Speechlist is not only aiming to bring awareness on the inequities that exist in the music industry, by leveraging the music of a new generation of artists, the idea is also taking a step to promote artists at the same time. To achieve those ambitions, the collaboration with influencers was instrumental. They led the charge to amplify the conversation amongst their followers so they could discover new music creators through each Speechlist.

The fight for equality for the Black community in Canada goes way beyond 1946 when Viola Desmond challenged racial segregation at a cinema in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, by refusing to leave a whites-only area. And still, racial injustice exists today in the music industry.

6 out of 10 Black music creators have experienced discrimination, according to a joint study by the Diversity Institute and Music Canada. Another report found that more than 80% of artists say they lack opportunities to start their careers because of their race. Structural inequalities make it difficult for them to access opportunities, secure record deals, or receive fair compensation.

DESTA’s mission is to address these kinds of barriers and support Black youth to reach their goals through holistic and individualized programs – but this time they took an extra step to support and bring visibility to emerging artists.

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 to leverage the conversation of Black History Month and shift the spotlight to a new generation of voices.

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.