Celebrating International Women’s Day, Spotify has partnered with leading Filipina creators to amplify their voices and stories. The music, lyrics and voices coming from these Filipinas are complex and vibrant, and Spotify champions women in audio through its programs and playlists all through the year.

Through Spotify’s      , a year-round initiative dedicated to women in music, female artists have collectively received nearly half a billion streams within their first month of joining the program. EQUAL Philippines amplifies artists like chart-topping singer-songwriter mrld and the Cebuana hip-hop hitmaker Karencitta, while Pinay Voices spotlights podcasts from creators including Paano Kung…, Let’s Pretend It’s 2AM, and Free Yourself Podcast,

With this year’s IWD theme ““DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality”, Spotify shares an exclusive glimpse into the perspectives of these trailblazing Filipina audio creators.

Breaking Boundaries through Audio

Filipinas have diversified the creative ecosystem through courage and determination. For some, pursuing a dream means inspiring others to become better versions of themselves. RADAR ambassador, Meriel de Jesus, more popularly known as mrld and the voice behind hit songs including “Ligaya” and “Ikaw Pa Rin,” recounted how her journey as a budding artist took perseverance: “I remember staying up late, researching how I can share my craft to the world.”

For Ria Ramirez of Let’s Pretend It’s 2AM, becoming a creator meant breaking through her sense of self-doubt. “Starting a podcast was something that I considered doing, but was afraid to pursue. But people around me made me realize that I had a voice that was worth being heard.”

Other voices in the field are driven by passion and purpose to inspire others. “It’s a powerful feeling because you can make a huge imprint onto someone’s life instantly,” said EQUAL ambassador Karen Ann “Karencitta” Rodriguez Cabrera, who famously made waves with the release of her debut song “Cebuana” which proudly champions her Bisaya roots.

Gayle de Chavez of Free Yourself Podcast creates content with the hope of inspiring others. “I enjoy being a creator, pursuing the things that I love, and at the same time helping people love themselves.”

Technology Powering Gender Equity

Beyond the drive to thrive, these inspiring Filipinas leveraged technology as a partner in their creative journey.

Spotify EQUAL artist Karencitta, who started recording her own music at the age of 13 and now has over 220,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, shared that she learned through exploring tech with many trials and errors. Radio DJ and Creator of Paano Kung… podcast Joelle shared, “I am grateful that technology and a platform as special as Spotify enables us to share our stories more openly and find other people who inspire us!”

mrld highlighted how Spotify helped her flourish on the local and global stage. “Through Spotify, a lot of people were able to discover my craft, and it paved the way for me as a female artist. EQUAL is very uplifting as it gives the spotlight to female artists.”

Although platforms and initiatives have unlocked a wealth of opportunities, the journey for female creators is not without its challenges.

Joelle opens up. “I feel the challenge when I have to double or triple check what I say just to make sure it’s right. I’ve been afraid to speak up because people would talk over me, or make me feel like my feelings and thoughts weren’t valid.” mrld also noted how there is room to give more visibility for women in the creative field.

At the same time, creators express their optimism and appreciation for the positive changes in the industry. “Nowadays, I think there is a space for both men and women to create freely,” Ria points out.

Unlocking the Creator in Everyone

Spotify Creators, Joelle, Ria, and Gayle, mrld and Karencitta, share their advice with the hopes of inspiring young Filipinos out there.

1. Celebrate Individuality and Authenticity

• EQUAL ambassador mrld: “Always believe in yourself. No one is going to be there for you till the end except yourself. So don’t be too hard on yourself and continue to trust the process.”
• EQUAL ambassador Karencitta: “Kung bisag asa pa ta e butang sa kalibutan, di gyud natu malimtan ang Filipino traditions and values. Ayaw kalimot kung asa ka gikan. E taas gyud na ang bandila.”

1. Embrace Vulnerability

• Ria of Let’s Pretend It’s 2AM: “There’s no need to hide the broken parts of yourself because it is in this brokenness that you have grown to be who you are. Let that process not only inspire you but others too.”- Ria, Creator of
• Joelle of Paano Kung…: “It can be scary for anyone to be vulnerable, but the exciting possibilities in opening up and connecting with others outweigh the fear. I get to do this now, because the younger me took a chance, opened her heart, continued to hope and try, despite the uncertainty, fear, and worries.”

1. Invest in Oneself

• Gayle of Free Yourself Podcast: “Continue investing in yourself and being curious about everything. Don’t seek validation in the form of other people’s opinions, and don’t be afraid to speak your mind and your truth.”
• EQUAL ambassador Karencitta: “Embrace learning”

Keen to discover and support female creators? Tune in to Spotify’s EQUAL hub and Pinay Voices.

Spotify has been a huge supporter of K-Pop since the launch of the first K-Pop flagship playlist “K-Pop Daebak” in 2014. Today Spotify, the most popular global audio streaming subscription service, reveals a series of statistics and trends which show how the world fell in love with K-Pop.

From 2014 to Jan 2020, K-Pop’s share of listening (and lovers) on Spotify increased by more than 1,800% and that same “K-Pop Daebak” playlist now has more than 2.4 million followers. Since 2014,  K-Pop music has been streamed for more than 134 billion minutes on Spotify.

So how else is K-Pop Dominating?

Spotify’s most-streamed K-Pop group, BTS, released their album MAP OF THE SOUL : 7 on Friday, February 21st, and on Spotify the group’s journey has been marked by a series of milestones:

• In 2019, BTS was the first group from Asia to surpass 5 billion streams on Spotify

• As of February 2020, BTS has clocked more than 8 billion streams. In 2019 alone, the group’s music streamed more than 3 billion times.

