Spotify in Nigeria: How Local Artists Are Finding Megaphone for Their Work
Source: UGC
BACKGROUND
Africa is one of the fastest growing music markets in the world and now, more than ever, African genres of music have become more popular and accepted globally. This comes as no surprise when you consider the region’s wealth of music genres and sounds. Genres like Afropop, Afrobeats, Gengetone, Amapiano, and more, are influencing the sounds of artists who are taking the world by storm.
Last year, Spotify announced its expansion into Nigeria among more than 80 new international markets. The West African country is a key market for Spotify as it’s quickly becoming Africa’s biggest success story in the music space. Its Afrobeats continues to attract global attention and fans.
Spotify’s presence in Nigeria over the past year has seen Nigerians go on a journey of discovery. Local artists are finding a megaphone for their work, and Nigerians have become familiar with the Spotify platform while broadening their tastes.
Source: UGC
INTERESTING FACTS
Data released by Spotify at its first anniversary in Nigeria revealed that the average number of artists streamed per user locally has grown by 60%, Nigerian music fans have created 1.3 million user-generated playlists, and 20,935 songs were added to the Spotify platform by creators, since market entry. This places Nigeria as the country with the second most streams after Pakistan, with Kenya ranking third.
Artists like Ckay, WizKid, Burna Boy, Tems and Mr Eazi rank amongst the top 5 exported local artists from Nigeria on Spotify. Data also revealed that of the top 10 exported songs from Nigeria, nine are collaborations between local and international hitmakers— proof that Nigerian music is attracting worldwide attention and popularity.
Spotify data on local genres being exported across the globe reveals that 30% of the Nigerian Alte genre is being streamed in the US, with a growth of more than 200% over the past year. Additionally, over 40% of the Afropop from Nigeria is streamed in the US, UK and France.
The streaming app helps make it easier to discover new music and podcasts through a truly personalised experience. Spotify has uncovered, managed and shared over 82 million tracks for listeners for free or via upgrading to Spotify Premium.
Source: UGC
SUPPORTING THE NIGERIAN MUSIC INDUSTRY
Spotify is set up to unlock the potential of human creativity and change the way the industry connects with music fans. Below are some of the tools Spotify leverages to help artists and their teams get the most out of the platform.
● SPOTIFY FOR ARTISTS
Spotify for Artists is a powerful free tool that helps artists and managers to build their presence on the platform, and have access to data on how their music is travelling and being consumed. The tool tracks music performance in real time and allows artists to learn and analyse how fans discover and interact with their music, which is a key to stepping up their merch game.
Artists can get access to Spotify for Artists by visiting the website - https://artists.spotify.com/claim to set up and subsequently manage their profile.
● EQUAL MUSIC PROGRAMME
In March 2021, Spotify unveiled the EQUAL hub — the most recent commitment to fostering equity for women in music globally. Spotify has since taken that promise one step further with the launch of the EQUAL Global Music Program. So far, African artists like Ayra Starr, Asa, FAVE, and DBN Gogo have been announced as EQUAL artists.
● RADAR
In March 2020, the programme was launched to give emerging artists the chance to have the promotional support of established artists, both on and off the Spotify platform. This includes providing artists with the resources and access to integral marketing opportunities that will catapult them to the next phase of their career.
The RADAR: Africa playlist highlights music from new African artists and their latest releases. It serves as a content hub for the must-know tracks and artists across a spectrum of genres from the African continent and African diaspora.
● AFRICAN HEAT PLAYLISTS
The African Heat playlists is one of the brand’s flagship curated playlists dedicated to supporting African creators. Spotify continues to leverage the African Heat playlist to further drive visibility and discoverability on a global level for creators, both on and off platforms.
● FRESH FINDS AFRICA
The Fresh Finds Africa is our new programme designed for independent artists and it is designed to spotlight and develop emerging independent artists from across the continent. The goal of the programme is to foster Spotify’s commitment to independent artists by helping them learn, collaborate, and grow with Spotify hands-on marketing and educational approach. The programme is positioned as a go-to editorial launch-pad for up-and-coming artists, as well as for the fans that yearn to discover them, and the tastemakers in the industry looking for the next big thing.
About Spotify
Spotify transformed music listening forever when it launched in 2008. Discover, manage and share over 82 million tracks, including more than 3.6 million podcast titles, for free, or upgrade to Spotify Premium to access exclusive features for music including improved sound quality and an on-demand, online, and ad-free music listening experience. Today, Spotify is the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service with 406m users, including 180m subscribers, across 184 markets.
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Source: Legit.ng
