Recently, Spotify announced that it would be introducing a Stories feature.
In addition to the Stories feature that is being tested by influencers, the music streaming platform has also announced it will also allow artists to reach their Instagram bases in a new way. However, they aren’t creating Spotify Stories they can market on their social media, they will be able to share unique video art from Spotify’s Canvas feature directly onto their Instagram.
Canvas launched into beta last fall, allowing artists to replace the album art that appears when a song is playing with a moving, visual experience that plays in a short loop, according to TechCrunch.
Canvas videos have had mixed reviews, as some users find the imagery distracting while others seem to prefer it.
Each track that included a Canvas will have a “share” icon next to it and by tapping the icon, artists can share the song as well as its Canvas onto their Instagram Stories. Originally the post will look like a regular Spotify share with cover art and a link to play the track on Spotify; however, now the artist’s looping video will be the backdrop of the cover.
The Canvas beta is only available to Spotify for Artists app on IOS, for now. Spotify says it is working to bring the sharing feature to Android users soon, according to TechCrunch.
Along with fans seeing the Canvas on Instagram these are not counted in the Canvas metrics unless users click on the link and are moved to Spotify, says Spotify.
This feature is meant to help artists who are currently marketing their new songs to fans on Instagram as well as highlight the new updates to Canvas – like the features that are updated to include clips from a music video, art or live performances.
Spotify claims that adding a high-quality Canvas has increased track shares by up to 200%, in addition to lifting streams, saves and artist profile visits. By expanding Canvas to Instagram, those shares should bump up even higher, the company says.
Billie Eilish is takin advantage of Canvas as she has used Canvas to share animated versions of fan art which has helped her engage better with her fan base.
Despite the fact that Spotify has been introducing social media-inspired features, such as Stories and looping videos, Spotify does not intend to become a new social media platform. It is simply focus on building features that its artists ad listeners can use in order to create better connections with social media fan bases everywhere.
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