Spotify has revealed the next four artists it’s backing through development program RISE to be Jorja Smith, Rex Orange County, Lanco and Karol G.
The streaming platform will highlight one of the four emerging artists every two weeks in a bespoke multimedia playlist.
Artists will get promo on Spotify’s owned and operated playlists and editorial channels, as well as through short form documentary films, original recording sessions with unique collaborators, live event activations, and collaborations on vertical videos.
Country band Lanco, who are signed to Sony Music, will be featured first.
Earlier this year, the band became the first country group to debut on the Billboard Country albums charts at No.1 in 10 years with their debut, Hallelujah Nights.
Later on, independent UK singer/songwriter and BRITs Critics’ Choice winner Smith (pictured) will receive the spotlight.
Smith has collaborated with Drake, recently gave a highly praised performance at Coachella and will release her debut album, Lost & Found, via a distribution deal with The Orchard on June 8th.
Fellow Brit Rex Orange County is also independent and releases music through Kobalt. He has two self-released albums to his name to date.
Finally, Karol G is a Universal Music Latin artist who released her debut album Unstoppable last year, which peaked at #2 on the Billboard Latin charts.
Spotify’s first raft of RISE Artists included three independent artists: Kim Petras, Lauv and Trippie Red, alongside Sony Music CG signing Russell Dickerson.
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