Music szn Newsletter
Music SZN is an agency-wide culture initiative originally curated by a team of four: Christi Dupree, Joel Morales, Jessie Neuendorff and Kelley Smith. With a purpose of inspiring and educating coworkers, these monthly e-blasts frequently discussed unconventional brand activations, innovative performance opportunities, music streaming trends, brand pivots in the time of COVID and most recently, how to shake up the algorithm and listen to a more diverse set of artists.
Each e-blast was themed accordingly
Animation: Joel Morales | Art Direction & Illustration: Jessie Neuendorff
ALLYSHIP E-BLAST HIGHLIGHTS
When it comes to being an ally, there are myriad ways or “lanes” available to show your support. Each chosen action is key to changing the status quo, so whether you’re producing, creating, collaborating, listening, or recommending, we all have an opportunity to make room for diverse voices.
Through purposeful listening, allyship enables us to shift the music landscape for the better. With this in mind, we’re making some changes to the SZN Newsletter as we endeavor to make allyship a natural part of everything we do, including the music we listen to.
HOPE E-BLAST HIGHLIGHTS
HOPE: How are people LISTENING during quarantine?
As people around the world have increasingly moved inside over the past couple of weeks, we’ve seen music and podcast listening change in a variety of ways. For example, people are gravitating toward cooking- and housework-themed playlists, along with kid-friendly content, instead of music intended for get-togethers. This shift in listening habits shows that people are primarily focusing on family and domestic tasks.
To make it through the day, listeners are choosing from a variety of tactics. They’re opting for “chill” songs and calm-centric playlists that include more instrumental numbers along with healthy doses of nostalgia (think Cyndi Lauper and all things ‘80s), they’re focusing on self-improvement podcasts and playlists (think meditation, yoga, wellness, running, workouts, and the like), and they’re streaming content specific to their hobbies (think podcasts with the words “cooking” or “recipes” in the title or description).
To be entertained, people are looking to myriad sources, several of which are free or highly discounted. For avid concert goers, billboard provides a continuously updated hub of virtual concerts to stream. Afterward, listeners are heading to Spotify to stream the artists—giving them a similar bump to the one artists typically see after live concerts. James Blake, Indigo Girls, Ben Gibbard, Chloe x Halle, Code Orange, and Jewel are just a few of the many artists to see spikes in streaming so far. And when it comes to giving back, Billboard’s “Live at Home” program is one platform that enables entertainers to use these concerts as an opportunity to raise funds for various charities.
