Spotify Canvas - DIY

By Nick Ortiz

In my latest substack post, I shared my desk job orienting me with new softwares and opportunities to design. Part of my design practice has included using Adobe Firefly to create some spotify Canvases for my first album. While I didn't need it to be anything too complex, I wanted to play with seeing how easy it was to create. You can check out the canvases here. I used a combination of Firefly stock footage (open licensed, not AI-generated slop), color grading, and text shapes to make these canvases. I'm hoping with some time, I can come up with a more complex product for my upcoming album. While I'm no pro at design, I'm proud I was able to DIY something that looks good and fits my aesthetic for that album.

A couple quick answers for those wanting to create their own:

Do I have to have the canvas ready at upload?

No! My first album came out a couple of years ago, and as long as you have access to your Spotify Artist account, you can upload or edit those whenever you choose (this is especially beneficial to artists want to plug tour schedules into their music.

Are ther any technical things to keep in mind?

If you check out the specs from Spotify for Aritsts, your canvas has to have a 9:16 Vertical Aspect Ratio, ideally be 720x1080 or 1080x1920 resolution. With those in mind, you have 3-8 seconds to create something that visually accompanies your music. I've seen a variety of content "policies" about what can and can't be on canvases, but some of the artists I follow clearly are not adhering to those rules, so have fun with it!

Is it hard to create?

That's up to you! Most modern video editing applications allow templates that are perfect for Spotify Canvas creation. Some great free options are Clipchamp, iMovie, Canva, Adobe Firefly. How much control you want is what will define the effort/learning curve. If you want something really out there with lots of moving parts, this might be best left in the hands of a pro (hire your designer friends, its cool). 

This post was made to show you that someone with a fair amount of video editing experience (with no academic background in film) was able to make something in a few hours.