All major streaming services from across the world including Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube etc have come together to pledge their support for Blackout Tuesday.
The platforms are marking their support with special playlists, social media blackout and moments of silence to protest against police violence and racism and also to honour George Floyd.
Spotify will be adding a eight-minute and 46-second long ‘moment of silence’ to selected playlists and podcasts on the platform. This eight minute and 46 seconds is exactly how long police officer Derek Chauvin pinned George Floyd down for with his knee on Floyd’s neck.
“June 2nd is Black Out Tuesday, a day of collective disconnect from work meant to help people reflect and come together in support of the Black community. On this day — and every day — Spotify will support our employees, friends, partners, artists, and creators in the fight against racism, injustice, and inequity,” Spotify wrote in a blog post.
Apple Music’s regular Beats 1 radio programming has been cancelled 9to5Mac reports, and it is instead promoting a streaming station that celebrates music produced by black artists. Its regular recommendation and radio tabs are showing a single playlist called “For Us, By Us.” There’s also a full page takeover that’s being shown to some users, featuring a message of support for the protest movement. However, users can still access their music libraries and Apple Music catalog as normal.
Amazon Music also tweeted in support of the movement, adding that it will be pausing all social media for the day. YouTube Music issued a tweet of support from its official account. YouTube previously pledged to donate $1 million to the Center for Policing Equity.
The action is part of a broader movement in the music industry. A number of record labels are participating in Black Out Tuesday following a call to action from Atlanta Records marketing chief Jamila Thomas and former Atlantic employee Brianna Agyemang that started with the hashtag #TheShowMustBePaused. ViacomCBS is also participating in a blackout lasting 8 minutes and 46 seconds across its network and cable channels starting 5PM ET on Monday.
As well as pausing all social media publication, Spotify said it would replace headline podcast and playlist images and logos with a blacked out image, and more prominently promote black artists and podcasters with specially curated playlists and its existing Black History is Now hub. The company is also matching financial donations made by employees to organizations fighting racism and injustice.
