Spotify announces Creator Equity Fund for emerging Ghanaian artists

Global music streaming platform Spotify has announced a special fund targeted at supporting emerging artists.

Emerging artists have continued to struggle to attract wide audience, especially as the music industry is becoming bigger and requiring more resources to reach larger listeners. In light of these challenges, Spotify has decided to create a support fund for emerging Ghanaian artists.

The Creator Equity Fund is a partnership between Spotify and Vibrate Space, which is operated by Surf Ghana in Accra, a community recording studio and music business programme, offering education, mentorship and space to young Ghanaian artists, so that they can create, connect and collaborate.

Spotify first partnered with Vibrate in September 2022 with a donation that facilitated the launch of the studio. Over the past six months, Vibrate has registered over 200 studio bookings, and hosted many more creators for events and classes.

To help Vibrate achieve its robust plans to grow and support the creative economy in Ghana, Spotify is making a sizeable donation from its Creator Equity Fund which will be administered over multiple years.

Phiona Okumu, Head of Music for Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) describes the fund as an opportunity to support artists in ways that speak directly to each of our markets.

The most recent donation was announced on March 28 at an event at Surf Ghana by Spotify’s Global Head of Artist and Audience partnerships Joe Hadley. The donation will be administered over multiple years, enabling the organisation to collaborate with and support even more aspiring young artists who seek to kick-start their careers.

Vibrate’s plans to use the additional funding for artist support include a festival at the space, to be held at the end of the year, supporting artists to put on their own events and establishing a youth hostel, where young people can find affordable, short term accommodation while also experiencing the collaborative and community aspects of Vibrate.

The organisation is also looking to establish an artist in residency and exchange programme to fuel creativity, collaboration and cultural exchange, as well as a women’s programme aimed at supporting women’s growth in the industry. They also intend to expand their educational offerings, by extending their highly successful monthly masterclasses for another two years and introducing a three month instrument learning programme, starting with piano lessons and expanding into other instruments.