Releasing music to Spotify for the first time can be confusing — especially when you don’t yet have an Artist page that’s easy to find. In this guide, I’ll show you how to claim your Spotify for Artists profile before your first release goes live, so you can pitch your track to Spotify editorial playlists and get your launch set up properly.
This walkthrough is based on my own experience claiming a brand new artist profile using DistroKid, but the same general process applies to most distributors.
🎥 Watch the step-by-step video
Why You Should Claim Your Spotify for Artists Profile
Spotify is one of the biggest streaming platforms, and getting your music in front of listeners often comes down to visibility — and playlists are a big part of that.
Claiming your Spotify for Artists profile lets you:
- Pitch upcoming releases to Spotify playlists (Spotify’s editorial pitching tool)
- Update your artist image, bio, and links
- Access listener and streaming analytics
- Manage your verified artist presence on Spotify
If you want the best chance of momentum on release day, claiming your profile early is one of the most important steps.
Claim Your Profile Before Release Day (Important Timing Tip)
If you’re releasing music under a brand new artist name, it’s harder to find your Spotify profile because Spotify hasn’t fully “surfaced” it yet.
Here’s the key timing advice from the video:
- Upload your release to your distributor first (DistroKid or whichever you use).
- Set the release date at least 4 weeks in the future.
That buffer gives you time to:
- wait for Spotify to generate your artist page behind the scenes
- claim your profile
- and submit a playlist pitch before the track is live
I can personally recommend Distrokid for getting your music out to streaming services. If you’d like to sign up for Distrokid and get a 7% discount please use my personal link as this really helps me out too!
How to Claim Spotify for Artists Before Your First Release
Below are the same steps I used in the video, written out clearly.
Step 1: Check if Your Distributor Has Already Found Your Spotify Profile
In DistroKid, the first thing to do is check whether they’ve already detected your Spotify for Artists page.
- Go to DistroKid
- Find the Special Access area (this used to be under “Goodies”)
If DistroKid hasn’t found anything yet, you may see a message saying something like:
- nothing is live on Spotify yet
- your profile hasn’t been detected
- check back later
If it’s been over a week since you uploaded and you’re still seeing that message, you’ll likely need to claim it manually using your Spotify Artist URI (next steps below).
Update (June 2023): DistroKid changed some menus. The old “Goodies” menu is now the icon with four squares. You can still find Special Access there and check whether DistroKid has detected your Spotify profile.
Step 2: Go to Spotify for Artists (And Find the “Add Team” Area)
Next, head to Spotify for Artists.
If you haven’t used it before, you’ll need to create an account and log in.
Here’s the confusing bit: on the home screen, it’s not always obvious where to claim a profile (this is exactly why I made the video).
What you need is the option to add an artist team:
- Open the left-side menu
- Look for Your teams
- Choose Add team (or similar wording)
Spotify will ask you for an identifier — and that’s where the URI comes in.
Step 3: Find Your Spotify Artist URI (Using DistroKid)
Spotify for Artists often tells you to contact your distributor for the URI. In my case, that was DistroKid.
In DistroKid, look for the tool that finds your Spotify URI — it’s typically called something like:
- Spotify URI Lookup
- URI Looker Upper
- or similar
When you open it, you may initially see a status like:
- “Looking it up — check back tomorrow”
In my experience, it took around 24 hours (just under) for DistroKid to generate the URI.
Once ready, DistroKid will show separate URIs for:
- the album
- the track
- the artist
You need the Artist URI.
Step 4: Paste the Artist URI into Spotify for Artists and Submit Your Claim
Now go back to Spotify for Artists:
- Go to Add team
- Paste in the Artist URI
- Spotify should find your artist profile straight away
- Complete the form and submit your request
Once approved, your profile will be claimed — and you’ll be able to pitch your unreleased track to Spotify playlists inside Spotify for Artists.
Troubleshooting Tips
If you get stuck, these are the common issues:
- No URI yet: wait a full 24 hours after requesting the URI lookup in your distributor
- DistroKid still can’t detect the profile: try again once Spotify has processed the release further (especially if you uploaded very recently)
- Can’t find “Add team”: look under Your teams in Spotify for Artists (it’s not always prominent on the homepage)
Final Thoughts
If you’re releasing music for the first time (or launching a new artist project), this process can feel weirdly difficult — mainly because your Spotify profile exists “in the system” before it becomes easy to find publicly.
The big takeaway is this:
Upload your release early, set a future release date, get your Artist URI, then claim your profile before release day.
If the video helped, feel free to leave a comment on YouTube — and if you’ve found an easier method, I’d love to hear it.
Remeber, If you’d like to sign up for Distrokid and get a 7% discount please use my personal link as this really helps me out too!
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