In 2025, Spotify’sEQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA+, and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking records to reaching new audiences, these voices stood tall, unstoppable in their creativity and their connection with fans everywhere.
As we look back on an incredible year of music and discovery, we’re spotlighting these three global programs: GLOW, our year-round initiative amplifying LGBTQIA+ voices; RADAR, our program for the world’s next-up talent; and EQUAL, our commitment to advancing equity for women in music. Together, these programs lift artists on- and off-platform through editorial, marketing, and community partnerships, locally and globally.
“EQUAL and GLOW are grounded in the daily support we give our ambassadors through editorial and marketing, but this year we also created powerful real-world moments for these communities across the globe,” said Bel Aztiria, Lead, Social and Equity Music Programs at Spotify. “From EQUAL Day in Mexico to Pride in Stockholm, the CCMAs, songwriter mixers for the queer community, and the EQUAL Festival in Paris, we showed up in ways that truly matter. We believe in carrying our mission both on-platform and off, and in building spaces where all artists can thrive.”
Whether streamed, listened to abroad, or first discovered, EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR artists connected everywhere, and fans kept coming back. Below, meet the artists who defined 2025 across each program.
2025 at a glance
In 2025, kwn led GLOW’s streaming and discovery while Sophie and the Giants drew the biggest audiences beyond their home country; Gigi Perez swept all three RADAR categories; and Halsey did the same for EQUAL.
These achievements reflect deep fan connection with artists bringing their full selves to their music. Here’s how each program helped them shine.
GLOW: LGBTQIA+ artists moving culture
Available in more than 50 countries, the GLOW hub is a home for queer sound and stories year-round. In 2025, GLOW artists showed up as their fullest selves—inventive and grounded in community. Spotify supported ambassadors through marketing, editorial, and partnerships that helped turn streams into real-world impact.
Since launch, GLOW has uplifted more than 100 LGBTQIA+ ambassadors. In 2024 alone, the program helped drive more than 30 million artist discoveries, and listeners have generated over 86 million discoveries through GLOW playlists since launch.
With their music, these artists build spaces where listeners can see themselves reflected, without compromise.
Stream our GLOW global playlist to discover more talented LGBTQIA+ artists.
RADAR: The global home for what’s next
Launched in 2020, RADAR identifies, nurtures, and amplifies emerging voices around the world and now spans over 1,000 artists across more than 180 countries. In 2025, RADAR artists took creative risks, found new listeners far from home, and turned first discoveries into dedicated fandoms.
“It is an incredible honor to be chosen as RADAR’s Artist of the Year. I’ve always been a music fan first, and a major piece of that came from the Spotify experience. I think back to all the artists I found through Spotify and how artist discovery has shaped me as a fan of music,” said Gigi. “It is a privilege to find my community with the support of Spotify, who has always championed my message. From the feature of my first independent release of ‘Normalcy‘ in early 2024 on Lorem, the support has only continued to grow since then. It means a lot to know how important artist discovery is to the team at Spotify and how impactful it will be for all artists to come.”
From playlist placements to international discovery, RADAR artists proved that when new voices get the right support, they can move quickly from “next up” to “can’t miss.”
Press play on what’s next with our global RADAR playlist.
EQUAL: Women at full volume
Since 2021, EQUAL has amplified women artists through flagship and local playlists, billboards, and partnerships, advancing equity on- and off-platform. In 2025, EQUAL artists’ stories resonated across borders and genres.
“2025 has been a reflective, full-circle year for Halsey and her fans, from celebrating the 10-year anniversary of her debut album BADLANDS with a new tour to taking her latest project on the road earlier this year,” said Talia Kraines, Editorial Lead, Pop at Spotify. “As an EQUAL ambassador, she truly embodies what the program stands for: an artist using her voice with honesty and purpose. Her openness about identity, mental health, women’s health, and the realities of being a busy working mom continues to make her a leading advocate for women in music.”
In 2025, EQUAL further scaled its impact, supporting more than 1,200 ambassadors worldwide and generating over 1.5 billion editorial streams within artists’ first month of joining the program.
Turn up the volume on women artists with our EQUAL global playlist.
As we close out 2025, the artists of GLOW, RADAR, and EQUAL stand as proof that unfiltered voices shape both playlists and culture.
