Lisbon, Oct. 9, 2024 (Lusa) - Portuguese independent musicians now have a new tool to help them promote and publicise their work on the main streaming platforms, called IndieLights, the project's promoters announced on Wednesday.

This national project was launched in partnership by the Association of Musicians, Artists and Independent Publishers (AMAEI) and GDA - Management of Artists' Rights.

Indielights aims to "transform the way independent music is discovered and appreciated on the main streaming platforms" and responds to the "growing need to give visibility to independent Portuguese music artists, whose works on streaming platforms are often on the fringes of an increasingly competitive market", the promoters explain in a statement.

To this end, it brings together a diverse selection of playlists curated by experts and will soon launch the Indie Spotlights podcast dedicated exclusively to Portuguese independent music.

"IndieLights' mission is to broaden the reach of Portuguese independent artists by meticulously combining their works in playlists grouped by musical style, theme and mood," they say.

This project aims, in the long term, to develop playlists that include independent artists from a wide variety of musical genres and that combine national and international music, "thus re-educating the platforms' algorithms, which minimise the diversity of Portuguese music and group it all into a single category that limits artists geographically".

This approach, which also aims to internationalise, not only benefits musicians in terms of visibility, but also increases their earnings from streaming, a crucial aspect for the sustainability of artists in smaller markets, they explain.

To help curate the project, AMAEI and GDA invited recognised personalities and entities in the music sector in order to cover the widest possible range of styles, recognising the growing diversity and fusion of genres in national independent music.

António Freitas (Alta Tensão, Antena 3), Fernando Alvim (Prova Oral, Antena 3), Maria Seixas Correia (Curto Circuito, SIC Radical), Manuela Paraíso (from the former SBSR FM), Isilda Sanches (Pontos de Luz, Antena 3 and Observador), Vitor Belanciano (Público journalist and cultural critic), as well as Hot Club Portugal and Metropolitana are some of the names already confirmed.

However, this group of curators is not watertight and is in ‘constant progress’, as are the playlists themselves.

AL/AYLS // AYLS

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