The Telegraph partners with Spotify to showcase songwriting talent

In a UK publisher first, The Telegraph has partnered with Spotify in a unique project which puts some of the UK’s best song writing talent in the spotlight. The campaign, called Story behind the song, features the likes of Charli XCX and Jessie Ware and uncovers, in their own words, how the lyrics of some of the world’s most celebrated songs came to be.

The advertising partnership with Spotify represents an opportunity for The Telegraph to reach a new audience of many millions of Spotify’s Free users with their content. The campaign was designed and built by Create Soho and is hosted on The Telegraph website with 30 second video spots, audio and static drivers and related playlists available to users on the Spotify platform.

“The Telegraph were the perfect news brand to create Story behind the song with” said Greg Jarvis, Director of Sales, Spotify.  “This is the first time we’ve worked with a media partner in this way to distribute content and the fascinating  interviews are gaining traction on our platforms, exposing both Spotify and Telegraph audiences to new ways to consume content”  

Story behind the song features a combination of singer/songwriters from a diverse mix of musical genres, chosen as the best lyricists in their field. A new songwriter is revealed weekly with the campaign set to run for a total of six weeks. Other artists involved include Wretch 32, Kodaline, Miranda Cooper and Craig David.

Each writer is interviewed by Arts and Entertainment editor, Alice Vincent, revealing how some of their most famous tracks were written and the sentiment behind them. All of the five minute video interviews are accompanied by an editorial write up and  full length podcast, available to download from The Telegraph website. The content is also distributed across the Telegraph 3rd party platforms and News App.

Alice Vincent, Arts and Entertainment Editor at The Telegraph said: “Story behind the song is an exciting and innovative content series. By collaborating with the team at Spotify and Create Soho, we have created something completely new for The Telegraph and are giving our readers exclusive access into understanding how well-known songs are crafted each week. The interviews have been honest and surprising, and are going down well both with our existing readers and new visitors to the site.”

Story behind the song is part of  The Telegraph’s ‘Words chosen well’ integrated brand campaign,  which aims to showcase its award-winning quality journalism and reappraisal of the brand. The campaign focuses on the impact of words, and the precision taken to choose the right ones, with the final point being, ‘Words are powerful. Choose them well’. With this sentiment in mind, the partnership is an excellent way to demonstrate the significance of words in action, with Spotify making the perfect audio partner.  

ENDS