The feature, which Spotify says is one of the “most anticipated” among its users, will be available to all Premium users in both countries by the end of December, Spotify confirmed in an emailed statement to MBW.
Premium subscribers in the US and Canada will have access to a “limited catalog” of official music videos, along with “new video formats” including live performances and cover versions.
With this rollout, Spotify said that Premium users in the US and Canada will have access to music videos from artists like Ariana Grande, Olivia Dean, BABYMONSTER, Addison Rae, Tyler Childers, Natanael Cano, and Carín León.
The streaming giant has offered music videos in beta since March 2024, when it introduced the product across 11markets, excluding North America. The company expanded the test to 85additionalcountries in October 2024.
Commenting on the expansion, Charlie Hellman, Head of Music at Spotify, said: “Music videos are often the moment when an artist’s world really clicks for a listener — when the song and the visuals come together and turn a stream into fandom.”
“By bringing official music videos to Premium listeners in the US and Canada, we’re bringing a richer discovery experience to fans, and providing additional revenue for publishers and songwriters.”
CharlieHellman, Spotify
He added: “By bringing official music videos to Premium listeners in the US and Canada, we’re bringing a richer discovery experience to fans, and providing additional revenue for publishers and songwriters.”
The expansion follows Spotify’s licensing deals signed with all three major music companies this year: Universal Music Group, Sony Music, and Warner Music Group, which included direct publishing deals for the US. Each of the press releases announcing those deals referenced audio-visual content.
BMG and Kobalt also struck direct deals with Spotify in the US this year, with the announcement for the latter agreement pointing to “a licensing framework to enable new formats, innovations, and potential to connect creators and fans alike”.
Last month, Spotify and the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA)struck a deal that sees the launch of a new Opt-In Portal for NMPA members to “enter into a direct license agreement for expanded audiovisual rights in the US”.
The move marks Spotify’s first major market launch outside the beta phase and positions the company against YouTube, which dominates music video streaming globally.
According to figures Spotify released in October last year, users who discover a song and then watch its video are 34% more likely to stream that track again the following week compared to those who only listen to the audio. Songs found through music videos are 24% more likely to be streamed or shared within seven days, the company said.
Spotify began beta testing in March 2024 with “a limited catalog of music videos” across select international markets. At that time, the company said it would gather feedback from both users and artists. Following the October 2024 expansion to 85 markets, Spotify had said that it “look[s] forward to bringing it to even more users across more markets, including the US, in the future.”
The US and Canadian launch fulfill that plan.
The feature is now available exclusively to Premium subscribers who pay $11.99 per month in the US and CAD $12.69 per month in Canada. Two weeks ago, the Financial Times reported, citing three people familiar with the matter, that Spotify plans to raise its Premium prices in the US as soon as the first quarter of 2026.
The full release of Spotify’s music video feature follows the launch of its ‘Clips‘feature in 2024, which are brief videos under 30 seconds long that allow artists to engage with their audience and promote their music. The videos resemble the format available on TikTok and YouTube’s Shorts.
In June of this year, Spotify partnered with indie music distribution platform DistroKid to allow artists to upload music videos to Spotify via the USD $99-per-year DistroVid service. The videos can only be viewed in markets where Spotify rolled out its music video feature, the companies said at the time.
Spotify also offers full-length podcast videos, reporting that more than 500,000 video podcasts are available on its platform. During an earnings call last month, Spotify Chief Business Officer and Co-President Alex Norström said: “In podcasts, more than 390 million users have streamed the video podcast on Spotify.”
“That’s a 54% increase year-over-year. We now have almost 500,000 video podcast shows on our platform. Time spent with video content has more than doubled year-over-year, driven mostly by video podcast. And this consumption has increased by more than 80% since the launch of the Spotify Partner Program or SPP.”
To further bolster its video strategy, Spotify in October signed a partnership with Netflix. As part of the deal, Netflix will start streaming video podcasts from Spotify Studios and The Ringer in early 2026 before expanding to more markets.
Lauren Smith, Netflix VP of Content Licensing and Programming Strategy, said at the time: “Our partnership with Spotify allows us to bring full video versions of these top shows to both Netflix and Spotify audiences.”
