By Tribune Online

Spotify’s presence  in Nigeria over the past year has seen Nigerians go on a journey of discovery. Local artistes are finding a megaphone for their work, and Nigerians have become familiar with the Spotify platform while broadening their tastes. Data released by Spotify at its first anniversary in Nigeria revealed that the average number of artistes streamed per user locally has grown by 60 per cent, 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 five exported local artistes 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 percent of the Nigerian Alte genre is being streamed in the US, with a growth of more than 200 per cent over the past year. Additionally, over 40 percent 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.

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 artistes and their teams get the most out of the platform.

• Spotify For Artistes

Spotify for Artistes 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 artistes to learn and analyse how fans discover and interact with their music, which is a key to stepping up their merch game.

Artistes 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 artistes like Ayra Starr, Asa, FAVE, and DBN Gogo have been announced as EQUAL artistes.

• Radar

In March 2020, the programme was launched to give emerging artistes the chance to have the promotional support of established artistes, both on and off the Spotify platform. This includes providing artistes 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 artistes and their latest releases. It serves as a content hub for the must-know tracks and artistes 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 artistes 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 artistes, as well as for the fans that yearn to discover them, and the taste makers in the industry looking for the next big thing.

Originally published at Nigerian Tribune