Serving the Greater Montreal area since 2006, DESTA supports Black youth in reaching their educational, employability, and entrepreneurial goals. The non-profit’s programs and funds center on addressing barriers facing Black youth and empowering them with training and skills needed for long-term security and success.

Their ask was to help showcase new talent in the context of Black History Month (celebrated during February). They were delighted to discover an idea that unlocked the power of history. They said: “DESTA and our teams share the same desire to create something lasting that resonates with the community, bringing awareness to the historical significance of these speeches while spotlighting the talents of the Black community.”

Transform history into a platform that promotes emerging Black artists by recreating iconic speeches from Black History Month word-for-word through song titles.

During Black History Month, some of the most important statements from the Civil Rights Movement were brought to life through curated playlists featuring tracks by today’s Black musicians and artists. Each song title became a word (or words) to recreate the powerful speeches of Viola Desmond, Martin Luther King, Malcom X, Jackie Brown, Nina Simone, and Rosemary Brown.

It took more that 195 hours of music research to curate the playlists which, combined, are promoting more than 200 artists through 6 playlists and 984 minutes of music.

The speechlists were launched on social media, re-shared by influencers, and promoted through strategic out of home placements at events and relevant venues for the Black community.

While Speechlist was based on Spotify, Instagram was identified as one of the platforms where emerging artists were present and eager to gain traction. So, we cross-referenced artists with influencers that would appeal to their potential fan base and invited them to share the initiative. They shared the story of Speechlist and created Reels comparing the playlist with the audio of the speeches already available on the platform. Following their example, other users started to create their own content, amplifying the conversation with the hashtag #speechlist to drive social media reach.

First, we selected champions of the Civil Rights Movement to inspire each Speechlist, starting with Viola Desmond, the iconic Canadian Civil Rights activist who is even featured on the $10CA bill. Then we went online to capture their most representative speeches, the ones that still resonate in today’s social reality and appeal to the current situation of the music industry.

Once selected, the real challenge began. We had to find a perfect match for each word of the selected segment of the speech. It took more than 195 hours of music research to curate the playlists which, combined, promote more than 200 artists – all of them part of the Black community. Combined, the 6 playlists represent 984 minutes of music.

With each Speechlist, people can discover new artists as they get a link to DESTA’s page to learn how to support talent facing barriers because of their race.

During Black History Month, Speechlist accumulated 9.2 million song reproductions, that’s more than 30 million minutes of streamed music. More than 200 artists were promoted. During the launch week, 5 previously unknown music creators were discovered by more than 11,000 listeners for the first time through the Speechlist they were featured on.

On social media, DESTA had a 5% follower growth during that month, and based on following of influencers and partners who shared the initiative, Speechlist reached more than 1M people, but most importantly, the impact translated into $1.7 million earned media for the emerging artists.