Streamers celebrate Pride Month 2021 with dedicated channels devoted to LGBTQIA+ artists and creators from Amazon Music, Apple Music, Deezer, Spotify and YouTube Music. Events of all kinds will be held during June in many countries including the UK and US to remember and celebrate when the Stonewall Riots took place back in 1969. This is a round up of the offerings from the mainstream streaming services.
Amazon Music launches Pride History
On the 29th May, Amazon Music launched a new daily feature called Pride History which users can access via Alexa. Throughout June, customers can ask, “Alexa, open Pride History” to hear a different story from LGBTQ+ history. Narrated by guest speakers (Melissa Etheridge, Tegan and Sara, and Kim Petras), each story is paired with a song to soundtrack that moment in history, featured in ‘The Sounds of Pride History’ playlist. This feature was developed with Matthew Riemer, co-creator of the @lgbt_history Instagram account and co-author of We are Everywhere.
Amazon Music relaunched the PROUD Playlist on the 29th May. The global playlist spotlights new music from LGBTQ+ artists both during Pride and beyond to celebrate this community of artists all year round.
The PROUD playlist features newly commissioned artwork by non-binary UK-based artist Kate Moross, featuring bespoke typography, abstract shapes, and symbols from the LGBTQ+ community.
As part of the newly relaunched PROUD Playlist, Amazon Music will also debut brand-new Amazon Originals to highlight the work of ground-breaking LGBTQ+ artists. We have already debuted an Amazon Original with Haley Kiyoko who covered The Killers’ 2003 hit, ‘Mr. Brightside’.
Sylvester mini-Documentary on Amazon Music
Later in Pride Month, Amazon Music will debut a mini-documentary on the trailblazing queer disco icon, Sylvester. The documentary, which includes extensive, rarely seen footage of Sylvester and his performances, will tell the story of the San Francisco-based singer’s international smash hit, ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’, illustrating how the singer and his most enduring song continue to influence today’s pop music.
Apple Music now has a dedicated Music Pride page
This will be available year-round and users will be able to find videos, playlists and interviews celebrating Pride. Content will include Pride Talks, guest curated playlists, exclusive DJ mixes and Apple Music radio shows. Apple Music’s Pride page can be found here.
Deezer honours queer artists and creator with its ‘Queer Culture Channel’
Deezer’s new ‘Queer Culture’ channel will be a permanent fixture on the Deezer platform. The channel will be regularly updated with the very latest content from queer talent worldwide. Fans can explore a range of editorial playlists like ‘Queer Icons’ and ‘The new generation of artists’. Here they can listen to long-standing champions of the community or discover new queer artists. For a mixture of tracks, Deezer’s ‘Celebrate queer music’ playlist covers the likes of drag music, vogue and LGBTQ moods. They have also given a dedicated home to soundtracks for TV shows and movies that brought queer culture to the masses like ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’, ‘It’s A Sin’ and ‘Pose’.
Later this month, Deezer will debut ‘Deezer Queer Culture Sessions’. These exclusive sessions will feature popular queer artists including Mykki Blanco, Calum Scott, Tayla Parx and Carlie Hanson. They’ll cover tracks like ‘Boys in the Street’ by Greg Holden, ‘Wannabe’ by Spice Girls and ‘Here Comes My Girl’ by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
Besides bringing you curated artist playlists like Princess Nokia’s ‘Midnight Mixtape’, queer content creators and producers are also fully represented. If you’re looking to learn more about LGBTQ+ life, culture and history, you can find a selection of podcasts like Nancy and LGBTQ&A and audio fans in Germany can also listen to Queer specific audiobooks. Deezer’s ‘Behind the music’ playlist will also take fans behind the scenes to champion queer producers and songwriters like Sophie and Victoria Monet.
The Queer Culture Channel marks Deezer’s ongoing diversity efforts. In 2020, it took action to support black artists and creators by removing the term ‘Urban’ and launching a ‘Black Culture’ channel. Now, a permanent fixture on Deezer, they are committed to promoting audio content from the most talented black creators worldwide. Since its launch streams of Kalash Criminel’s “Black History Month” Session in 2021 have seen a 225% boost in its week of launch.
The Queer Culture Channel is available here.
Claim Your Space with Spotify
This Pride, Spotify is encouraging the queer community to make noise, make their presence known, and make their own rules with a single rallying cry: CLAIM YOUR SPACE. With a series of activations, this global campaign is aimed at creating permanent space, both physical and digital, for the LGTBQIA+ community.
Spotify’s on- and off-platform programming includes
- Spotify’s annual Pride Hub: A dedicated editorial hub that will promote LGBTQIA+ artists, podcasters, and playlists, as well as showcase exclusive Spotify Clips video content from artists including Kehlani, Hayley Kiyoko, Hope Tala, Claud, Urias, ILOVEMAKONNEN, Princess Nokia, Leland, and Kaydence all month long.
- Original Pride Singles: Continuing the Pride Singles programme launched last June by working with queer artists Dua Saleh and Lido Pimienta to create a new set of original Pride singles. These will be available from the 14th June.
- Pride Venue Playlists: Spotify has teamed up with queer bars and clubs across the world, including Casita del Campo in LA, Alibi Lounge in New York, A League of Her Own in DC, Homoelectric in Manchester, Pxssy Palace in London, and Punka in Bristol to create signature playlists for each venue, celebrating these essential community spaces after a brutally difficult year for nightlife.
- Pride Cities Playlists: Spotify is launching city-specific playlists curated by queer local musicians. Tune in for a taste of DJ Minx’s Detroit, Fancy Hagood’s Nashville, Big Freedia’s New Orleans, MUNA’s LA, and more.
- Social Share Cards: Listeners can express themselves on social with Spotify-created Pride cards, filling in the blanks to show off what Pride sounds like to them in their own city, country, or community.
- Pride Murals: Spotify is also working with queer artists in Detroit, Nashville, and New Orleans – places where the queer community has been instrumental to the music scene, but their stories are often untold – to commission permanent murals celebrating these ground-breaking local LGBTQIA+ artists and activists, in close collaboration with queer community spaces and The Ally Coalition.
Spotify said, “At the heart of this global campaign is a desire to permanently create more space for queer representation both on our platform and in our culture. At each touch point across the campaign, Spotify will be donating directly to all of our key partners, including queer venues and local organziations such as BreakOUT! in New Orleans, Just Us at Oasis Center in Nashville, and Ruth Ellis Center in Detroit.”
To stream Spotify’s flagship Pride playlist, Out Now, go here.
YouTube Music is ‘Celebrating Pride’
YouTube Music is celebrating LGBTQ+ youth who show us all how to live and love, label-free, with a playlist that you can find right on the YouTube homepage that features uplifting content from YouTube creators like Anna Akana and Tarek Ali. You can also hear bold and brave conversations from Georgia Bridgers and Sufi Malik as they share their personal journeys to self-acceptance.
YouTube Music will also be honouring Pride month in a variety of ways across the platform. You’ll be able to tap into the ‘Celebrating Pride’ playlist which includes music from both iconic and up-and-coming artists. In addition to this playlist, fans can also enjoy several others that celebrate Pride and showcase the incredible breadth of music on YouTube.
Learning more about Pride
And to learn more about LGBTQ+ history, go to the YouTube Learning destination where there are several playlists and videos, including ‘A Brief History of Pride’, which explores the origins and key elements of Pride from the rainbow flag to gender pronouns. There is also ‘The Stonewall Riots: Birth of a Movement’ playlist that looks at the 1969 events and how they were a turning point for LGBTQ+ rights.
