Tag: Amaarae

That’s a Wrap on Cannes Lions 2024! Inside the Awards, Spotify Beach Action, and More

June 21, 2024

This week, Spotify returned to the South of France for the 2024 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, which recognizes excellence in the world of marketing and advertising. This annual gathering of the biggest brands, coolest creators, and most famous faces is an exciting opportunity to showcase how our platform inspires creativity, connection, and innovation.

This year, we’re thrilled to share that Spotify Advertising took home nine awards for Spreadbeats, our latest B2B marketing campaign that features a first-of-its-kind music video made and distributed entirely in a media plan spreadsheet. The campaign earned one Grand Prix Lion, two Gold Lions, three Silver Lions, and three Bronze Lions across several categories, including Digital Craft, Creative B2B, Creative Data, and more. It was the most shortlisted of all Cannes Lions submissions. Additionally, Spotify won a Bronze Lion in the Creative Effectiveness category for our 2023 Wrapped On-Platform experience, our biggest Wrapped yet.

These wins cap off a jam-packed week for Spotify at Cannes. With it being our 10th year at the festival, we wanted to make sure the Spotify experience was more alive than ever. As Cannes Lions lit up the Croisette, Spotify Beach was at the center of the action, home to inspiring conversations during the day and unmissable musical performances at night. Relive all the festivities and see photos from each day below.

Monday, June 17

We kicked things off with some fascinating conversations with singer-songwriter Shaboozey and PepsiCo International Beverages Chief Marketing Officer Mark Kirkham, who touched on brand partnership and creative content, with a special focus on the relationship between music, sports, and culture.

From there, comedian, content creator, and Therapuss host Jake Shane sat down with Brad Ross, VP of Global Sports and Entertainment Marketing & Partnerships at The Coca-Cola Company, to discuss building a community on Spotify and defining your brand. We capped the conversation off with the exciting announcement that Spotify is bringing daylist—our ever-changing playlist feature—to even more fans in more languages around the world in the coming months. “I love using Spotify to document my life—I add songs kind of like a diary. With daylist, it’s really fun getting playlists that capture what I’m feeling on a random Tuesday afternoon or a Sunday morning,” said Jake. “It’s like a musical diary entry made for me.”

Last but not least, we gathered some of the week’s hottest stars at a scenic villa in the hills for our annual Spotify Soirée. The evening featured an acoustic performance from John Legend, as well as DJ sets from Tinea Taylor and Pearl Thusi. Guests included Jessica Alba, Joe Burrow, Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice of York, Alix Earle, and Sophia Bush, among others.

The Sounds of Top African Artists Come Alive on Vice President Kamala Harris’ New Spotify Playlist

March 29, 2023

This week, American Vice President Kamala Harris visits Ghana, Tanzania, and Zambia on a trip that highlights the investment in innovation and ingenuity across the continent. On her first stop in Ghana, Spotify had the privilege to welcome her amongst a group of artists and creators, to Vibrate Space. Vibrate is a community recording studio and music business program that offers education and mentorship for young Ghanaian artists so they can create, connect, and collaborate. Spotify has been partnering with the space since September 2022.

Spotify Invests in the Future of Ghana’s Rising Creators

March 28, 2023

Sandy, Phiona, and Joe at Vibrate Space

Ghanaian creators are having a moment on Spotify. For every stream in Ghana of a local artist, there are six more streams in markets around the world. Examples include singer, rapper, and Spotify RADAR artist Black Sherif, whose hip-hop and reggae blends are finding new listeners in Nigeria and the U.K.; and Atlanta-based singer-songwriter-engineeer-producer and EQUAL artist Amaarae, who has recently seen her music soar to new heights in Chile, India, and Mexico. 

EQUAL artists Moliy and Gyakie and Fresh Finds artist Kofee Bean, among countless others, are seeing listeners in markets like the U.S., Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, and France. And there’s even more on the podcast side, as Sincerely Accra, a Ghanaian podcast, was named one of 13 African podcasts to receive a share of Spotify’s $100,000 African podcast investment last year.

This week, we increased our ongoing commitment to artists and creators across Africa through a donation to Vibrate Space from our Creator Equity Fund. Vibrate Space, operated by Surf Ghana in Accra, is a community recording studio and music business program that offers education and mentorship for young Ghanaian artists so they can create, connect, and collaborate. Over the past six months, Vibrate has registered more than 200 studio bookings and hosted many more creators for events and classes.  

We first partnered with Vibrate in September 2022 with a donation that assisted in the launch of the studio. Now, to help Vibrate achieve its robust plans to further support the creative economy in Ghana, we’re making an additional donation from the fund.

At an event at Surf Ghana, Spotify’s Global Head of Artist and Audience Partnerships, Joe Hadley, shared the news. “Spotify is proud to continue our efforts to support and uplift creatives with our Creator Equity Fund. I’m excited to share that from that fund, we’re announcing a donation to the Vibrate Space in Accra, Ghana,” he said to a room full of African artists as well as the Vibrate team. “They have been incredible partners to us, continually pouring into the local community and creating a space where artists can come together to grow creatively. We’re looking forward to hearing the music, stories, and success that will come out of Vibrate.”