Bring your vision to life. Motion artwork lets you creatively express your music’s tone and atmosphere. It’s a chance to attract and immerse your audience in a world that feels true to your sound—one that moves, evolves, and deepens the listening experience.
These guidelines outline how to create Artist Page motion artwork for Apple Music and formatting requirements to ensure your work looks and performs its best across the product experience.
Artist Page Motion Art versus Artist Image
The Artist Page motion art is not the same as your Artist Image on Apple Music for Artists. The Artist Image will still appear in many placements across Apple Music, the iTunes Store, and Shazam in all countries where that content is available.
Some examples where the Artist Image will continue to appear include:
As a thumbnail image in “Search”
Within an “Essentials” cover
Within a “Influences” cover
Within an “Inspired by” cover
Within a “Songwriters” cover
Artwork Policies
Adhering to the guidelines ensures a smooth review process and the highest quality presentation for your work. Please be aware that Apple may reject or remove artwork that does not adhere to our policies. Artwork that doesn’t meet the formatting or technical specs will be rejected with an opportunity for resubmission.
Things to keep in mind:
Make it intentional. Blurry, misaligned, pixelated, or poor quality imagery that are clearly not part of a visual style or creative direction may be rejected.
Fill the entire template with art. Whether you’re using photos, illustrations, or other graphics, make sure they’re high resolution and fill the entire template. Refrain from designing artwork that mimics the Apple Music app interface.
Don't add marketing or promotional content. Your artwork may be rejected if it includes promotional copy, tour dates, or other ad-like material.
Start frame. The first frame of your Artist Page motion should work as a composed static frame. For example, in situations when media is slow to load, or someone takes a screenshot, your Artist Page motion should still offer a good representation of the artist. Starting on a solid color, black, or an otherwise vague visual could be rejected.
For more information on Apple artwork guidelines, including general guidance for content delivery, review the Apple Music Style Guide.
Required Deliverables
Artwork Specifications
If you’ve been asked to provide Artist Page motion artwork, download our templates and follow the guidelines to create your deliverables and provide them to Apple. Artwork must be delivered to these technical specifications.
Ensure your artwork adheres to these specification requirements:
Container format is .mp4.
Bitrate is set to 45 Mbps.
Pixel aspect ratio of all assets is 1:1 (square pixels).
Frame rates supported for all assets are 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, or 30 fps.
Color Profile should be set to Rec709 or sRGB.
Deliver without an audio track
Deselect the Export Audio checkbox. This will change your Preset to Custom and can be submitted.
Motion Template Guidelines
Understand template behavior to inform design decisions
Our templates have been designed to fit the varying formats of our device sizes. Understanding the cropping behavior of the motion templates can inform how you design your artwork.
Motion Artist Square 1x1 for iPhone
Motion Artist Wide 16x9 for iPad and Mac
Motion Artist Fullscreen 16x9 for Apple TVs
Motion Output Settings
You must deliver motion artwork without an audio track. Disable any blank audio track settings upon output.
Double-Check Motion Asset Render Settings
To ensure correct output settings, we highly recommend to match these settings when using After Effects, Premiere, or Media Encoder.
After Effects Settings
Step 1. Select Format: H.264
Step 2. Select Audio Output: OFF
Step 3. Click into Format Options button
Step 4. Set Target Bitrate (Mbps) to 45. Set Maximum Bitrate (Mbps) to 45.
Premiere or Media Encoder Settings
Step 1. Select Format: H.264
Step 2. Select Preset: Match Source - Adaptive Medium Bitrate
Step 3. Deselect the Export Audio checkbox.
Download Templates
All artwork must be delivered to the technical specifications provided in this toolkit:
Your Artist Page motion deliveries must adhere to the standards listed in this guide. Your artwork may be rejected for the following reasons listed below:
1.1 Missing Assets. A 16:9 and 1:1 asset need to be submitted in order to be approved.
1.2 Resolution. All assets need to be submitted in the correct resolution. These are:
1.3 Codec. The submitted files need to be rendered as H.264 or Apple ProRes 4444 which will play in high quality on the device. See Motion Output Settings for more details.
1.4 Audio Channel. An audio channel, even a blank audio channel will cause the video to “pop” when played back on the device. When exporting, please turn off options for Audio Export. View instructions for turning off audio when exporting/rendering.
1.5 Full Frame. Make artwork full frame. Fill the entire template with art.
1.7 Duration. Artist Page animation must be between 8 to 75 seconds of original footage.
1.13 Drop Frame. Artist Page animation that contains a drop frame appears in the motion as a black flash (empty frame) or a series of black empty frames.
1.14 Flash Frame. A flash frame appears in the motion as a frame of solid color or a series of flash frames. Remove frame/s.
1.15 Frenetic Flashing. Motion cover art that flashes and/or flickers heavily can cause discomfort to some users. Remove the flashing and/or flickering.
1.16 Offensive Imagery. Do not include imagery or themes that are illegal or inappropriate for all countries/regions, or that encourage unlawful content, or are otherwise obscene, objectionable, or in poor taste.
1.18 Other.
Advertisements. Video should not contain any promotional content.
