Spotify Launches Hub for Global Emerging Artists Program RADAR
Six months after Spotify kicked off its emerging artists program, RADAR, the streaming service is launching a new global hub on the platform to spotlight it.
Six months after Spotify kicked off its emerging artists program, RADAR, the streaming service is launching a new global hub on the platform to spotlight it.
Announced Thursday (Sept. 17), the hub will be home to the full lineup of RADAR artists and their newest releases, 22 region- and genre-specific playlists (incorporating both RADAR artists and others chosen by Spotify’s editorial team) and original exclusive content. It is additionally debuting brand-new RADAR France, Canada, U.S. Country and U.S. Latin playlists, all of which launched Thursday as well.
Statistics provided by Spotify paint a rosy picture of RADAR and its 115-strong artist lineup across 22 global sister programs, including such breakthrough successes as Alaina Castillo (U.S.), Young T and Bugsey (U.K.), Lous and The Yakuza (France), Zoe Wees (Germany) and Rina Sawayama (Japan). Over the past six months, RADAR artists have collectively generated over 2 billion streams, 100 million listening hours and 112 million listeners across 102 countries. They have also cumulatively gained more than 8 million followers since the launch of the program, representing a 64% overall increase.
Spotify’s lead, international music markets strategy Andy Sloan-Vincent says the RADAR hub is designed to further the program’s mission to break local artists on a global scale — something he sees as a complement to the way listeners consume music now. “What we’re starting to see — we’ve seen it with K-pop — [is that] fans aren’t necessarily listening to just the music of their home language anymore,” he says. “They’re starting to listen to artists from completely different geographies, speaking different languages.”
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He adds, “It’s something we feel we’re uniquely positioned to drive, because we have such a huge reach [in 92 countries around the world].”
Launched on March 9, RADAR put all of Spotify’s domestic and international emerging artist programs under a single umbrella, though each of the sister programs is locally run. Artists chosen for the program receive support from Spotify’s editorial and marketing teams, including on- and off-platform promotion as well as exclusive content such as Spotify Singles, mini-documentaries and more. Spotify’s plans for a series of large-scale RADAR live events were put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic, though it is looking to expand the program to additional territories, including Russia, in the coming months.
Spotify users will be alerted to the RADAR hub via a mixture of banner ads on the Spotify homepage, pop-up notifications and out-of-home marketing. It will also be given a dedicated spot on the app’s main “Search” page.
Sawayama, who released her acclaimed debut album Sawayama via Dirty Hit earlier this year, says she saw a noticeable boost in her following after being included in the program.
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“Spotify has been very supportive of this record so additions like this really help broaden the audience to people who wouldn’t know me before or might not necessarily like pop music,” Sawayama said in a statement. “[Over the last six months] I feel like the audience has got bigger which is so heartwarming! Sad that I can’t perform live to all the new people but I’m very excited to do so in 2021.”
Added indie-pop band Giant Rooks, which came out of RADAR in Germany, “We have definitely seen a significant boost in the numbers of our Spotify listeners [and] during these last couple of months our fanbase has constantly grown and we’ve received messages from all over the world,” said the group in a statement. “We’ve released 4 singles from our debut album ROOKERY, all of them with a great support from Spotify! This helped us a lot getting recognized more in Germany, but in several other countries as well. Especially in Poland, Russia, Turkey and the US.”
You can navigate to the RADAR hub here and find a full list of RADAR artists below.
Spotify RADAR Artist List:
US
Alaina Castillo
J.I. The Prince of NY
UK & IE
Young T & Bugsey
Vistas
Brazil (LATAM)
Agnes Nunes
MC Du Black
Giulia Be
DONATTO
Murilo Huff
Mexico (LATAM)
Silvana Estrada
LÚA
Kenia Os
La Bruja de Texcoco
Ghetto Kids
South Cone (LATAM)
Romeo El Santo
Trueno
Maria Becerra
Agus Padilla
Harry Nach
Andes (LATAM)
Ela Minus
Nanpa Básico
Ovy On The Drums
Irepelusa
A.C.O.
Central American and Caribbean (LATAM)
Boza
Akim
Rosaly Rubio
Kiko el Crazy
Covi Quintana
ES
Aleesha
Delaporte
DEVA
Derby Motoreta’s Burrito Kachimba
DORA
El Greco
Guitarricadelafuente
María José Llergo
Morad
Paranoid 1966
Australia & New Zealand
merci, mercy
CHAII
France
Lous & The Yakuza
Noé Preszow
P.R2B
Hervé
Philippine
Yuzmv
MENA
Hollaphonic
Xriss
South Africa
Willy Cardiac
Philippines (SEA)
August Wahh
Ace Banzuelo
LTNM
Route83
SB19
Soulstice
syd hartha
VVS Collective
Indonesia (SEA)
Mawar De Jongh
MAHEN
Monica Karina
Langit Sore
The Panturas
Weird Genius
Guyon Waton
Tiara Andini
Suara Kayu
Happy Asmara
Mandopop (SEA: TW, HK, MY, SG)
鄭心慈 Kelly Cheng
陳忻玥 Vicky Chen
張若凡Ruo Fan
持修
NEKO Highway
Marz23
李佳歡 KarFun
蓋兒Gail
黃美婷OHMYMEITING
G5SH
曹楊Young
Asiaboy禁藥王&Lizi栗子
?te
LINION
椅子樂團The Chair
Korea
AleXa
TREASURE
GSA
Bruckner
Giant Rooks
Kellerkind
Majan
Celine
AVEC
My Ugly Clementine
Das Moped
ELI
Mathea
Zoe Wees
Pabst
Keir
Provinz
Ann Clue
Badmomzjay
Noga Erez
Thandi Draai
Vanita
We Will Kaleid
Jinka
Stephan Jolk
Novaa
Wilhelmine
Moli
Joplyn
Kynda Gray
Jack Curley
Netherlands
RIMON
Jeangu Macrooy
Feng Suave
India
Mali
Sanjeeta Bhattacharya
When Chai Met Toast
Dhruv Visvanath
Hanita Bhambri
Canada
Emanuel
Japan
Fujii Kaze
Vaundy
Rina Sawayama
Nordics (DK)
Tessa
Jada
Maximillian
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