Spotify EQUAL.
Launched in April 2021, EQUAL is Spotify’s global program dedicated to fostering equity for women in music and audio, amplifying their voices, and celebrating their contributions. It encompasses partnerships, activations, new content experiences, and on- and off-platform support on local, regional, and international levels. It also calls on users to actively take control of their listening habits, making sure they play more women creators, no matter the day, week or month.
According to the USC Annenberg study on representation of women in the music industry, only one in five artists on the charts are women. The goals of the EQUAL program are to upend this disparity by amplifying the work of women creators, and generating more opportunities for these artists.
On platform, we launched the EQUAL hub, a one-stop destination which highlights the work of women artists and podcasters. The hub isn’t just for artists, however - it also allows Spotify users to tap into the power of listening to shift the status quo. There are 35 EQUAL local playlists spanning artists from 50+ countries - from Japan to Argentina, from Malaysia to the UK - as well as the flagship EQUAL Global playlist, which contains music from EQUAL artists from all around the world. Each month, one artist from each market is featured on the cover of their respective local playlist, in addition to receiving essential on-platform, editorial and social promotion in their home country and beyond. This includes out of home on the 1 Times Square billboard in New York.
To aid progress off platform, Spotify created the EQUAL Collective, a network of organisations joining forces with Spotify to empower women globally. These organisations include Girls I Rate, She’s the Music, Girls Rock Australia Network, shesaid.so, Music Women and more. In addition to providing a one-time grant to each organisation, the Collective meets and collaborates regularly, with the goal of finding tangible ways to make the audio industry more equitable for women creators.
Within one month of joining the program, EQUAL artists were heard around the world, with the program generating 120M+ artist streams, for a total of 6M+ hours, across 177 markets, and 600+ playlists. To date, our Spotify UK+IE EQUAL artists have included Griff, Jorja Smith, Becky Hill, Anne-Marie, TSHA, Self-Esteem, Nova Twins, Leona Lewis, Wet Leg and Charli XCX; all of whom have collaborated with Spotify to shine a light on why the EQUAL program is so important, share their hopes for the future of the music industry, give a platform to other incredible women artists, and generated new opportunities for visibility of women in music.
I’m proud to help support the voices of women creators worldwide, and excited to raise the volume even higher. The work toward an equitable future has only just begun.
