Let's talk about how to upload your music on Spotify and share your work with people all over the world.
The idea might seem difficult at first since Spotify is such an enormous platform and plays host to the biggest names in music, both dead and alive, but actually, it's a lot easier than you might think.
Right at the top, we'll say that the number one most important step here is to sign up for a music distribution service. We'll talk about these in more detail further down, but that's the big takeaway here.
Without one of these services, you're going to need to be signed to a record label to get distribution on Spotify.
Outside of that, we'll also be discussing how to get your music ready to upload and how you can improve your presence on Spotify in other ways.
Spotify is a digital streaming service, so you'd better bet that you'll need to have high-quality digital files of all the music that you want to upload.
Acceptable file types vary based on the distribution service you'll be using, but as a rule of thumb, aim to have either .wav files of all your music or even lossless .flac files. Don't worry, basically every DAW in existence can export music in these file types.
You also need to have your tracks normalized. If you don't already know what this means, go ahead and click the link in the previous sentence to get a basic rundown.
In the end, normalization is about having your music at the same volume level as other contemporary music.
That way, when someone listens to your music on Spotify, it won't be a lot quieter than the previous track.
This is also the time when you'll want to sort out the order of tracks. In fact, this is a great time to figure out whether you'll want to upload multiple albums' worth of music to Spotify when you're ready or just a few tracks to start out.
You'll also have the opportunity to upload singles: one or two tracks that you want to be kept together. These should also be stand-out tracks that are really going to grab the attention of the listener.
Ask yourself how different songs flow together and how many tracks you want to be included in a single album.
Of course, if you just want to post all the music you have right away, then you can always create one giant album. After all, since it's all digital, there's no real limit on the runtime of an album.
Cover art has always been important in the music world, well, at least for the last 100 years or so. But it's all the more important on Spotify and other digital streaming services.
In a lot of cases, potential listeners are going to be seeing your album art before they actually hear any of your music. Just ask yourself how many times you've listened to some new music just because you liked the album art.
Now, you don't need to rely on your own graphic design skills here, either. You can definitely enlist the help of a friend who's great with visuals or hire a professional photographer or graphic designer.
Yes, it can get pricey to hire some help with this part of the process, but believe us, album art is not a place to skimp out.
As for the file itself, 3,000 x 3,000 pixels are the recommended dimensions for album art that you'd like to upload.
Just have the file ready when you're actually uploading your music, which (gasp!) is the next step, at long last.
As we already mentioned, uploading music to Spotify, for most people, means signing up for a digital music distribution service.
These services do exactly what you'd think: they put your music on all kinds of different streaming platforms after you've paid them a subscription fee.
They also serve as your way of getting paid out for any purchases or listens on these platforms. Even better, they make the uploading process very easy, even for first-timers.
There are slight differences between the different services in terms of the specific steps to upload, so we can't provide all those steps here.
But in general, try to follow the steps carefully and take note if the site gives you an error message.
At this point, you'll probably be excited to finally get your music uploaded to Spotify, but don't rush things.
There are a lot of different things to take care of here, not the least of which is the credit for each song, the name of your 'record label,' and whether each song contains explicit lyrics.
If you get some of these details wrong, it could be bad news, maybe even resulting in your music getting pulled from a platform or not making it onto that platform in the first place.
If album art is the most important visual/aesthetic element of your digital music presence, then your Spotify page is the second most important in this department.
Once your music is on the platform, you'll be able to claim your artist page and link it to your existing Spotify account using Spotify for Artists.
Here, you can upload a cover photo that will be displayed at the top of your artist page, as well as a profile photo that will appear next to album pages elsewhere on Spotify.
This is also where you can edit your artist bio, and don't skip this step. Your bio is a great chance to tell listeners more about yourself and your work.
If you want to remain dark and mysterious, that's your right, and if you want to be upfront about all your musical projects and your personal history, go for it.
This is your chance to solidify your brand. Make it whatever you want, as long as the vision is strong.
