Mumbai, 14th March, 2023: This International Women’s Day, Spotify wanted to send out a message — a statement that would make people realise how women artists are integral to every music composition that comes out. The task was simple – leverage the Spotify platform to deliver the message. Additionally, unlike brands using social media as a default starting point, for Spotify, the starting point was their own product.
Wondrlab crafted the idea of leveraging the product by putting the strength of Spotify’s playlists at the centre of it, and conceptualised ‘The Unheard Playlist’. The idea was to create an enhanced playlist on the platform with popular duet songs from across the country, with no female artist voice! Who would partner with them to undertake such a daring idea? Enter Sony Music India, one of India’s leading music labels. Spotify, in partnership with Sony Music India, brought alive a unique playlist on the platform, which at first seemed like a regular playlist. However, as you give it a listen, you ‘hear’ the message loud and clear! When listeners tuned in, they were shocked at what they heard. An enhanced playlist where the female vocals were muted from popular duet songs across Hindi and other regional languages. Just as the listeners were wondering at what they heard, the message was revealed by top Indian women musicians like Asees Kaur, Shweta Mohan, Sanah Moidutty in the form of a video. The artists spoke to the listeners explaining that not only does a song sound strange without a woman’s voice, but the music industry itself is incomplete without female voices. They urged viewers to help them get women’s voices heard. This is a smart way to make the listener realise how critical it is to have female voices in all our favourite songs. It makes it amply clear that actions speak louder than words.
While the intent was to give the message out via the product at its core, it caught the attention of a number of artists and influencers who then took to social media to share their love for ‘The Unheard Playlist’. As a result, conversations from across the spectrum started pouring in and the message was loud and clear – sometimes you need to unhear to actually hear someone.
Commenting on the campaign Sameet Soni, Content-Lead, WondrLab India, said, “Modern day advertising is about using platforms in the best manner to engage with consumers. We’ve seen such trends typically in categories such as gaming, but by muting the female vocals in popular duet songs, in Hindi and other regional languages, we used music innovatively, on a music streaming platform itself.’’
“What we’ve pulled-off thanks to Spotify and Sony Music India is amazing. And the act has taken a life of its own, with the top music artists in the country actually spreading our message. We actually muted the voices on the Spotify platform to get our message heard.” Said Amit Akali, CCO & Co-founder, WondrLab India Pvt. Ltd
Credits:
Spotify India
Marketing Manager – Pulkit Mathur
Marketing Manager – Lary Noronha
Artist & Label Partnership Manager – Sreekar Suravajhala
Senior Editor – Sannidh Shah
Editor Music & Culture – Vidya Sivalenka
Media Coordinator – Dixita Ghelani
Social Media Lead – Romit Naik
Social Media Consultant – Tanisha Murarka
WondrLab India PVT LTD
CCO & Co-Founder: Amit Akali
Managing Partner & Co-founder : Rakesh Hinduja
Content Leads: Rahul Mahajan & Sameet Soni
Copywriters: Akshita Gupta, Sameet Soni, Onkar Warade
Art Directors: Smith Tandel Parmar, Rahul Mahajan
Editors: Rakesh Kedare
Motion graphics: Pankaj Mhatre, Kristal D’Cunha
Integration Lead: Niharika Talwar
Integration Director: Shikha Seth
