“I used to be hooked to the thought of a platform the place I might publish by myself, with out an company coordinator or advertiser telling me methods to modify my content material. I knew what my listeners wished and I had the liberty to publish it,” mentioned Nidhi Basu, a voice actor of 12 years and the girl behind ‘Kissa Kahani’, a Spotify unique podcast Hindi Sahitya.
“That was the high I got on the podcast – my own choice of stories!” He mentioned passionately in a digital dialog with journalists.
Influencers Diksha and Krutika Khurana, the voices behind yet one more Spotify-exclusive podcast ‘What’s Up Sisters’, acknowledge the autonomy that the platform offers them. What began out as a approach to current a “raw, uncut” model of her life to her thousands and thousands of followers on varied social media platforms quickly turned a hotbed of debate about what was thought of ‘taboo’ for ladies.
Talking about subjects centered on ladies creates a double barrier within the audio and video area – a powerful sense of “taboo”, in addition to under-representation of girls within the discipline. It’s the second issue that Spotify says it is aiming to deal with.
Finding an Audience for the ‘Unspeakable’
Khurrana defined that her dad and mom suspected that the 2 ladies wished to share their lives on the Internet with strangers, and solely bought comfy with it over time. “We additionally share the issues that guys do not discover acceptable to come back out of a woman’s mouth. We discuss relationships, intercourse and feminine happiness, but the dialog is basically a no-go space,” she mentioned.
However, help from their viewers, 80 % of whom are ladies, inspired the 2 to proceed sharing their experiences in episodes like “Social Media: Inside and Out” or “Boy Drama.” “When we started talking about it, we saw people engaging in discussions in the comment section. We were initially very scared to talk about sex and masturbation, but a lot of girls who were listening to us said that it makes them feel more confident about themselves,” Khurana mentioned.
Poonguzhali Sundaram, a Tamil youth behind ‘Yours Positively’, a podcast masking psychological well being and self-development, echoed the thought.
Growing up in a semi-urban location, Sundaram realized that girls’s psychological well being was usually uncared for. He mentioned that since males historically go to work whereas ladies are taken to home locations, they’re usually requested “You are sitting at home, so what are your mental health problems?” Questions like these must be confronted.
Her podcast makes an attempt to alter that notion, and Sundaram mentioned that Spotify’s help has made her content material accessible to quite a lot of audiences.
Addressing the gender hole by ‘Amplify Her’
Speaking to IndianExpress.com, a Spotify spokesperson mentioned that on surveying markets the world over, the audio and music streaming platform acknowledged gender gaps within the business, prompting them to launch the ‘Amplify Her’ program .
“If you have a look at the music charts or the podcast charts, it is predominantly male. It’s a perform of the society we reside in. Look at Bollywood for instance, many of the films are male protagonist-centric, so primarily You can have extra male singers who will proceed to look on the charts,” the spokesperson mentioned.
“We wished to experiment by 2021 to see if we will begin to change the narrative. Let’s discuss ladies and lift their voices.”
A current research by the US-based USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in collaboration with Spotify discovered that girls are under-represented within the audio business.
“Women accounted for 21.6 % of all artists on the Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart over the previous 9 years and represented solely 20.2 % of artists on the chart in 2020. The 2020 proportion displays the fact that nobody has been significant and nearly a There has been a gradual enhance within the proportion of feminine artists over the last decade,” the report mentioned.
The spokesperson elaborated that the streaming app spoke to a number of feminine creators, who additionally mentioned that under-representation and non-discrimination have been main issues for ladies within the audio business.
For instance, Sundaram mentioned that when she began within the podcast business in 2017-18, she met many feminine creators, however, “Now, they don’t seem to be that energetic or they stopped as a result of they didn’t get the precise help. “
Spotify’s Amplify Her program is multifaceted. It consists of an advocacy group of 12 feminine creators from throughout the business and supplies a platform for them to share their journey. It additionally collaborates with a worldwide program referred to as Equal, which headlines a feminine producer every month. Amplify additionally focuses on each single different world program, Sound Up, which supplies coaching for anybody enthusiastic about making a podcast.
“India has the second largest number of applications for Sound Up in the global markets, with 10 names shortlisted,” mentioned a spokesperson for the streaming app. The individuals chosen are coached by Riya Mukherjee and Mai Thomas, each of whom have a long time of expertise within the audio business.
proper time to start out
Spotify’s push for inclusivity comes at a time when the podcast business is booming. The 2020 KPMG report for the media and leisure business states that podcast consumption has elevated by 29.3 % by the COVID-19 pandemic. “India is already the third largest podcast listening market and is expected to be worth Rs 176.2 million by 2023,” the report mentioned.
In current occasions, women-led podcasts equivalent to My Thomas’ Mad in India, Surabhi Bagga’s Overthink Tank, or Swati Rawat’s Vision Nari have gained immense recognition.
A Spotify spokesperson additionally confirmed that COVID-19 has ushered in additional creators and listeners to the app. The hours spent listening to podcasts on the platform have additionally elevated.
“There is a growing demand for content around mental wellbeing or about learning a new skill,” the spokesperson informed indianexpress.com, including that “more regional content is popping up on the charts with the onset of the pandemic.”
Sundaram, which publishes solely Tamil content material, noticed a dramatic enhance in listenership, who would ship messages requesting content material round positivity. “The podcast was a great companion for those dealing with mental health issues and living alone,” she mentioned.
Basu, who grew up with radio, mentioned he anticipated his viewers to be big, however discovered that 50-60 % of his viewers consisted of 18-34 12 months olds. “It tells us a couple of era of younger people who find themselves video-saturated. They grew up with video, the place the visuals are so quick that they can not have interaction with the content material. These younger persons are transferring to a extra in-depth medium, audio.”
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
