Three steps to a video.
Upload your cover art
One file, straight from the browser. No account to make, nothing to install, and no payment at any point. The art you already have is the only input it needs.
Pick vinyl or crop
Your art spinning on a record at a speed you set, or a slow crop that pushes into the image. Both loop cleanly, which is what Canvas needs.
Built to the Canvas spec
Vertical 9:16, 8 seconds, silent, looping. The dimensions and length Spotify asks for, so it uploads to Spotify for Artists without complaint.
Why most artists never upload a Canvas
The blocker was never taste. It is that a 6-second loop somehow costs you a whole evening in a video editor.
The gap between wanting one and having one
Canvas is one of the few bits of free real estate Spotify gives artists. A track with a Canvas looks like a release. A track without one looks like an upload.
And yet most independent releases have no Canvas at all. Not because artists do not want one, but because the route to getting one runs through a video editor, and the whole thing is out of proportion to a six-second loop.
What the editor route actually costs
Doing it in a normal video editor means:
- Setting up a vertical composition, because editors default to landscape.
- Sourcing or making something that moves, then keyframing it so the motion is not random.
- Getting the loop to sit right so the cut back to the start is not jarring.
- Exporting, checking it on a phone, and going back in when it does not read at that size.
The fastest route: just your artwork
If all you have to hand is the cover art, that is enough. We built a free tool for exactly this job: canvasformusic.com.
Drop in your cover art and it returns an 8-second vertical loop built to the Canvas spec. Two options: your art spinning on a record, or a slow crop that pushes into the image. Silent, since Canvas plays without sound anyway. No account, no watermark, nothing to pay.
The honest limit is in how it works. It takes an image, so nothing in it reacts to anything, because there is no audio to react to. That is fine for a Canvas, where the art is the point and the loop just needs to move.
The version that takes a minute
A visualiser closes the gap because the movement comes from the track itself. Upload your audio, pick a style, trim to the few seconds you want, export vertical. The motion is already synced because it is generated from your sound.
It will not replace a filmed Canvas if you have the footage and the time. But the realistic comparison is not "generated visual versus beautiful film". It is "generated visual versus no Canvas at all", and on that comparison it wins every time.
That is what BeatVisualiser does: upload the track, and the visual is built from the audio itself. Worth it when the Canvas needs to hit in time with the music, or when you want the same visual as a full-length video for YouTube and Reels.
BeatVisualiser vs Video editor
Same output. A fraction of the time.
| Feature | BeatVisualiser | Video editor |
|---|---|---|
| Vertical 9:16 | Native | Manual crop |
| Time per Canvas | Under a minute | 20–40 minutes |
| Loops cleanly | Manual trimming | |
| Cost | Free | Subscription |
| Watermark | Never | Free tiers add one |
| Install required | None | Yes |
What is a Spotify Canvas?+
What size and length should a Canvas be?+
Is it really free?+
Can I make a Canvas without a video editor?+
Does it need my audio?+
Will it have a watermark?+
How do I upload it to Spotify?+
Your track deserves a better visual than a waveform screenshot.
Drop your audio. Have a video ready to post in under a minute.
Make your Canvas free