Spotify Launches RADAR Punjabi & Fresh Finds For Rising Stars

Given the steady growth of Punjabi music on Spotify globally, the audio streaming platform announced the launch of RADAR Punjabi and Fresh Finds Punjabi, programs that put the spotlight on rising Punjabi artists. RADAR is Spotify’s global program for emerging artists, to help them deepen their connections to new and existing audiences around the world. Fresh Finds focuses on developing artists, serving as a launch pad for up-and-coming artists who are beginning their careers.

With music beyond films, including that produced by labels and independent artists, coming to the forefront, Spotify sees a huge opportunity to help artists grow their fan base not just in India, but across the world. Each month, one Punjabi artist will feature as a part of the RADAR program, and four artists as a part of Fresh Finds. This month, Raf Saperra features on the cover of RADAR Punjabi, while Fresh Finds Punjabi launches with Basant Kur.

“Punjabi music listeners are amongst those who spend the most amount of time on Spotify in India, and we have seen tremendous growth in the consumption of this language, year-on-year. With dedicated emerging artists programs for Punjabi artists, including RADAR and Fresh Finds, our intent is to provide these artists with a platform, help them grow, and put a spotlight on Punjabi music,” said Dhruvank Vaidya, Head of Music and Podcast, Spotify India. 

“We’re also celebrating four years of RADAR in India this year, and hope to enable more artists to find their audience and showcase their talent through this program”, he added.

Since its launch in India Spotify has focused on deepening engagement between local artists and listeners.  With its artist-first approach, Punjabi music is an important part of this strategy. In fact, Punjabi music playlists are some of the biggest contributors to the worldwide growth of Spotify’s editorial playlists from India. While Hot Hits Punjabi witnessed the highest increase at 10,000%, Punjabi 101 grew at 1400%. Meanwhile, Hot Hits Punjabi is among the top 20 Spotify editorial playlists globally.

Between 2020 till date, RADAR India has featured 40 emerging artists as a part of the program, providing them with playlist curation and marketing support. In the last year alone, RADAR India created 2.4 million new user-artist discoveries, and in 2023, the most listened to artists on the playlist saw their listenership grow by over 700% on average on the platform. Since its launch in 2021, over 120 artists have featured on the cover of Fresh Finds India, with over 1500 additional artists having been curated through the playlist.