How to create a Spotify artist account-You have the need to express yourself and you think that you are good at it in music. For this reason, you have made your first song and you would like to let other people hear it. Spotify is an important platform to be able to achieve this goal, but being able to get an artist account is not easy. There is a lot of conflicting information about it online and, in general, there is a lot of confusion about the subject. In fact you were unable to find in-depth information and in the end you came here, on my guide. That’s how it went, 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 will explain how to create a Spotify artist account . In case you were wondering, I will show you all the steps to take: starting from the publication of the first song/album up to verifying the profile to obtain the coveted “blue check”. All this through practical examples. Furthermore, I anticipate that the procedure can be completed completely free of charge.
How to create a Spotify artist account
Courage: why are you still standing 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, get comfortable and follow the quick instructions below. Having said that, there’s nothing left for me to do but wish you a good read and good luck in 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 necessary instructions to proceed.
Upload your music through a service
The first thing to do, to learn how to create a Spotify artist account , is obviously to have created 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 distribution services available online. The latter also allow the songs of independent artists to arrive on the platform, so if you are a novice artist you might think of going this route.
There are multiple such services, but the ones recommended on the official Spotify website are: DistroKid , CD Baby , 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 paid : often the requested amount is not very high (eg on DistroKid 20 dollars are requested per year to be able to upload albums and tracks in an unlimited way). Some may even foreclose access to independent artists , allowing distribution only through a record label . In short, I advise you to read the descriptions of the services carefully .
In any case, to create this guide, I used RouteNote , a service that allows you to publish your music for free on Spotify. Clearly the support and timing may not be exactly the same as 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 have to do at this stage is connect to its official website and press the Sign Up button at the top right. After that, choose whether to subscribe to the service by logging in with Google , Facebook , Twitter or Soundcloud or whether to complete the registration form by email address . In the latter case, you must complete the Username , Email , Password and Password Confirmation fields , tick the I am not a robot box and click on the Join RouteNote button.
If you have chosen to sign up using your e-mail address, check your e-mail box (also the SPAM/Junk mail box , you never know) and press the Confirm Email Address button . Perfect, now you have successfully created your RouteNote account and can start uploading your music.
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Then go back to the RouteNote official website, press the Log in button located at the top right, enter your username and password , check the box I’m not a robot and press Enter . Now, hover the mouse cursor over the writing Distribution at the top left and press Create New Release . Next, enter the UPC/EAN code (it uniquely identifies a song, if you don’t have it leave the space blank and RouteNote will generate it for you) and the title of the song/album (Release Title) and click on the Create Release button .
Once this is done, you will access the editor, where you can configure your next outing. 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 strikes” rule : on the second infraction of the rules, the account is permanently closed . So I advise you to be very careful.
In any case, all you have to do to upload your song is use the buttons located at the bottom left. Pressing on Album Details , you will have to complete the fields Language (Language), Album / Single / EP Title (title of the song / album), Album version (version of the album), Artist Name (name of the artist, you can also select the roles and add other artists using the Add Artist button ), Primary Genre (primary genre), Secondary Genre (secondary genre, if any), Composition Copyright (name that will be associated with the composition copyright),Sound Recording Copyright (name that will be associated with the recording copyright), Record Label Name (record label name), Originally Released (original release date), Pre Order Date (pre-order start date, optional) and Sales Start Date (sales start date, optional).
Also, you will have to choose if it is a compilation album and if it contains explicit content or not . If you don’t know how to complete the copyright fields and you’re not at a record company, RouteNote itself suggests entering your stage name . If you want advice, to avoid homonymy problems, 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 , present at the bottom right, to go on.
At this point, click on Add audio , enter the name of the song in the Track name field and click on Choose file . You can upload up to 15 tracks and only high quality files are supported .
You must therefore equip yourself with MP3 at 320kbps/44.1khz 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 checks , I invite you to do your best to make the song live up to it, but I’m sure you’ll do your best.
You can add other songs by pressing the Add Track button located on the right. Remember to check that the song names and associated files are correct before pressing the Save and Continue button .