Explore your personalized 2025 Wrapped and learn more about this year’s campaign and experience on our 2025 Wrapped hub.
“Stream On is about all the ways we are bringing Spotify to life and letting creators at all stages of their careers know that we are open for business,” Spotify Founder and CEO Daniel Ek said. “We are focused on building the best home for them—a place where they can establish a career, thrive, and grow, and where the world can be inspired by their creativity. And that’s what we’ve been doing for almost 17 years: building, improving, and reimagining this home to better meet creator needs and help them chart new pathways to success.”
From new app functionality to a holistic one-stop shop for podcasting to more opportunities for artists to engage with their fans, Stream On further cements our commitment to the creative community.
“As we look to the future, we are excited to expand that ambition to even more creators across new formats. We’re enabling more creativity, discovery, and personalization than ever before by providing the best resources, support, and interactivity,” Daniel said.
Helping fans discover creators and artists
We’ve unveiled one of the biggest evolutions since Spotify’s inception: a new, dynamic interface on mobile built for deeper discovery and more meaningful connections between artists and fans.
With this new experience, we’re giving fans an even more active role in the audio discovery process, and giving creators even more space to share their work. Powered by advanced recommendations, new visual canvases, and a completely new and interactive design, the new interface is making discovering new audio easier than ever before and helping introduce users to their next favorite artist, podcast, or book. It’s all about closing the distance between creators and fans—and setting the stage for long-term, lasting connections that reach beyond viral success.
The new Spotify will roll out in waves to our 500 million+ monthly active users beginning today. Here’s what to expect:
Music, podcast, and audiobook previews across Music, Podcasts & Shows, and Audiobooks feeds for listeners to sample before they play or save. We’re also bringing “shortcuts” to the top of listeners’ feeds—giving users easy access to some of their recent and favorite listens.
New feeds for discovery on Searchthat will allow users to quickly and easily explore personalized, short Canvas clips from tracks across some of your favorite genres. Users can easily save the song to a playlist, follow the artist, or share it with friends, all from one place. Looking for something else? Explore related genres using the hashtag within the feed, all with the goal of making discovery even easier.
We’re also bringing this feature to popular playlists like Discover Weekly, Release Radar, New Music Friday, and RapCaviar, inviting users to preview tracks on a playlist before diving in.
Just like with music, we’re now serving Autoplay for Podcasts—when a podcast ends, another episode that fits the user’s tastes and is relevant will automatically start playing.
Smart Shuffle, the easiest way to breathe new life into custom curated playlists with just the tap of a button.
“Spotify recommendations drive close to half of all users’ streams. And when listeners decide to follow a creator, they listen to, on average, five times more of their music,” said GustavSöderström, Spotify Co-President and Chief Product & Technology Officer. “That’s why discoveries on Spotify—unlike many other platforms—give creators so much more than just a fleeting moment of viral fame. Those meaningful, long-term connections are a key part of what makes Spotify a platform for professional and aspiring artists.”
Supporting artist success through streaming
We also unveiled our annual music royalties report, Loud & Clear. The 2023 update demonstrates that more and more artists are finding success than ever before: The number of artists generating $1M+, as well as those generating $10,000+, has more than doubled over the past five years. Additionally, we estimate that the 50,000th highest-earning artist on Spotify generated more than $50,000 across all recorded revenue sources.
Loud & Clear also details how Spotify pays the vast majority of every dollar it generates for music—nearly 70%—back to the industry, and all-time Spotify payouts to music rights holders are approaching $40 billion.
Enabling audience development for artists through new and enhanced tools
We’re always building up our suite of tools to help artists find the fans who’ll love their music most. Here are a few of the new features they will soon find in the Campaigns section of Spotify for Artists:
Marqueeis a full-screen, sponsored recommendation of a new release that’s focused on reaching listeners who have shown interest in an artist’s music. On average, Marquee is 10 times more cost-effective at getting listeners to stream music on Spotify than ads are on the most popular social media platforms.
Discovery Mode is a tool through which artists and their teams identify priority songs, and Spotify will add that signal to the algorithms that shape personalized listening sessions. Today, Discovery Mode is directly available within Spotify for Artists, and is accessible to a wider range of artists and their teams, including thousands of independently distributed artists and labels.
