Spotify has named Nigerian-British artist DEELA as its EQUAL Africa artist of the month, adding her to the platform’s rolling spotlight for women artists across the continent, according to a statement distributed on behalf of Spotify by Irvine Partners.

The selection positions DEELA for increased algorithmic and editorial exposure on Spotify’s Africa-facing properties at a time when music streaming is a key route to discovery, monetisation and cross-border audiences for artists in Kenya and the wider region.

Spotify said DEELA has built momentum through releases spanning rap, hip-hop and Afro-influenced sounds. The company highlighted her 2025 album Wicked and pointed to tracks including “Slide” and “Why Always Me?” as part of the work underpinning the latest recognition.

The statement also outlined DEELA’s background, saying she was born in Lagos and raised between Nigeria and the UK, drawing on influences from both Lagos’ music culture and underground scenes in the United Kingdom. Spotify referenced earlier tracks including “FIT,” “Anyways” and “Watchu Mean” as examples of her prior work.

Phiona Okumu, Spotify’s Head of Music for Sub-Saharan Africa, said the platform’s EQUAL programme aims to elevate women creators within Africa’s music ecosystem. “DEELA’s music reflects the creativity and drive shaping Africa’s current music scene,” Okumu said. “As part of Spotify’s EQUAL programme, she represents how African women are advancing visibility, driving opportunities, and building global connections through their art.”

In an interview segment included in the release, DEELA described her motivation for making music and how she approaches industry spaces. “It was when I realised that I have this unshakable joy while I’m creating music and get into a flow state very easily,” she said, referring to the point she decided music was her direction. She added: “I love that people associate my music with confidence and fierceness because that’s exactly why I do it.”

Asked how she navigates the industry as a woman, DEELA said: “I always put myself out there. The best people you meet are outside, and it's important to always talk positively about yourself in these rooms. It feels daunting taking up space, but that’s the best way to navigate the music industry as a woman.”

Spotify’s EQUAL initiative is part of a broader shift in how platforms shape music discovery and consumption, with playlists and editorial programming increasingly influencing what listeners in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and diaspora markets hear. For East African labels, distributors and artist managers, such platform-led campaigns can translate into measurable uplifts in streams, follower growth and booking interest, although the company did not provide figures for the impact of this month’s spotlight.

The announcement comes as Spotify reports scale across its global business. In the same statement, the company said it has 751 million monthly active users and 290 million premium subscribers across 184 markets. Spotify also said its catalogue includes more than 100 million tracks and more than 7 million podcast titles.

Looking ahead, DEELA’s EQUAL Africa placement is expected to increase her visibility on Spotify’s discovery surfaces and related editorial properties over the month. Spotify did not disclose the next EQUAL Africa selection date in the statement.

Spotify has begun rolling out a new beta feature dubbed SongDNA to Premium users globally, aiming to show the creative links behind individual tracks by surfacing credits and related works directly in the mobile app’s Now Playing view.

In a media statement dated March 24 and issued from Nairobi, Spotify said SongDNA is built into the Now Playing screen on iOS and Android. The company said the feature is available on “supported tracks” and will become broadly available to all Premium users “throughout April.”

According to Spotify, users can tap a SongDNA card to explore a track’s writers, producers and collaborators, alongside samples and interpolations that influenced the song and covers it later inspired. The company said the card is designed to let listeners follow those links further—tapping through creators and their other collaborations—to see how artists and genres connect over time.

The launch adds to a growing set of in-app context tools music platforms are using to drive engagement. For Kenya’s fast-growing streaming audience and creator economy—where discovery and attribution are increasingly tied to monetisation—features that make credits and rights ownership more visible can influence how creators build followings and how audiences understand who is behind a hit.

Spotify said the information powering SongDNA “is powered by a combination of information we receive from artists and their teams, supplemented by community-sourced data.” As the company tests the experience, it said eligible artist and label teams can “review and manage the components of SongDNA” through Spotify for Artists.

“SongDNA is designed to make a song’s creative lineage more transparent so fans can easily explore the people and influences behind the music they love,” Jacqueline Ankner, Spotify’s Head of Songwriter & Publisher Partnerships, said in the statement. “By bringing collaborators, samples, and covers together in one place, we’re making it easier for fans to discover new music and see how songs connect and come to life—while giving songwriters, producers, and rightsholders meaningful recognition for the role they play in creating it.”

Spotify positioned SongDNA as complementary to its existing “About the Song” beta feature, which provides track-specific context. While About the Song focuses on a single track’s story, Spotify said SongDNA is intended to enable exploration across related works and contributor networks.

For the Kenyan and wider East African market, the rollout underscores how streaming platforms are competing not only on catalogue size and pricing but also on product features that deepen listening time and improve the visibility of behind-the-scenes contributors. More prominent attribution could also support local songwriters, producers and engineers seeking recognition across borders—especially where credits have historically been inconsistent across digital services.

Spotify included updated user metrics in its statement, saying it has 626 million monthly active users and 246 million Premium subscribers globally, and that it operates in more than 180 markets.

The company said SongDNA is rolling out in beta to Premium users globally on iOS and Android, with broader availability planned during April.