For a long time, talking about the music industry meant talking primarily about artists, producers, labels, venues, and songs. While they remain a fundamental part of the industry, music today is also driven by an ever-growing network of voices that listen closely, introduce it to new audiences, and keep it alive in everyday conversations.
Spotify sees this movement up close. Every day, millions of people come to the platform to listen to what they love and discover new songs to soundtrack their daily lives. But music discovery doesn’t happen in just one place, nor does it always begin by pressing play on a song. It also comes from conversations, recommendations, communities, and voices that help shape the culture around music. That’s why we’re introducing Shapers, our new program to highlight the people who lead and amplify those conversations.
In the streaming era, there is no single path to discovering music. Sometimes it starts with a Spotify playlist and continues through an interview, a Reel, a review, a set, a podcast, a cover story, or a conversation among friends. Other times, it happens the other way around: someone says, “You have to listen to this,” and that recommendation becomes a new favorite song.
For Spotify, these connections matter because music discovery is about much more than finding a song. It’s about connecting artists, fans, creators, and communities. Technology can help discovery happen at scale, while people bring something irreplaceable to the experience: context, judgment, emotion, and their own unique perspective on culture.
That’s why Shapers doesn’t celebrate virality for virality’s sake. It celebrates contribution: the ability to elevate artists, bring scenes into the conversation, explain genres, revive musical memories, build community, and broaden the way we talk about music in Colombia.
These creators are bridges between artists and fans, past and present, and local scenes and digital audiences. They connect songs that are already part of our story and new sounds that are only beginning to find their place.
In Colombia, music runs through regions, accents, celebrations, neighborhoods, family memories, and expressions of identity. That’s why telling its stories well matters deeply. And that’s why we’re highlighting the people who recommend the music, document it, give it context, and help it continue to find listeners, spark conversations, and take on new meaning.
A song may begin in a studio, but its story becomes complete when someone listens to it, shares it, and makes it part of a conversation.
That’s what Shapers do: they help music travel further.
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