Visuals: Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down?

If you’ve ever played a song on Spotify and noticed a short, looping video where the album art used to be — you’ve met the Canvas feature. These 3- to 8-second visuals loop silently in the background, showing moody shots of artists, surreal animation, or just … abstract loops.

They’re eye-catching. They’re weird. They’re sometimes glitchy. And they raise an interesting question:

Do visuals belong in a music experience?

Music Was Always Visual

Let’s be honest — visuals have always been part of music. From vinyl covers and music videos to live stage design and band logos, we’ve never just consumed music with our ears. There’s an emotional link between what we hear and what we see.

Spotify’s Canvases, Apple Music’s full-screen lyrics, and YouTube’s autoplaying music videos are just the latest digital expressions of that age-old fusion. But they’re also different — because they live in a tiny window on your phone, looping endlessly, often with no obvious purpose.

The Good: Aesthetic Flavor

When used well, visuals can enhance the vibe of a track. A rainy, black-and-white clip for a lo-fi beat. A flashing neon loop for a dance track. A performance snippet from an artist you love.

It makes the track feel more alive — less like a file and more like a mini-art piece.

For artists, it’s a way to inject personality. You’re no longer limited to album covers. You can move. You can reinforce your brand or tell a story — even if it’s just a mood.

The Meh: Loop Fatigue

But not every artist uses visuals well. Some loops are lazy. Some are blurry. Some are just three seconds of someone staring into the camera and blinking. Over time, these can feel more like distractions than additions.

And worse — the repetition can be jarring. Unlike a music video, which evolves and unfolds, these loops stay stuck in place, cycling endlessly while the song moves forward. It’s visual stutter. And for some users, it breaks the immersion.

The Bad: UX Overload

Then there’s the question of data. Canvas videos stream from the cloud, use bandwidth, and draw power — potentially draining your battery and slowing things down if your connection isn’t strong. They’re optional (you can disable them in settings), but they’re on by default.

That UX choice matters. Not everyone wants their music player to act like TikTok Lite.

Who Is It For?

Spotify says Canvas videos boost track shares and listening time. That’s important from a platform and artist perspective. But for the listener — the average person just trying to enjoy music — the feature feels uneven.

Some users love the visual experience. Others disable it immediately. It doesn’t yet seem to be the future of music visuals — just an experimental feature with mixed reception.

Could It Be More?

Yes. If Canvas videos told stories — or synced to the lyrics — or changed dynamically over time — they might evolve into a truly immersive feature.

If artists had tools to make visuals interact with listeners (moods, likes, gestures), we might finally get the next-gen album art moment the streaming age has been missing.

Until then? It’s a bit like cilantro. You either love it or you don’t.

Thumbs up or thumbs down? That part’s up to you.