Showcase is a mobile card on our brand-new home feed that will introduce an artist’s music—whether a new release or catalog—to likely listeners. We’re just starting to test Showcase with artists and labels, and will make it more widely available in the near future.
We also shared more details on the next revenue line we’ll enable to help artists grow: merchandise and live events.
New Concert and Merch Discovery tools will help make sure concertgoers never miss another show. Listeners will begin to see merch offers and concert listings in far more places across the app. If a show catches a fan’s eye, they can tap a new “interested” button to save the listing to their own calendar in the Live Events Feed. Users can adjust their location and browse concerts worldwide, all personalized to their taste.
Spotify is also expanding its Fans First program to include more artists, ensuring top listeners receive emails and notifications that give them special access to concert pre-sales and merch exclusives.
And we unveiled new features and product expansions that allow more artists to express themselves in new ways and build buzz among fans. These include:
Spotify Clips, which letsartists add 30-second videos to their artist profiles and album pages so fans can go deeper into their stories while they’re listening; and
CountdownPages, which provide dedicated space on an artist’s profile and Spotify’s Home feed for fans to pre-save albums, see exclusive videos, pre-order merch, preview tracklists, and watch the timer count down to a new release.
Reintroducing Spotify for Podcasters as our one-stop shop for creators
Podcast creators joined our executives onstage to showcase the reimagined Spotify for Podcasters.The site now brings together the best of Spotify’s podcast creator tools into a one-stop shop to create, manage, grow, and monetize podcast content, including:
Broader availability of Spotify-unique features like video podcasting, interactive episodes using Q&A and Polls, subscriptions, and robust analytics
Podcast previews, PodcastChapters, SpotifyLabs, and a new space for educational podcasting content
Megaphone, Spotify’s hosting solution for enterprise publishers, will be integrated into Spotify for Podcasters in the future. Netflix and Australia’s Schwartz Media werejust signed on as two of the latest publishers.
We also looked back at the growth of the Spotify Audience Network (SPAN), our audio-first marketplace that connects podcast publishers and independent creators with advertisers, including monthly payouts to opted-in publishers.
Since we launched SPAN in 2021, it has grown by nearly 50%. Advertiser participation has since increased by 500%.
The number of independent and enterprise podcasters taking part in SPAN has grown eightfold in the last two years, with NPR being the latest publisher to join the network.
We’re partnering with Patreon,which will enable creators to expand their creative business through direct payments from fans, and allow fans to listen to their Patreon content on Spotify.
Announcing new and expanded Spotify Originals and exclusives
Spotify Original and exclusive podcasts saw much success in 2022, with Case 63, The Joe Rogan Experience, and Call Her Daddy taking the top spots of the Wrapped top global podcasts. And now that Anything Goes with Emma Chamberlain is exclusively on our platform, Spotify has four of the top five biggest hits worldwide.
We’re expanding our catalog with new shows, including The Riddler: Secrets in the Dark. This latest title follows the Batman Unburied series and its characters in a brand-new story led by Phantom 4 and filmmaker, novelist, and comic book writer DavidS. Goyer.
We’re also introducing more video podcasts, with Forbidden Fruits with Julia Fox and Niki Takesh returning for a second season and an exclusive video podcast edition of the show. Drew Afualo’s podcast, The Comment Section, is also coming to Spotify exclusively starting April 5.
We’ve also entered into an exclusive video partnership with Markiplier to produce exclusive video episodes of DistractibleandGo! My Favorite Sports Team for Spotify beginning today. And with innovative partnerships on the way from Collab, Creative Juice, Get Engaged Media, Golden Child, and Karat to bring their creators’ videos to Spotify, as well as limited video series exclusively available on Spotify from Mindset Mentor, we’re looking forward to introducing millions of new listeners to video podcasts.
Welcoming creators and artists “home” to Spotify
Immediately following the presentation, we opened the doors of our campus in Los Angeles’ Arts District to creators for our “Play On” event to demo new products, hold workshops with top industry creators, and share insider knowledge on how best to use Spotify from the people who helped develop the tools at the company. To close out the activities, we’ll be hosting an all-female showcase to celebrate International Women’s Day.
