Music has always been a universal language, helping people communicate and connect without additional dialogue or even text. Music can help us unravel the deepest part of ourselves and act as a unifier. Bring people together and share their thoughts, feelings and emotions, whether they are suburbs, cities, or mainland. This has never been so true recently. Eliminating opportunities for people to connect face-to-face expands the need to create experiences so that they can still interact with those closest to us in a meaningful, emotional, and distance-beyond way. Several surveys conducted in the past year have shown that Gen Z audiences are particularly eager for shared public experiences. During the same period, Spotify also noticed an increase in content streaming as people sought ways to stay entertained, informed, and connected.
Spotify has also seen an increase in the number of people using the platform to co-create and share audio content – using their favourite music as a key communication form to create those engaging experiences.
Collaborative playlists are a fun and easy way for users to co-curate playlists with friends, by each adding their favourite tracks. Creating a playlist that has a ‘feel’ of each user gives people the experience of being together.
The popularity of collaborative playlists across sub-Saharan Africa was showcased in recent data released by Spotify.
Over the past 90 days, collaborative playlists received a significant amount of play in Ghana. There was a 9% increase with “7TH King’’ by Prince Sani Gee as the most played track in local collaborative playlists.
Nigeria and Kenya saw a 35% and 40% increase in collaborative playlist plays respectively, with “Far Away” by Nigerian, Afro-fusion singer Brainboy as the most played in Nigeria and “Calling My Phone” by 6black,Lil Tjay, taking the most plays in Kenya
South Africa, Uganda and Tanzania also saw an increase in the plays on collaborative playlists over the period.
Another wonderful way to share is through Group Sessions, which allow for the simultaneous listening of songs and podcasts. In the past 90 days, South Africa had the highest group session listening rate across sub-Saharan Africa.
The most popular track in group sessions in Ghana was Don’t you by Quinn XCII with South Africans loving “’’05:12 Space Caress” by Danger and “Dimension(feat. Skepta &Rema)’’ by JAE5 taking the most played in Nigeria.
“Features such as collaborative playlists and group sessions aid music discovery – a key imperative for Spotify. As Spotify’s presence and popularity continues to grow across Africa, we are encouraged that our audience are continuing to uncover and explore the many features on offer that can only amplify their listening experience“.
“Spotify is not just an audio streaming service. Users can “sound their lives” from the moment they wake up to the moment they fall asleep at night, and everything in between, and on Facebook and Instagram, etc. Seamless sharing on other social media applications. The platform provides an opportunity to connect through a shared love for music, which has provided comfort to many people in the isolation of the past few months.” Phiona, Music Director, Sub-Saharan Africa Okumu said.