Creative Ways To Use Spotify Canvas

Spotify’s Canvases are an ever-evolving marketing tool that we know and love. This week, we’re taking a look at why the short visual accompaniments matter and some examples of how artists and their labels have used them to craft effective campaigns.

Why They're Important

According to Spotify, when users can see a Canvas, they are 5% more likely to keep streaming, 145% more likely to share the track, 20% more likely to add it to their playlists, 1.4% more likely to save it and 9% more likely to visit your artist page. So it’s no surprise that artists and their labels are getting creative with their use of Canvas.

Who Did It Best

Sam Smith and their team marked a digital first with their use of Canvas and augmented reality during the ‘Diamonds’ single release campaign. Inside the ‘Diamonds’ Canvas, listeners can find a QR code, which when scanned, sends them to a dancing, AR hologram of the UK superstar. Talk about high tech!

To celebrate the first anniversary of her album ‘Future Nostalgia’, Dua Lipa sent her fans on a treasure hunt, awarding winners with prizes like access to her Studio 2054 livestream. On the fourth day of the album’s ‘birthday week’, Dua directed fans to the album’s Spotify Canvas videos. By combing through her release, fans could find clues to help them complete the treasure hunt’s task of piecing together a URL, which would lead them to the competition’s prizes, all while contributing to the album's streams.

Ahead of the release of Biffy Clyro’s ‘A Celebration of Endings’ album, their team committed to a Pantone colour block motif, which tied in with the paint stroke featured on the album’s art. On Spotify, the band’s Canvases were splashed with paint strokes. At the same time, fans were sent physical Pantone postcards and Pantone images overtook the band's Instagram page.

The week before release, Biffy Clyro even uploaded a mini-mix of each of their album tracks under the pseudonym Cliffy Byro. The pseudonym was spelt out across the Canvases of first 10 tracks on the 'Complete Biffy Clyro' playlist on Spotify, creating a puzzle for fans to unlock. They also ran a ‘Spotify Canvas Of The Day’ competition, with winning submissions being featured on the band’s Spotify Canvas.

To promote their album ‘Notes On A Conditional Form’, The 1975’s entire Spotify catalogue received daily Canvas updates, which matched the creative found on their website. The creative included an internet stock video of nature, which became distorted as users moved their mouse over it. Each day brought a new video and further distortion, a metaphor for the impact of human being’s interaction with nature.

Whether you’re treating your audience to a fresh new asset, teasing new music or encouraging fan engagement, Spotify Canvases can become so much more than a visual accompaniment to your next release. It’s worth brainstorming how you can use them to amplify your releases, both new and old.

---

---

Related Articles

---