“Today, there are more than 10 million creators on Spotify, with over half a billion listeners across 184 countries and markets,” Daniel noted. “Think about the massive potential that represents for creators. No matter where you are on your own creative journey within music, podcasts, or audiobooks. The potential to reach half a billion people. And that reach is about to become more powerful with what we’ve introduced today.”
Watch the 10-minute recap of the entire event below.
Forward-Looking Statements
The discussion above contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking. For example, the words “will,” “expect,” “potential,” and similar words are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and management’s belief about future events and trends, and are subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which may adversely affect our business and results of operations, including, but not limited to, our ability to attract and retain users and monetize our products and services; competition; risks associated with our international operations and growth; risks associated with our new products or services and our emphasis on long-term over short-term results; our ability to predict, recommend, and play content that our users enjoy; our ability to maintain the integrity of our technology structure and systems or the security of confidential information; and other risks as set forth in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.
Discover Weekly, your weekly mixtape of fresh music, is celebrating an anniversary—five years of discovery this July. But the beloved playlist has humble origins, initially starting as an idea at Spotify’s annual Hack Week. Since then, it’s become known as one of our flagship offerings, was parodied on April Fools (2019’s Disco Cover Weekly, anyone?), and has introduced our Spotify users to some of their new favorite artists.
In the five years since its launch, listeners have also streamed endless hours of the Discover Weekly playlist—over 2.3 billion hours between July 2015 and June 25, 2020 For the numerically inclined, that’s more than:
8.4 trillion seconds
140 billion minutes
2.3 billion hours
97.3 million days
13.9 million weeks
266.5 thousand years
For context: That’s longer than human civilization has been around!
Since the playlist updates every Monday with new music based on your personal listening habits, it leads users to find new artists, tracks, and hits to fall in love with. The Moroccan-Dutch DJ R3HAB is the most “discovered” artist in the most markets—16, to be exact—meaning users across those countries streamed him the most out of any other creator on their Discover Weekly playlist.
“I love how Spotify allows my music to connect with people across so many cultures,” R3HAB told For the Record. “I’ve always considered myself a world artist and it’s amazing to see my music truly traveling. Spotify has broken down the geographical boundaries of music discovery, allowing people from all over to discover my music as soon as it’s released. Thank you, Discover Weekly.”
Halsey takes the spot for most discovered female artist globally. Notably, she released her first album, Badlands, in 2015—the same year Discover Weekly was created! Now, she’s included on the list of Top Streamed Female Artists on Spotify.
U.S. listeners stream Discover Weekly the most, and have spent a lot of time “discovering” music from RAC and Khalid. In the U.K. listeners have found Detroit-born house producer MK, and German DJ Alle Farben racks up the streams in his home country. And they’re discovering artists across genres too—everything from EDM to grupera (a regional Mexican style), to indietronica and Lithuanian folk.
With so much discovery in such a short span of time, (you know, compared to the entirety of human civilization), we can’t wait to see what the next five years will bring for this star playlist.
In recent weeks, there’s been an increase in gamers streaming Spotify through theirconsoles while playing the latest and greatest or their all-time-favorite titles—whether that’s exploring new worlds, fighting crime, or spying on super villains. Plus, streaming of Spotify’s curated video game playlists increased 41% across the entire platform. So, we dug in further to see what gamers have been streaming from their consoles over the last month, from March 16 to April 12.
Clocking in at number one for the top-streamed female artist from video game consoles was Billie Eilish, whose hit song “ilomilo” was actually inspired by and named after a computer game of the same name. Her counterpart for top-streamed male artist was Lil Uzi Vert, followed by Juice WRLD, XXXTENTACION, Bad Bunny, andRoddy Ricch. Ricch’s latest album, perfectly entitled “Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial,” is a sentiment that we can all appreciate right now.
But, that’s not all. One of our most fascinating discoveries was an uptick in streaming during the “early morning” hours from 6 to 9. It may seem like an odd time to be on your gaming console, but the data is clear. If you are going to be stuck at home, why not start your day with the games and music that you love?
Find out what else gamers are streaming on Spotify:
If you have a gaming console, learn how to set up Spotify here. Then, stream our top video game playlist, Top Gaming Tracks.
