Spotify Australia has partnered with members of the local indigenous community to curate playlists that surface and celebrate the meaningful and diverse music made by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
The first playlist, launched to celebrate NAIDOC Week, is ‘Black Australia’, and has been curated by Emily Nicol, an Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander media professional based in Sydney.
The playlist comprises of 50 songs, and aims to be an immersion into the diverse sounds of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music.
Artists featured include Electric Fields, Ziggy Ramo, A.B Original, Dan Sultan, Yothu Yindi, Jessica Mauboy, Emma Donovan, Warumpi Band, Archie Roach, Gurrumul Yunupingu, Christine Anu, East Journey, Radical Son, Robbie Miller, Tiddas, Thelma Plum, Frank Yamma, Busby Marou, and Pirra.
‘Black Australia’ will be heavily supported by Spotify, with featured placement in Spotify’s (on-platform) homepage carousel throughout NAIDOC Week, on-platform advertising, and paid social media.
Marcus Thaine, coordinator of artist and label services at Spotify Australia, said: “It’s important we create space for, and celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
“For some time, we’ve been looking at how best to shine a light on the music made by indigenous Australians, but it was of the utmost importance to us that this wasn’t led by Spotify, but the local community.
“We’re honoured to be working with Emily and others on this important initiative.”
Spotify will be working with a number of community curators over the coming months to launch playlists focused on prominent genres of music reflected in current Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music. More details of these playlists will be available shortly.
