button , located at the bottom right, to go on.
At this point, click on the Add audio item , enter the name of the song in the Track name field and press on Choose file . You can load up to 15 tracks and the supported files are only high quality ones .
You must therefore equip you with MP3s at 320kbps / 44.1khz or FLAC at 44.1khz . All tracks must have this quality, otherwise they will not be accepted by RouteNote. Furthermore, since the tracks will have to pass checks , I invite you to work hard to make the song come up, but I’m sure you will do your best.
You can add more songs by pressing the Add Track button on the right. Remember to check that the names of the tracks and the associated files are correct before pressing the Save and Continue button .
You will therefore be asked, for each individual song, to complete the Track Name (track name), Title Version (used to distinguish different versions of the same album, eg Live, Club Remix, Radio Edit), Track Number (number of track), Artist Name (artists present in the song, you can add other people via the Add Artist button ) and ISRC Codes (if you have no particular needs, leave the one generated by the system).
Finally, you just have to choose if there are explicit contents (Explicit Content), select the language of the song (Audio Language) and click on the first on the Save and Continue button and then on the one I’m Finished .
Then, press the Add Artwork button and drag the cover of your song / album into the box, following the system’s instructions. In particular, the image must have a resolution of at least 3000 x 3000 pixels , weigh less than 25MB , possibly be in color and have a .jpg extension .
Furthermore, RouteNote indicates that it must be relevant and of professional quality . Clearly there are some prohibited practices (for example, you can’t put your own website on the cover), so I advise you to read the directions given to you by RouteNote. Once the artwork is loaded, press the Save and Continue button .
At this point, click on the Manage Stores button and choose the digital stores where you want to publish your creation. Among those available there is obviously also Spotify . To select it, simply tick the box below its logo.
At the bottom of the page there is also the Territories field : type ” italy “, or enter the countries where you want to publish your works, select the result from the list that appears on the screen and press Save and Continue .
Perfect, now you’ve set up your song correctly. All you have to do is tick the box of terms and conditions and press on the item Distribute Free , to send your tracks for routine checks by the RouteNote team.
If you decide to publish for free , you will collect 85% of the royalties . To get 100% royalties , you’ll have to pay $ 10 for a single, $ 20 for an EP or $ 45 for an album. For all the details of the case, I invite you to consult the official website of RouteNote (in English).
In any case, publication times may take up to several weeks and your tracks must be approved , so you will need to be patient. Once you’ve submitted your music to RouteNote, I recommend you log in to the service from time to time. In fact, you may not receive any confirmation email regarding the publication of your work.
To check if your song / album has been approved, just pass the mouse cursor over the item Distribution in the top left corner of the main RouteNote page and select the Discography item . Otherwise, you can simply search for your music on Spotify and see if everything worked.
Perfect: if everything went the right way, you should be able 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? Has your music finally been published on Spotify but has it been put in a wrong generic profile ? No problem, this happens often and I’ll explain how to solve it right away.
Well, if you have used RouteNote , all you have to do is go to the official website of the latter, press on the word You will need to fill this form and complete the form that appears on the screen.
In particular, you must enter your e-mail address linked to the RouteNote account, your stage name , the UPC code of the track / album, the link to the track published on the wrong profile and the link to the correct artist profile (if you have one, otherwise leave the field blank 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 Discography item . From here you can see all the tracks you’ve published and also find the UPC code . As for the link of the track / album involved, I suggest you follow my tutorial on how to share a Spotify link .
Once the form has been completed correctly, just press the SEND button and the RouteNote team will take charge 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 already guessed, eventually RouteNote will have created a Spotify artist account for you.
If you have not used RouteNote as a distribution service, I advise you to follow the official Spotify guidelines (in English) or contact the service support team 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, to “take control” of the latter and be able to manage and analyze its statistics, you must verify and obtain the “blue check” .
Having a verified profile on Spotify may seem like a utopia for 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. Simply verify that you are the real owner of the artist profile involved.
To do this, you need to connect to the official Spotify for Artists website and press the CLAIM YOUR PROFILE button in the center of the page. At this point, type in your art name or paste the link to the artist profile and select the correct result .
Then press the purple LOG IN TO SPOTIFY button and log in to your personal account via Facebook or by entering your e-mail address and password . All you need is a simple free Spotify account to associate with your artist profile . If you don’t have a profile yet, I suggest you consult my guide on how to register for Spotify .
At this point, click on the NEXT button at the bottom right, enter your real name ( Full Name ) and your e-mail address in the appropriate fields, check the I’m not a robot box and click on NEXT again .
Once that is done, read the instructions on the screen and press the purple NEXT button located at the bottom right. You will then need to provide Spotify access to at least one social profile between Twitter and Instagram . This step will help Spotify to verify that you are the author of the songs published on the artist profile involved. By clicking on the Twitter icon or on the Instagram icon , you will be asked to log in to your account and grant authorization .
It is of fundamental importance that within the social account you have connected there are references to your music . In fact, remember that Spotify must verify that you really are the owner of the artist profile. In my case, the publication of a screenshot in the RouteNote control panel worked.
But be careful not to show sensitive information to others . You can also think of sending Spotify the UPC code of your songs through the text field that requires you to enter other information, such as your official website .
In short, the important thing is that you demonstrate to Spotify that you are the real owner of the artist profile. In any case, don’t worry in case of failure: the company will contact you as soon as possible via the e-mail address you provided and will explain the problem to you. I therefore advise you to follow the instructions that will be given to you by Spotify and you will see that everything will be fine.
Once you have the “blue check” and received the confirmation e-mail , you can access the Spotify for Artists website . From there you will be able to monitor all the statistics related to your tracks simply by clicking on the Audience item at the top.
Pressing instead on Profile you will be able to modify the profile picture and the cover of your artist page. In addition, we point out the existence of the official application for smartphones and tablets, which you can download for free from the Android Play Store or from the iOS App Store.
In short, now you have all the elements at your disposal to start your career. I’ll give you a big good luck for everything!
I want to emphasize that Spotify is a constantly updated platform and therefore the ways of accessing the artist profile may change based on the will of the company offering the service.