March is all about women’s empowerment. In honor of International Women’s Day, March 8, we’re celebrating female voices by spotlighting the top female artists and female-led podcasts on Spotify.
Taking the number one artist spot isBillie Eilish—and not only among female artists. She’s also the top artist overall this year, based on data from January 1 to March 1. Eilish has more than 10.3 billion all-time streams and more than 60 million monthly listeners. Eilish, whose song “bad guy” has over 1.2 billionstreams, also just released the new James Bond theme song “No Time To Die.” Coming in second on our global list is “Lover” superstarTaylor Swift, followed byAriana Grande,Halsey, and Camila Cabello.
When it comes to podcasts, these female-led shows are fan favorites on Spotify based on hours streamed, and it’s clear that the obsession with true crime reigns supreme.My Favorite Murder,a comedic true crime series from comedians Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, is Spotify’s most popular female-hosted podcast. Crime Junkie,hosted by self-described “crime junkies” Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat, comes in second. Wondering why women are so obsessed with true crime? According to social psychologistAmanda Vicary, “Women are drawn to true crime because of the information they can learn from it, even if they aren’t aware that that may be the reason they are listening!”
And with that, these are the top female artists and female-led podcasts globally on Spotify.
To mark International Women’s Day, we’re creating our first-ever global campaign to highlight the contributions women have made to this industry. Plus, on March 8, a brand-new Women’s History Month hub will be live on Spotify. It will include all-female tracks, playlists, and podcasts, as well as takeovers from some of the most dynamic women in audio, because #MusicNeedsWomen #PodcastsNeedWomen and #AudioNeedsWomen.
In the meantime, be sure to listen to our powerhouse playlist of the top female artists around the world.
It’s been streamed more than 20 billion times. Over 70 featured artists have received 100+ million plays. And now, Spotify’s biggest playlist, Today’s Top Hits, can add “over 25 million followers” to its name. To put this in perspective: If Today’s Top Hits was an artist, it would be the third most streamed of all time (after Drake and Ed Sheeran).
Since 2014, Spotify’s team of curators have analyzed our streaming data, as well as music culture and trends, to populate the playlist. Each week, it features updated songs from artists around the world. Today’s Top Hits spans a variety of genres — from pop and Latin, to hip-hop and indie — giving listeners an opportunity to enjoy the music they already know and love, while also discovering new tracks.
Today’s Top Hits not only reflects the music culture of the zeitgeist, but also shapes it. The playlist has helped kickstart the careers of many artists, including: Arizona Zervas, Tones and I, and Ant Saunders, whose respective singles “Roxanne,” “Dance Monkey,” and “Yellow Hearts,” have been some of the most recent staples. More than just serving as a platform of discovery for emerging talent, Today’s Top Hits has also amplified songs by established artists such as Post Malone, Selena Gomez, Khalid, Halsey, The Chainsmokers, and Camila Cabello.
We couldn’t be more excited about this incredible milestone—thanks to the 25 million fans and followers for listening. A few other people wanted to say thank you . . . (shout-out to Niall Horan, Julia Michaels, Lewis Capaldi,Marshmello, and Lauv).
From the first song you streamed at 12:01 a.m. on January 1 to the year’s hottest Spotify Single and everything in between, much of your year has been defined by what you listened to. Whether you celebrated your country’s football win with the sounds of “We Are the Champions,” or paid musical tribute to the legendary Aretha Franklin, your highs and lows are neatly recorded. So as you reflect on the past year, Spotify’s Wrapped is here to look back—and listen—with you.
Back by popular demand, Wrapped allows you to rediscover and share the music and podcasts that formed your personal soundtrack in 2018. Enter the site to enjoy a customized, interactive experience based on the music you’ve listened to this year.
For example, you can guess, then check, how many total minutes you streamed. Explore the number of new artists you discovered, your most-played songs and artists, and your top genres—and then share your results to your Instagram, Twitter and Facebook feeds with your personal Wrapped share card. Spotify Premium users will get to go a little deeper, with access to additional insights about their year in listening.
This year, we are also giving some Premium users a chance to take part in our global campaign by offering them the chance to see their share cards up in lights. If your Wrapped share card is worthy, submit it when prompted through the Wrapped site where it could be featured on billboards in key iconic locations around the world, including NYC’s Times Square, London’s Piccadilly Circus, and more.
