Spotify's 'Black Lives Matter' playlist sees 1000% rise in subscribers on 'Blackout Tuesday'
Spotify‘s curated playlist titled ‘Black Lives Matter’ saw a colossal increase in subscribers on ‘Blackout Tuesday’ last week.
The initiative saw a music industry-wide movement to “disconnect from work and reconnect with our community” for 24 hours, held as “an urgent step of action to provoke accountability and change” following the death of George Floyd and subsequent protests for racial equality.
Spotify’s playlist jumped from 45,000 subscribers to 450,000 within two days following the initiative.
As Billboard reports, the Black Lives Matter playlist was originally curated by Spotify’s head of R&B and soul Mjeema Pickett and her team in 2015, following the death of African American woman Sandra Bland in a Texas jail cell, three days after she recorded an altercation with the police.
Following the death of Floyd in May, the playlist was then updated by Spotify and featured prominently on their homepage during Blackout Tuesday.
At time of publication the playlist has over 835,000 subscribers, and features tracks including James Brown‘s ‘Say It Loud – I’m Black And I’m Proud’, Childish Gambino‘s ‘This Is America’ and Beyonce‘s ‘Freedom’ featuring Kendrick Lamar.
Following worldwide protests for racial equality sparked by Floyd’s death, a number of musicians and industry figures have pledged funds and launched initiatives in aid of the black community.
Yesterday, Stormzy pledged to donate £10 million over 10 years to “organisations, charities and movements that are committed to fighting racial inequality, justice reform and Black empowerment within the UK”.
Earlier today, meanwhile, Halsey launched a “Black Creators Fund” to “provide financial support, resources and a platform”.
Elsewhere, The Grammys have announced they are dropping the word ‘urban’ from their awards categories, to be replaced with “Progressive R&B”, following pressure from across the music industry.
