In a move that reinforces the company’s commitment to Black Artists, Deezer has created a “Black Culture” channel. The company says this innovation is designed to inspire and continue to shape the music industry. It will be a permanent fixture on Deezer.
Pandora recently created a Black Music Forever radio station in the wake of worldwide BLM protests. This also comes as Deezer has made a number of changes to its UI to make their podcast service more user friendly.
“Black Culture” channel to support black artists
Deezer has pointed out the number of black artists that failed to become worldwide superstars because of their race. The company has decided to support this community more through the creation of this channel.
Deezer has also tackled some of the stereotypes within the industry. In June 2020 the company stopped using the term “Urban” as they viewed it as outdated and something that had no place in the industry.
The “Black Culture” channel is designed to promote and celebrate black artists throughout the world. The channel is now live on all users home page and will showcase some of the best black music from across the world.
Playlists created to celebrate new and old black artists
Deezer has carefully curated a variety of playlists to celebrate both new and legendary tracks from black musicians. These cover all genres of music and will also debut new playlists of iconic black artists.
There will also be an “Editors Picks” section which his a longstanding feature of the Deezer platform. This section will be updated weekly with the newest releases from black artists all around the world.
The plan is also to allow users to discover black music from across the globe. Playlists such as “All Eyes On Jamaica,” “Afro Pop” and “Spirit have been created as well as protests playlists such as “Shout It Loud”. Deezer has also created a “Queer Hip-hop” playlist to support the LGBTQ+ community.
This channel will also support black voices in the form of podcasts. “Black Culture” will promote and celebrate creations such as “Black Girl Podcast” and “Pod Save the People”. It will also encourage fans to listen to podcasts which allow people to learn more about and evolve their perspectives around racism.
Junior Foster, our Global Editor for the “Black Culture” channel and Head of Global Artist Relations had an impassioned statement to make on the creation of the channel.
She said, “We support the BLM movement. Throughout history, black musicians have been making music the world loves. In more recent years, black podcast creators have hosted chart-topping shows.”
Going onto point out that, “not all black creators are getting the attention and respect they deserve. We want to change that. Our new channel is a first step on a long journey”.
This looks to be a positive example of a large company making a change in response to global BLM protests. Hopefully, the channel will prove to be a hit and can amplify the voices of black creators and musicians.