Additionally, a number of our Premium fans within the U.S. received an exclusive early-access sneak peek of their Wrapped 2018 top artist in the form of a custom-made personalized puzzle. Once completed, the puzzle revealed whom they spent quality time with this year. Top artists included Halsey, LanaDelRey, and others.
After previewing their Wrapped, users will also be able to enjoy Tastebreakers, a personalized playlist that introduces you to new music from genres and artists you don’t normally explore—but ones that your personal taste profile hints that you’ll like.
And the fun doesn’t stop there. With the launch of2018 Artist Wrapped, we’re tipping our hats to artists too—giving them access to their own individualized Wrapped microsite. Artists and their teams can enjoy facts about fan listening throughout the year, including most popular songs by month, total fan hours streamed, how many fans they’ve gained this year, and more. By logging in toSpotify for Artists, any artist can discover how their music connected with fans across the globe—as long as they had music on Spotify and at least three listeners before October 31.
Who was your top artist of 2018? To find out, go to spotify.com/2018. The site is rolling out across markets in the coming days. Then, relive the best of your favorite artists and albums in a personalized playlist, or browse through the most-streamed songs and artists this year here.
Whether your top genre of 2018 was hip-hop, alternative rock, country, or ASMR, all we can say is: That’s a wrap.
*In all markets except the Middle East and North Africa
Yoga might be an ancient art, but the 5,000-year-old practice remains as essential to modern life as ever. Yogis throughout the world enjoy both the physical and emotional benefits from yoga, which is thought to be calming and restorative. But that doesn’t mean the soundtrack to accompany it has to be.
While soothing, ambient sounds—like Tibetan singing bowls and chimes, and the serene tones of nature—tend to comprise the traditional yoga soundtrack, some 21st-century practitioners have begun to think outside the box. In fact, when we dug into common unexpected genres found on yoga playlists, we found that pop, hip-hop, rock, R&B, and reggae are being used to inspire yoga practices. For some, yoga is no longer just about mastering asanas (postures), but taking the opportunity to get creative and expressive with the right beats to match.
“There is a growing interest globally on the impact certain music has on performance,” says Dr. Amanda Krause, a psychologist and Research Fellow at The University of Melbourne, Australia, who specializes in the social and applied psychology of music. “We refer to it in the industry as ‘musical fit,’ where the type of music you feel ‘fits’ an activity creates an impact on the way you physically react.”
“A person’s judgement of musical fit relates to their listening preferences, environment, and goal for certain practices,” Amanda explains. “For example, with yoga, the variety of music is chosen with regard to how it helps timing, focus, and motivation, which in turn enhances your overall performance.”
People aren’t just enjoying the unexpected and non-traditional music when practicing yoga, they’re potentially getting performance benefits from it, too. And more than ever—there’s been an 11% increase in yoga playlist streams year-over-year—they’re turning to one of Spotify’s 2.4 million user-generated, yoga-inspired playlists to stream while in downward dog.
“While music has always been a huge part of our lives, the advent of streaming has made it even more so, to the point that nowadays we even shape our yoga practice around it,” says Julie Stevanja, Stylerunner CEO.
“This evolution of using music as the base of our practice has almost become a yoga style of its own. It’s all about tapping into our subconscious, which music allows us to do more freely. Upbeat songs make poses stronger and more dynamic, while relaxing tunes can help us feel more grounded in our resting poses.”
If you’re looking to spice up your own yoga playlist, look no farther than some of the top streamed songs on yoga playlists around the world—from Toronto to Bali—and as you can see from this list, music of all types is being played in the yoga studio.
If you’re looking for some more traditional, curated yoga playlists, look no further than one of our many yoga or meditation options.
For many modern yogis, music is fun and motivating; for others, silence is still golden. No matter your preference or style, it’s clear that traditional yoga music is now anything but.
Behind every great artist is a stellar support squad who amplifies their voice and helps them reach their dreams. One behind-the-scenes team member for many artists is a songwriter or producer, a “secret genius” who helps the artist make their vision come to life.
