Feature to try: Spotify Clips
As we announced in our streaming round-up last March, Spotify has launched several new features, including the Spotify Clips.
During this Stream O event, Spotify also announced a new HiFi sound quality, the extension of the Radar playlist, access to the Canvas function for all artists, an opening to new markets with the addition of new languages, and the activation of the discovery mode which will give priority to releases in users’ Discover Weekly / Release Radar playlists. And above all, a new homepage with a vertical feed, its “biggest evolution to date”, to welcome these new Spotify Clips.
Why this new feature?
Every minute, a million hours of content are streamed, and in 2022 an average user viewed an average of 19 hours of online video per week. For an artist, it’s increasingly difficult to reach their audience, whether on streaming platforms or social networks, where according to Spotify, “music is not the priority”.
The opinion of our Audience Development team: “Spotify offers a feature that’s close to the habits of TikTok users, and it’s a good idea!”
What are Spotify Clips?
It’s a short video, in 9:16 (portrait layout) format, no longer than 30 seconds long. The artist can attach it to their profile, a track, an album or an upcoming release. However, these videos are only visible on the mobile app.
You can post several videos, they will remain visible on your profile until you decide to remove or replace them. These clips can also be searched for, and discovered from Album Pages and Countdown Pages.
The opinion of our Audience Development team: “Spotify Clips can be paired just before a release with Countdown Pages, which have also just arrived on the platform. This new feature promotes the release of an upcoming album using video clips, with track previews, pre-record buttons and, as the name suggests, a countdown timer. Alongside a Pre-Save campaign, this feature allows interested fans to be notified when the album is released.”
What are Spotify Clips for?
These short videos serve to create a lasting connection with fans: the artist can recount their inspiration, announce a release, dialogue with fans, invite them to participate in the creative process, all while maintaining a direct link with the music. After watching the video, fans can quickly access the music, without having to switch platforms. For Spotify, it’s all about avoiding disconnection, so the aim is to generate streams rather than visibility.
The opinion of our Audience Development team: “Be careful, 30 seconds is very short, so we recommend doing several Clips on different subjects. The temptation is to use face-cams already filmed for your followers on Instagram and Tiktok, but the ideal remains to make a clip dedicated to Spotify”.
Features Clips from our artists
Practical recommendations
The two features, Clips and Countdown Pages, are currently reserved for certain profiles only. [Update: Spotify launched its Countdown Pages for artists with over 5,000 listeners.] Clips are uploaded directly to Spotify for Artists, then a caption must be added to describe the video (and, above all, indicate whether the video contains explicit content), linked to an album or track, and a thumbnail selected.
Videos must be 9:16 and 1280 x 1080 px (vertical), in MP4 format, between 3 and 30 seconds long.
You can join our waiting list to be informed when Clips become available.