The Key to unlocking your brand with Spotify. Why you need to create assets.

According to IFPI’s global music report in 2023 streaming made up 67% of all recorded music revenue. 10% of Kendrick Lamar’s GNX album sales came from pure sales while 90% came from streaming.

Streaming is the most important way to reach your audience in the digital age, so why not make it the best experience possible for your fanbase? New music is discovered primarily through streaming services, and social media, the best way to get the most out of both is to create concise branding between your music, streaming assets, and social media. No one will listen to your music if they've never seen you. Increase your visibility with assets for streaming platforms.

Why assets are important

Creating assets for streaming platforms ties into developing a brand (I’ll talk about branding more in a later article). They help you keep branding consistent from platform to platform which leads to people remembering you and your music more. The first thing someone should see when they look at your Spotify page is something that grabs their attention and shows who you are. Show them what they're going to expect from your music with assets. Your assets can be dynamic as well, you can create new assets for specific release campaigns or moments. With every single step of their experience make them remember you through that visual identity. Take that brand you created and apply it to these platforms as you would your social media.

The Assets

I'm going to focus on Spotify since it has the biggest user base out of any streaming platform and the most potential for branding and asset usage. For example, all you can do with Apple Music is change your artist image, and the branding is more text forward. Either way, you should create versions of each asset to fit the guidelines of all the platforms you want to have your music on when needed.

The main assets you can have on Spotify are your avatar image, header image, and image gallery. All of these represent your artist profile. Here is more on each of those:

Avatar Image:

Your avatar image is an image of you or your band. It's what people see before clicking on your profile and an easy way to make people recognize you. Also keep in mind that Spotify has a thing called promo cards which is a marketing tool in which you can share a song, album, or artist profile. You or your fans can make the promo card and it shows your Avatar image as its main draw.

Header Image:

Your header Image is the most important image on your artist profile. It's the biggest image and the first thing you see when someone is on your profile. This is where you need to really showcase your brand as the header is the cornerstone of your Spotify page. The goal of the header image is to get people to understand what your music is and who you are as an artist. Make them care about your art.

Image Gallery:

The image gallery is in your About section at the bottom of your artist profile. It's attached to your bio and can have up to 125 images so you can treat it like an IG carousel. It's the least important but it's still a great opportunity to showcase images that are a part of your brand or rollout. For example, I would throw some behind the scenes photos of your latest release or just some photos showcasing more of your personality.

What to do now

Go to this page to see the guidelines for assets on Spotify and don't forget to check the guidelines on any other platforms you want to utilize.

Don't slack on your branding it’s one of the most important parts of being a successful artist and I hope this got you to think about how to leverage your brand on streaming platforms moving forward. Subscribe to my newsletter below for new blog posts and other updates!