Spotify launches campaign to promote African Dance Music Culture

Spotify, a digital music service that gives access to millions of songs, has launched a campaign to promote African Dance Music Culture.

The campaign, ‘Spotify African Heat’ features African artistes like Focalistic, Fuse ODG, Olamide and other African stars.

Centred on the key role that the Afro-dance community has played in spreading African pop music across the globe, the campaign also includes leading female faces of dance music in Africa like Moonchild Sanelly, Sho Madjozi, Niniola and Amapiano’s Lady Du.

Speaking on the campaign, Phiona Okumu, Spotify Head of Music, Sub-Saharan Africa, said “the rich diversity of musical talent in Africa inspires and engages fans around the world.

“Spotify continues to use the power of its platform to amplify African voices across a global stage, building an ongoing narrative that supports and puts African creators at the forefront.

“As a way of celebrating the power of African voices across the continent and beyond, Spotify is shining a spotlight on one of its flagships, curated playlists African Heat, through an interactive campaign that brings the spirit of Africa alive around the world.

“The campaign journeys through a series of partnerships, activations, a dance challenge video (#africanheatchallenge) and more creative content opportunities that will play out through on-and-off-platform initiatives on local, regional, and international levels.

“Highlighting the diversity of African talents, the playlist is an explosion of Afro-centric sounds, carving out a space for African creators to showcase their music to a global audience,” Okumu said.

Olamide Adedeji, with stage name Olamide, in his comment, said:  “Dance culture has helped my music spread outside of the continent. Music and dance go hand in hand.”

African international artiste, Focalistic said: “My music is an honest expression of who I am and where I come from, Pitori. I am the voice of the hood. I am the voice of the youths. I want to take my voice to the world and Spotify is helping me do that.

“With my recent Davido collab on the ‘Ke Star Remix, promoting African Heat to a wider audience gives me and other African artistes more opportunities to reach millions of Spotify listeners.

“Music is a universal language and I want the world to understand our lingo, our movement, and our sound. I am excited to see where we can go. To the top.”

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Spotify recently expanded its footprint in Africa by launching into new markets including Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda, giving African creators the opportunity to connect with a global audience of fans.