The music industry is highly competitive, and making it big doesn’t come easily for most. Supporting new and emerging artists is a worthwhile effort that can give these artists a broader platform and help spread their work to a wider audience.

In the past, Spotify has launched initiatives designed to highlight emerging artists including Spotlight and RISE, which helped to support artists such as Foster the People, Lauv, and King Princess through marketing assistance and increased exposure. Now, RADAR is the latest of these initiatives, and it is bigger and better than its predecessors.

Celebrating 36 artists from around the world at its start, RADAR is a collaborative effort across 19 sister programs. These artists represent countries including Brazil, Japan, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Most of these artists have just a few hundred or thousand monthly listeners, though some like Young T + Bugsey clock in at 2.9 million. The program began six months ago, but Spotify has recently launched a global hub to highlight the artists and their new releases. 

Ned Monahan, Spotify’s Head of Global Hits, has touted RADAR as being a cross-genre, international initiative that strives to support up-and-coming artists around the world and allows global marketing and editorial teams to better support these rising stars. Spotify is present in 79 markets around the world, so launching a global initiative only makes sense. While RADAR has the same goal regardless of the market, local teams have the freedom to adapt the program to better suit regional markets and artist needs.

Already, many artists who have been a part of RADAR have observed an increase in their monthly listeners both domestically and internationally. With more users listening to music in languages beyond their native tongues, the global music market is more exciting than ever, making it ideal for artists around the world to appeal to an expanded audience.

Among the 36 artists initially highlighted by RADAR is Alaina Castillo, whose single “i don’t think i love you anymore” has already accumulated 3 million streams. Through RADAR, Spotify will include her on A COLORS SHOW (with COLORSxSTUDIOS), provide music video support, feature her music on the new On Our RADAR playlist, and more. Other artists will receive similar opportunities and support to help them grow their audiences and access resources that are typically reserved for more established artists.

Support through RADAR is intended to range from six to 12 months, but the goal of this initiative is to provide emerging artists with important resources, experiences, and professional frameworks to help them navigate the industry beyond their involvement with the RADAR program.

Spotify has always had an enthusiastic commitment to supporting emerging artists, and RADAR is just the latest example of the company’s passion for this initiative. Through RADAR, Spotify aims to continually support emerging artists around the world, granting them unique opportunities and increased exposure to help them achieve greater success throughout their careers.

Be sure to check out Spotify’s On the RADAR playlists on the app and keep an eye out for fresh spotlights of talented emerging artists from around the world.