SPOTIFY CELEBRATES JUNETEENTH (UPDATE)

Spotify is celebrating Juneteenth by featuring only black artists on the New Music Friday playlist and dedicating billboards in Times Square to black artists.

The all-black-artist takeover will remain active on New Music Friday for the week and will feature music across various genres. NMF updates every Friday at midnight ET/9pm Thursday PT.

Spotify has made Junetheenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the end of slavery in 1865 in the U.S., a permanent company holiday for all U.S. employees.

On the playlist front, Kirk Franklin has taken over KING, which celebrates black men and their roles as fathers; Throwback Thursday is changing weekly to highlight black music across genres from the 1950s to now; and Black to the Future features up and coming black artists including Sho Madjozi and Nasty C who take over the playlist this month; and Black History Salute, which honors the lives of black music legends who died this year, among them Bill Withers, Little Richard, Tony Allen, Manu Dibango and Betty Wright.

In addition, Tracee Ellis Ross kicked off the month curating Black Girl Magic with Gabrielle Union-Wade taking over to round out the month. Brittany Howard is the cover for this month’s Black, Queer, & Proud playlist.