You will therefore be asked, for each single song, to complete the fields Track Name (name of the track), Title Version (used to distinguish different versions of the same album, e.g. Live, Club Remix, Radio Edit), Track Number (number of track), Artist Name (artists featured in the song, you can add other people using the Add Artist button ) and ISRC Codes (if you don’t have particular needs, leave the one generated by the system).
Finally, you just have to choose if there is explicit content (Explicit Content), select the language of the song (Audio Language) and click on the Save and Continue button first and then on the I’m Finished one .
After that, 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 the .jpg extension .
Additionally, RouteNote states that it must be relevant and professional in quality . Clearly there are some prohibited practices (for example, you can’t put your website on the cover), so I recommend that you read carefully the indications that RouteNote provides you. Once the artwork is uploaded, press the Save and Continue button .
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At this point, press 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, just tick the box under its logo.
At the bottom of the page there is also the Territories field : type ” italy “, or enter the countries in which you want to publish your works, select the result from the list that appears on the screen and press Save and Continue .
Perfect, you have now successfully configured your song. All you have to do is tick the terms and conditions box and click on Distribute Free to send your songs 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 need 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 RouteNote website (in English).
In any case, the publication times could take up to several weeks and your tracks will have to be approved , so you will have to be patient. Once you’ve submitted your music to RouteNote, I recommend logging into 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 track/album has been approved, just hover the mouse cursor over the Distribution item at the top left of the RouteNote main page and select the Discography item . Otherwise, you can just search your music on Spotify and see if everything worked out.
Perfect: if everything went right, 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 placed in the wrong generic profile ? No problem, this happens often and I’ll explain how to fix 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 writing You will need to fill out this form and complete the form that appears on the screen. In particular, you must enter your e-mail address linked to your 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 it 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 of the main page of the service) and select the item Discography . From here you will be able to see all the tracks you have released 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 you have successfully completed the form, 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, RouteNote will eventually have created a Spotify artist account for you.
If you haven’t used RouteNote as your distribution service, I recommend instead following the official Spotify guidelines (in English) or contacting the support team of the service you used to upload your music directly.
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 it and analyze its statistics, you must carry out the verification and obtain the “blue check” .
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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 true owner of the affected artist profile.
To do this, you must connect to the Spotify for Artists official website and press the CLAIM YOUR PROFILE button in the center of the page. At this point, type your stage name or paste the artist profile link and select the correct result .
Then press the purple LOG IN TO SPOTIFY button and access your personal account via Facebook or by entering your e-mail address and password . All you need is a simple free Spotify account to then associate with your artist profile . If you don’t have a profile yet, I suggest you consult my guide on how to register with Spotify.
At this point, press the NEXT button at the bottom right, enter your real name ( Full Name ) and your e-mail address in the fields provided, check the box I’m not a robot and click again on NEXT .
Once this is done, read the instructions on the screen and press the purple NEXT button located at the bottom right. You will then need to give Spotify access to at least one social profile between Twitter and Instagram . This step will help Spotify to verify that you are actually the author of the songs published on the artist profile involved. By pressing the Twitter or Instagram icon , you will be prompted to log in to your account and authorize it .
It is of fundamental importance that within the social account that you have connected there are references to your music . Indeed, remember that Spotify must verify that you really are the owner of the artist profile. In my case, posting a screenshot within the RouteNote dashboard worked.
But be careful not to show sensitive information to others . You can also think about 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 bankruptcy: the company will get back to you as soon as possible via the email address you provided and explain the problem. I therefore advise you to follow the instructions that will be provided to you by Spotify and you will see that everything will go well.
Once you get the “blue check” and receive the confirmation email , you will be able to access the Spotify for Artists website. From there you will be able to monitor all the statistics relating to your songs by simply pressing on the Audience item located at the top.
Pressing Profile instead, you can change the profile picture and the cover of your artist page. Furthermore, I point out the existence of the official 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 at your disposal to be able to kick off your career. I wish you all the best!
I want to underline that Spotify is a continuously updated platform and therefore the methods of accessing the artist profile could change according to the will of the company offering the service.