Everything you need to know about Spotify for Artists in one place — from claiming your profile to pitching playlists to reading your streaming data like a pro.
TL;DR
Spotify for Artists is more than a vanity dashboard. Proper profile optimisation, pre-release playlist pitching, and understanding your listener data can genuinely accelerate your growth. Most artists barely scratch the surface of what's available.
Claiming and Optimising Your Artist Profile
Step one is claiming your profile — head to artists.spotify.com, verify your identity, and link your distributor. This takes 24-72 hours and is completely non-negotiable if you're serious about streaming. Without a claimed profile, you can't customise your page, pitch to playlists, or access any data.
Once verified, your first job is making your profile look professional. Upload a high-quality artist image (at least 750x750 pixels), write a compelling bio that includes relevant keywords (your genre, location, influences), and add an Artist Pick — a track, album, or playlist you want to highlight at the top of your profile.
The bio is more important than you think. It shows up in Google searches, AI overviews, and voice assistant results. Include your genre, your city, and what makes you distinctive. Keep it to 2-3 paragraphs and write it in third person for press purposes.
Playlist Pitching: How to Actually Get Placed
Editorial playlist pitching through Spotify for Artists is the single most valuable tool available to independent artists on the platform. Submit your unreleased track at least 7 days before release (ideally 3-4 weeks) and Spotify's editorial team will consider it for playlists.
Your pitch needs three things: accurate genre and mood tags, a compelling description of the track's story or context, and honest information about the recording. Spotify's editors read these pitches — they're real humans making real decisions. A pitch that says 'this track explores themes of grief through a lo-fi lens, recorded in a bedroom in Manchester with my grandmother's piano' is infinitely more compelling than 'please add to a big playlist cheers.'
Success rates are low — Spotify receives hundreds of thousands of pitches — but the artists who pitch consistently, write thoughtful descriptions, and release music regularly do get placed. It's a numbers game combined with quality, and it costs nothing to play.
Reading Your Data Without Losing Your Mind
Spotify for Artists shows you listeners by city, age, gender, listening source, and playlist placement. This data is genuinely useful if you know how to act on it — and genuinely harmful if you obsess over it.
The most actionable metric is 'Listeners also like' — the artists Spotify associates with you algorithmically. If these artists match your actual peer group, your algorithmic profile is healthy and Discovery Weekly, Release Radar, and Radio will serve you well. If the associated artists seem random, your listener base might be too scattered for algorithms to categorise you.
City-level data should directly inform your touring and marketing strategy. If you're getting unexpected streams from a specific city, that's where you should book a gig, target ads, or do a listening party. The data is literally telling you where your fans are — use it.
But also: don't check your stats every day. Weekly is enough. Daily checking creates anxiety and reactive decision-making that helps nobody. Set a weekly ritual, review the data, make notes, and then close the dashboard.
Growth Strategies That Actually Work on Spotify
Release consistently. The algorithm rewards regular activity, and each release is a new opportunity for playlist placement and Discovery Weekly features. Aim for a single every 4-6 weeks if possible — quality permitting, obviously.
Pre-save campaigns matter more than you think. When fans pre-save your track, they get it delivered to their Release Radar on day one, which signals to Spotify's algorithm that the track has engaged listeners. Use your distributor's pre-save tools or a service like Feature.fm to create pre-save pages.
Collaborations expand your reach algorithmically. When you feature on another artist's track (or they feature on yours), both listener bases get exposed to new music through algorithmic recommendations. Strategic collaborations with artists in your genre but different audience pools are growth gold.
Canvas videos — the 3-8 second looping visuals that play behind your track on mobile — increase engagement by up to 145% according to Spotify's own data. Create them for every release using free tools like Canva or CapCut. They're easy to make and disproportionately effective.
The Uncomfortable Truth About Spotify Streams
We'd be doing you a disservice if we didn't address the economics. At roughly £0.003-0.005 per stream in 2025, Spotify is not going to be your primary income source unless you're hitting millions of plays. A track with 100,000 streams — which is a genuine achievement — earns you roughly £300-500.
That doesn't mean Spotify is pointless. It's a discovery platform, a credibility builder, and a data source. It's where new fans find you, where industry people check you out, and where sync supervisors browse for tracks. Its value extends far beyond the per-stream payment.
But don't build your entire career on streaming revenue. Treat Spotify as one channel in a diversified strategy that includes live performance, merchandise, sync licensing, direct-to-fan sales (Bandcamp, your own site), and brand partnerships. The artists who thrive are the ones who see streaming as a top-of-funnel discovery tool, not a business model.