In 2017, Spotify launched Blak Australia, a music playlist that spotlighted Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians. Since then, our support of First Nations artists has grown into Dreaming Loud, with multiple playlists and programs featured on the platform to amplify these talented creators.
Now we are excited to debut new playlists that highlight Indigenous artists and give listeners music tailored to different genres—and even tailored to family members. Fans will now find a hip-hop playlist called Proppa Bars, a mood playlist called Big Ancestor Energy, and two new kids’ playlists, Too Deadly Bub and Blak Hits for Kids.
To celebrate, we are updating all our existing First Nations playlists with a new visual identity created in collaboration with Aboriginal artist and designer Arkie Barton. The new design “represents a coming together of community and mobs from all across so-called Australia, specifically within the digital space of the Spotify First Nations arena,” shared Arkie.
2020 was an explosive year for new podcast creation—but 2021 proved to be the year podcasting really hit its stride. New creation hasn’t slowed down one bit, and more than ever, podcasters are getting more creative with their content development and business models. With 1.2 million new podcasts published on Spotify this past year, it’s clear that an increasing number of people are listening to and creating audio.
This year, we delivered Wrapped for Podcasters to more creators than ever, demonstrating that the creator economy is growing—and rapidly.
We believe that a huge driver of this growth is accessibility to innovative creation tools. Of the aforementioned 1.2 million new podcasts published on Spotify in 2021, more than 1 million of them were created using Anchor, our all-in-one podcasting platform. Anchor now powers around 75% of all podcasts on Spotify—the vast majority of which are from independent creators—so its user behavior offers a great peek into what’s happening in the world of those up-and-coming podcasters.
Anchor offers more to creators than your basic record-and-upload. In 2021, we began offering a variety of features in Anchor that enable podcasters to create, grow, and monetize their content in ways that had never been possible before. This includes:
Interacting with listeners via Polls and Q&As right on Spotify
Publishing video podcasts to Spotify so listeners have a visual complement to content
We believe innovating on the creation experience has a profound impact on the growth of the overall podcasting creator economy. And when we took a look into the data from 2021, the numbers proved that to be the case.
Anchor continues to drive 80% of the new podcasts being published to Spotify every year.
These independent shows collectively are driving incredible engagement: In recent months, more than 40% of monthly podcast listeners on Spotify have listened to at least one show created using Anchor.
More than 13,000 Anchor-powered shows charted in 2021, making up 35% of the shows on Spotify’s charts this year.
As a result of rolling out these new formats that can’t be experienced anywhere else, the consumption of Anchor-powered shows globally leans toward Spotify, with around 65% of their consumption happening on Spotify.
The market for independent podcasters is truly global: The top markets, in terms of total new shows created on Anchor in 2021, were the U.S., Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, and India.
Central and South America in particular are on the come-up for a thriving creator economy in podcasts: Anchor’s fastest-growing markets in 2021, measured by average monthly increase in new shows, were Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, and Chile.
We’re excited to see continued progress in the podcast space as creators grow and hit their strides. Stay tuned for more to come in 2022!
Last October, Spotify launched a pioneering listening experience called Music + Talk that brings together music and spoken-word content. The unique format weaves full songs and talk commentary together into one show.
Through Anchor, Spotify has also made Music + Talk an accessible format that anyone can use to create these unique shows. Anchor’s suite of tools is already available to users in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand.
Starting today, we’re expanding the experience to millions more creators and listeners around the world and sharing the tool with 15 new markets across Europe, Latin America, and Asia.
Here’s everything you need to know.
Where in the world is Music + Talk?
With this expansion, Japan, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Colombia will have access to the blended audio experience.
Creators in these markets will now have access to the “Music” tool in Anchor, where they can incorporate full songs from Spotify’s library of 70 million tracks into their spoken-word audio creations. And in return, listeners can interact directly with the music within an episode by liking, saving, and sharing with each track as they would in any playlist.
The shows will be available to Premium and Free listeners. Spotify Premium users will hear full tracks as part of these shows, while Free users will hear 30-second previews of each song. Shows can be listened to globally wherever Spotify is available.
Our catalog of Music + Talk Spotify Originals will also get a boost across a number of markets as new shows from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, India, Japan, and the Philippines join our library today. Plus, there’s more to come from all the markets included in our latest launch.These shows will explore the many facets of music, from the stories and inspiration behind a song to the listening trends of the modern age, and they will offer an opportunity for artists to engage listeners in a unique way.
More ways to get inspired
Along with the market expansion, Spotify will begin offering a variety of new educational and inspirational resources for creators interested in using Music + Talk.
Today also marks the launch of an exciting new Spotify Original called Music + Talk: Unlocked, which will explore creative uses of the Music + Talk format—from guided runs to music trivia and more. Listeners and creators can find more best-in-class shows in the Music + Talk hub in the Spotify app.
Since we rolled out Music + Talk last year, we’ve learned from the needs and behaviors of listeners, as we always do with new products. Savvy streamers will notice that we’ve implemented small tweaks to improve the listening experience and reflect those needs: clearer visual distinction between the music and talk segments of an episode and music previews on episode pages.
We can’t wait to see new creativity and stories from around the globe as more markets make the audio storytelling features their own. Check out Anchor’s blog post and creator landing page for more information on how to get started with Music + Talk.
Today, legendary actor Matthew McConaughey released his memoir Greenlights, and Spotify has come along for the ride. The book, which he describes as a love letter to life, highlights words of wisdom and musings from the actor. To celebrate the launch, we’ve released an exclusive one-time curated show, best experienced on mobile, where McConaughey shares songs that helped soundtrack his life.
Along with this selection of music, listeners have the chance to hear the Academy Award® winner share stories about each track and why the songs are meaningful to him. Interesting anecdotes include how “Pink Houses” by John Mellencamp shaped his patriotism, and that his favorite song to pump iron to is “Son of Virginia” by Clutch.
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