Someone hears your song in a playlist, taps your name and lands on your Spotify profile. You have a few seconds to make them stay, follow or play one more track. Most artists get access to Spotify for Artists and stop there. This is how to set up your Spotify profile properly, in the order that matters.
Before you start: what you can and can't change
You need access to your profile in Spotify for Artists, which becomes possible once your first release is live. You can edit the profile from the desktop dashboard or the mobile app. The desktop version is easier for images.
Some things don't come from the dashboard at all. Your artist name, release titles, covers and credits come from the metadata your distributor delivered. If the name is wrong or you want to change it, that goes through your distributor, not through Spotify for Artists.
Everything else, the way the profile looks and what it says about you, is yours to manage.
Profile photo and header image
These two images do most of the work, and they work at very different sizes.
The profile photo appears as a small circle: in search results, next to your songs, in the credits and in "Fans also like". At that size only simple images work. Use a close-up of your face or one clear logo, a plain background and good light. Keep the subject in the centre, because the corners get cut off.
The header image is the wide picture at the top of your profile. On phones, your name and monthly listeners sit on top of it, and phones and computers crop it differently. Keep the important part in the middle, leave calm space where your name appears, and don't put text in the image. Spotify shows its current size and format guidance in the upload screen. Check it there rather than trusting an old blog post, because it changes.
A few rules for both:
- Don't stretch your cover art to fill the header. Covers are square and look blurry when enlarged.
- Use photos you have the right to use, and agree with the photographer how the pictures may be used.
- Use the same photo set on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and Instagram for a while. Recognition grows from repetition.
- Change the images when you start a new era or a bigger release, not every week.
The About section: bio, gallery and links
Tapping your profile's About section opens a page with your bio, a gallery of photos, your monthly listeners and the cities where people listen most. The numbers appear automatically. The rest is up to you.
For the gallery, choose several photos that show different sides: a portrait, a live shot, a studio moment. Don't repeat the header image. A gallery of five strong photos beats fifteen similar selfies.
Add links to your active social accounts, such as Instagram. Leave out anything you no longer update. A link to an empty page does more harm than no link.
Writing a short Spotify bio
The bio field has a character limit, and the editor shows how much space is left. Most people read only the first two lines anyway, so that is where the important part goes.
A simple structure:
- Who you are and how you sound. "Lalə Nova is a Baku singer who mixes Azerbaijani folk melodies with soft electronic pop."
- One or two concrete facts. The latest release, a notable collaboration, something people remember.
- Optional: what comes next. A new single, a tour, an album in progress.
First person or third person both work. Choose one and keep it. If your listeners are spread across several countries, look at your audience data and write in the language of your biggest audience, often English. Avoid lists of every gig you played, words like "talented" and "unique", lyrics quoted in full and web addresses, which won't be clickable. Update the bio every few releases so it never mentions a "new single" from two years ago.
Artist Pick for every release
Artist Pick is the item pinned at the top of your profile: a release, a playlist or a concert, with an optional short message and image. It is the first thing a curious visitor sees.
Make it part of every release day:
- Set the new single as your Artist Pick on the day it comes out.
- Write one plain sentence, for example "A song written on a night train from Ganja". Skip "out now everywhere, stream it".
- Choose an image from the photo shoot rather than the cover, so the pick looks different from the release itself.
- Check how long the pick will stay up and set the date you want, so it doesn't end without you noticing.
Between releases, pin a playlist of your own songs, a live date or a collaboration. An old single pinned for six months tells visitors nothing is happening.
A ten-minute check before each release
- Does the profile photo still look like you now?
- Does the header fit the release you are about to put out?
- Does the bio mention the latest music?
- Is the Artist Pick ready for release day?
- Do the social links still work?
- Open the profile on a phone from a friend's account and look at it as a listener would.
Once this is set up, keeping it fresh takes a few minutes per release. A profile that looks cared for is a small but real reason for a new listener to press follow.