At Spotify India’s very first EQUAL Day, we took a seat with the group behind the effort to discuss what it will consider ladies artists to continue growing in India’s music market
Punjabi artist Rashmeet Kaur carries out at Spotify EQUAL Day in Mumbai on May 14, 2026. Picture: Spotify India
At the first-ever Spotify EQUAL Day kept in India on May 14, 2026, Mumbai ended up being amongst 9 cities hosting the day-long occasion this year. The EQUAL program, which was released in 2021, intends to hold area and aid produce neighborhoods for ladies artists, songwriters and manufacturers.
In Mumbai, The Great Eastern Mills in Byculla hosted conversation panels, workshops along with efficiencies, all concentrated on females in the music market throughout functions, both on and off phase. The programs at the Spotify EQUAL Day in Mumbai drew from a YouGov research study that the tech business drifted in 2025, surveying over 1,000 participants in India, with 70 percent of them being ladies.
From the absence of mentorship (40 percent of participants flagged this) to looking for safe and inclusive workplace (56 percent stated it was amongst their leading 5 difficulties) and desiring higher presence and management representation (61 percent sought this modification), Indian females in the music market explained market spaces to Spotify through this study. They likewise flagged work-life balance and household support as amongst the difficulties they required to attend to.
In action, Spotify India hosted workshops on music money making, production, how to develop a creative identity, along with a number of panels that talked about safe areas and presence, respectively. Not long after, there was a switch to efficiencies by artists like Punjabi singer-composer Rashmeet Kaur, Mumbai pop artist Shalmali Kholgade, Nagaland singer-songwriter Temsu Clover, Shillong R&B artist Meba Ofilia and guitar ace Imnainla Jamir.
A day prior to EQUAL Day in India, Spotify India’s head of music and podcasts, Dhruvank Vaidya, made it clear that they likewise wished to push”males in senior positions” in the music market who were welcomed to “make a distinction.”
Spotify’s worldwide music programs lead Bel Aztiria produced and performed EQUAL beginning in 2021, initially beginning as a regular monthly marketing project and set of playlists.”I believe the variety of females in the market in basic is still rather low. Songwriters are still about 10 percent and manufacturers consist of 6 percent of the market [globally]so it’s still a substantial space,”she informs Wanderer India
Beyond simply being on the cover of a playlist, EQUAL has actually employed over 1,400 ambassadors throughout more than 40 markets given that 2021. These artists have actually accumulated over 50 billion editorial streams. Aztiria keeps in mind that when an artist has actually belonged to EQUAL, practically 60 percent of the streams originate from outside their home nation. “We see how producing this worldwide neighborhood is actually assessing how listeners approach these artists too, so an Indian artist might be listened to in Brazil for the very first time, which’s something I’m truly happy with in these last 5 years,” she states.
Typically, an EQUAL artist gets 1.1 million streams in the very first month of being contributed to an EQUAL playlist. It began in India with Sunidhi Chauhan and Shalmali Kholgade’s “Here Is Beautiful” tune getting promoted on EQUAL, with Spotify putting them on a Times Square signboard in 2021. In the years considering that, Shreya Ghoshal was selected as India’s very first EQUAL Global Ambassador in 2024, offered more international presence through playlists and promos. Artists such as Dhvani Bhanushali, Raashi Sood, and Raja Kumari have actually likewise been included on EQUAL India, whose flagship playlist presently includes the late famous vocalist Asha Bhosle.
Spotify’s editorial group picks these EQUAL ambassadors and artists. Aztiria states worldwide trusts each market to comprehend”what is essential to represent in womanhood and females’s artistry.”She includes,” Our concept is that we wish to represent ladies no matter their age. For us, it’s more about the artistry and how excellent their music is, and how excellent their stories [are]or how they defend females’s rights. It’s not about how they require to get to specific numbers, it’s never about that. “
Vaidya concurs and states even within India, they are taking a look at indie and prominent artists alike, with an included focus on their existing work and upcoming “huge releases” or “something rather memorable” in regards to their music and artistry. In your area, EQUAL likewise notifies the editorial options made when it pertains to playlists such as Women of Indie (presently including Chennai pop artist Sarah Black on the cover), Women of Hindustani Classical (with singer-composer Kaushiki Chakraborty on the cover) and others. 6 out of 11 of Spotify India’s RADAR playlists included females on the cover, while 3 out of 7 I-Pop Icons playlist cover stars were females.
“We attempt to make certain that equity and representation exists in whatever […] These are other paths that we’ve utilized to make the artist discovery much easier for India, offered how complex India remains in regards to categories and subgenres,” he states.
While indie labels like Femme Music and gender equity efforts by Women in Music India, TuneCore, Apple Music, YouTube Foundry, and IPRS have actually likewise been producing areas, advancement programs and presence for females artists throughout the market, the Spotify group states the objective is for this to end up being an industry-wide standard instead of the duty of simply a handful of platforms. When asked what they hope EQUAL would provide for the next generation of ladies artists, Aztiria states, “I hope that more individuals will join our objective and consider this a part of their everyday task and produce more areas. We absolutely do not desire this to be unique to us. The more individuals, the much better.” She acknowledges the advantage that features her function. “I want there were more throughout various business.”
She mentions how, in the future, “equity is a lot larger than music.” She discusses, “It’s an issue that is cultural, however a minimum of if we sign up with forces throughout music, and we have more functions like this, it’s much easier for us to reach that objective than simply us at Spotify attempting to move the needle.”
Particular to India, Vaidya states the platform wishes to make it possible for more discussions, actions and presence. “We desire more ladies artists inhabiting leading areas on the charts. That’s the instructions I wish to see,” he states.