Spotify Canvas video loops ‘boost engagement’

Canvas was launched last year after Spotify acquired music production company SoundBetter. Instead of static images, the tool allows album artwork to appear in the app on the Now Playing screen as an eight-second moving visual experience in a loop. The service is similar to Fiverr, a marketplace where you can pay artists to create short video loops.

The streaming service says songs with a Canvas are 20% more likely to be added to users’ playlists compared to tracks without a Canvas background. Users are also 145% more probable to share the songs on social media and 5% more likely to keep streaming the track if it has a video loop.

Additionally, the service boosts artist retention, with 9% more users expected to visit a Spotify artist page from a track featuring Spotify video loops.

The Canvas creation process entails selecting a designer and sharing details on the sonics of the song and its creative vision. The designer then takes the details and creates a custom Canvas according to the needs.

How to create a Spotify Canvas video loop

• Log into Spotify for Artists.
• Select Music.
• Choose a song and click Add Canvas.
• Click the ‘+’ sign then upload your file.
• Spotify Canvas will appear within one hour.

Canvas length should be 3 to 8 seconds, ratio (9:16 height and at least 720 pixels), and format (MP4 or JPG only). Spotify will let you review the Canvas before it goes live. Users should aim to make the content visually appealing. The tool could become an important part of an artists’ promotion strategies on the platform.

The video loops feature is now available in a number of countries, except Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Oman, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, the United Arab Emirates and India.