• In September 2017, BTS became the first K-Pop artist to enter Spotify’s Global 50 chart, with the track “DNA.”

• BTS has the most-streamed K-Pop track on Spotify: “Boy With Luv” featuring Halsey, with more than 380 million streams. The track was released in April 2019, so it took less than a year to become Spotify’s most-streamed K-Pop track.

“There’s no denying the massive global explosion of K-Pop over the last few years, and we’ve witnessed it first hand on Spotify,” says Kossy Ng, Head of Artist and Label Marketing in Asia. “This is truly the first Asian music genre to resonate so well with a global audience. K-Pop fans are among the most passionate and active, and K-Pop fandom – the way fans function, communicate and connect with one another – is like no other. There’s no doubt that K-Pop’s immense popularity will only continue to grow, and we’re excited to continue driving discovery and connecting K-Pop artists to fans all over the world.”

In 2015, Spotify launched an entire genre hub dedicated to K-Pop. It features playlists catering to the many facets of this exciting genre, from rising artists, to collaborations, and to original soundtrack recordings from Korean film and TV dramas, known as OSTs. Fans can also check out BTS’ MAP OF THE SOUL : 7 The Enhanced Album, an exclusive to Spotify and featuring original content directly from BTS.

Notable K-Pop Data Highlights on Spotify

• To date, there have been more than 41 billion K-Pop streams on Spotify

• 53% of K-Pop listeners are aged 18-24 and 73% of K-Pop listeners are female

• Spotify users around the world have added K-Pop songs to more than 96 million playlists

• The top 10 countries for streaming K-Pop at the moment (in the past 90 days) are, in order: USA, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, Brazil and Mexico (see complete top ten below)

• K-Pop music streams in all 79 of the markets Spotify is in, and these countries are seeing notable growth (percentages represent increases in the rate of K-Pop streaming from Jan 2019- Jan 2020):

  • Egypt – 33%

  • Vietnam – 30%

  • France – 13%

  • Colombia – 8%

• The top-streamed K-Pop artists on Spotify are: BTS, BLACKPINK, EXO, TWICE and Red Velvet (see complete top ten below). BTS’s music has streamed more than 8 billion times on Spotify.

• The top-streamed K-Pop track on Spotify is the east-meets-west collaboration “Boy With Luv” from BTS and US singer-songwriter Halsey. The track has been streamed more than 380 million times (see complete top ten below).

The top ten countries for streaming K-Pop at the moment (based on streams from the last 90 days):

1. USA

2. Indonesia

3. Philippines

4. Japan

5. Brazil

6. Mexico

7. Thailand

8. Malaysia

9. Canada

10. Singapore

Most-streamed K-Pop artists globally on Spotify (from Jan 2014 – Jan 2020):

1. BTS

2. BLACKPINK

3. EXO

4. TWICE

5. Red Velvet

6. BIGBANG

7. SEVENTEEN

8. Monsta X

9. iKON

10. NCT 127

The top ten K-Pop tracks on Spotify (from Jan 2014 – Jan 2020):

1. “Boy With Luv” – BTS, Halsey

2. “Kiss and Make Up” – BLACKPINK, Dua Lipa

3. “FAKE LOVE” – BTS

4. “Kill This Love” – BLACKPINK

5. “DNA” – BTS

6. “DDU-DU DDU-DU” – BLACKPINK

7. “Blood Sweat & Tears” – BTS

8. “Gangnam Style (강남스타일)” – PSY

9. “SOLO” – JENNIE

10. “As If It’s Your Last” – BLACKPINK

Most-streamed K-Pop artists on Spotify in the Philippines (from Jan 2014 – Jan 2020):

1. BTS

2. BLACKPINK

3. TWICE

4. EXO

5. Red Velvet

6. SEVENTEEN

7. MOMOLAND

8. BIGBANG

9. iKON

10. IU

The top ten K-Pop tracks on Spotify in the Philippines (from Jan 2014 – Jan 2020):

1. “Kill This Love” – BLACKPINK

2. “DDU-DU DDU-DU” – BLACKPINK

3. “BBoom BBoom” – MOMOLAND

4. “Boy With Luv (feat. Halsey)” – BTS, Halsey

5. “As If It’s Your Last” – BLACKPINK

6. “Kiss and Make Up” – BLACKPINK, Dua Lipa

7. “BOOMBAYAH – KR Ver.” – BLACKPINK

8. “SOLO”– JENNIE

9. “FAKE LOVE” – BTS

10. “BAAM” – MOMOLAND

Check out our blog post on For the Record for a downloadable infographic highlighting some of our K-Pop stats.

Popular software reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong has reported a new prototype feature in Spotify called Tastebuds. The feature, currently in testing phase, allows user to discover new music and artists through their friends.

There’s literally an app called @tastebuds, which supported Spotify, but its Twitter account has been inactive since 2017
Is this a hint of acquisition or will Spotify have to change the name of this feature before release? pic.twitter.com/wmdnnmFsa8

— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) December 18, 2019

The feature is designed to let users explore music taste profiles of friends you trust. Currently users can access a non functioning site that shows a landing page for the feature. By clicking a pen icon shown in the centre of the webpage, users can search and select the people you want to follow. Once added, users will be able to see their friends music collection and what they have been listening to recently.

Spotify has been known to test a variety of social features, but nothing actually made it through its testing phase. Spotify has been known to limit connectivity through social as a way to lockdown users, ensuring they on discover music through Spotify’s own curated playlists. The company is now slowly testing …

Source: Fonearena