Last year, Spotify founded Secret Genius to shine a light on the creators behind the songs we know and love. Secret Genius revealed all the songs written or produced by the same creator on a playlist, told the stories behind hits on the Secret Genius podcast, and hosted global songwriting camps throughout the year called “Songshops.” Additionally, the coinciding launch of Secret Genius Studios offered up-and-coming songwriters access to the latest studio equipment, as well as opportunities to connect with each other and collaborate on future hits.
The inaugural class of inspirational Secret Genius ambassadors included some of today’s greatest hitmakers, including Boi-1da, Erika Ender, James Fauntleroy, Starrah and more. The first-ever Secret Genius Awards honored the creative forces behind the year’s biggest hits, including Rick Rubin, who was presented with the Legendary Genius Award.
Now coming up on its second year and second cohort, Spotify will once again feature these songwriters in the podcast and Songshops, and honor them at the second annual Secret Genius Awards later in the year.
The next wave of ambassadors will help continue the program’s mission of celebrating the songwriters and producers of the music industry. This year, honorees of the global initiative will include:
Ali Tamposi (US): Songwriter for Camila Cabello, Selena Gomez, Liam Payne
Ben Billion (US): Producer for The Weeknd, Maroon 5, Beyoncé
Benny Blanco (US): Producer and Songwriter for Ed Sheeran, Halsey, Justin Bieber, Kanye West
Frank Dukes (Canada): Producer for Cardi B, The Weeknd, Camila Cabello
Ina Wroldsen (Norway): Songwriter for Calvin Harris, Clean Bandit, Jess Glynne
Jamie Scott (UK): Producer for Rudimental, Niall Horan, Major Lazer
Murda Beatz (US): Producer for Drake, Migos, Travis Scott
Shane McAnally (US): Songwriter for Sam Hunt, Miranda Lambert, Thomas Rhett
Sky A. Ramirez (US): Producer for J Balvin, Juanes, Karol G
Tayla Parx (US): Songwriter for Janelle Monáe, Demi Lovato, Julia Michaels
To honor the new class of Secret Genius Ambassadors, Spotify hosted a dinner at the home of Troy Carter, Global Head of Creator Services. There, some of the most influential names in music gathered to toast an incredible group of visionaries including legends and rising stars such as Quincy Jones, Halsey, and Bebe Rexha. “Hard work pays off,” noted songwriter Ben Billion at the dinner. “Thank you Spotify Secret Genius for acknowledging the craft behind the scenes.”
“Last year our vision of creating a community of songwriters became a reality and we aim to inspire the next generation by announcing a new class of ambassadors as we continue our commitment to music creators,” explained Tiffany Kumar, Spotify’s Global Head of Songwriter Relations. “With Secret Genius, Spotify is able to reveal, celebrate and bring these talents together to foster more creativity.”
Various upcoming Secret Genius Ambassadors noted how excited they were for the opportunity.
“I’m honored to be one of the Spotify Secret Genius Ambassadors this year. It’s great to be part of a program designed to give songwriters and producers more recognition,” said Scott. “I’m looking forward to the year ahead and trying to help make a difference with the Secret Genius team, in what is an extremely exciting time in the music industry.” – Jamie Scott
“I am incredibly excited and honored to be a Secret Genius Ambassador and I am very much looking forward to working with Spotify.” – Ina Wroldsen
“I’m very pleased to be chosen as a Spotify Ambassador, and join the amazing group of writers and producers who have come before me. I look forward to working with Spotify and continuing to build new and exciting ways to work with the songwriting community.” – Ali Tamposi
Celebrating these songwriters and visionaries is a year-round responsibility. In just the last few weeks, Secret Genius has hosted several songwriting experiences, including a partnership with Keep Cool Records (RCA) that led to the first-ever artist-led three-day songshop. This songshop brought together an incredible group of songwriters and producers from London on da Track to Jude Demorest to work on Normani’s upcoming debut album.
Additionally, Motown and Secret Genius hosted an intimate listening experience with NE-YO in which he played songs from his upcoming albumGood Man. He was joined by Tayla Parx, writer for Khalid, JanelleMonáe and ChristinaAguilera, to discuss the creative process and songwriting. Following the success of Spotify’s first Secret Genius 360 Live event in London, Spotify expanded the event to Stockholm where attendees were able to play demos for feedback from local managers and publishers.
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