Spotify’s AmplifiHer: Meet The Women Who Are Shining Bright In India’s Audio Industry

It's 2022 and women are breaking boundaries, especially in the audio business, as they join and lead this dynamic industry. In what has been a largely male-dominated profession globally, female talent is finding bold ways to represent their art. In India, women artists are making more experimental music and collaborating more closely to elevate each other, while the podcasters are challenging the societal mindset to create and host business, finance, true crime, and other content, breaking away from the stereotyped topics often associated with women-led audio shows.

To put the spotlight on women who are positively impacting India’s audio industry and influencing the next-gen creators and artists, Spotify launched a campaign, AmplifiHer, in 2021. Over the year, 12 advocates shared their stories of success and learnings with those who aspired to join the world of audio. This year, the second edition of this initiative will bring to the table another set of talented, influential, and accomplished women who, through their stories and experiences of growth and learning, will continue to inspire.

Akanksha Thapliyal Bhatt

Bhatt founded her own audio production company- Audio Vaani, after 10 years of experience in creative writing, brand promotions and voice overs with leading radio stations in the country. The storyteller-founder then took to podcasting in 2019 and today has multiple shows of her own, including Ink Podcast, The Yoga Dialogue, Man-o-manjan, and Woh Kya Tha.

Ananthi Iyappan

A celebrated RJ, Ananthi also hosts a Tamil reality TV show called Super Queen. She is also the force behind southern India's biggest book review YouTube channel- The Book Show. Here, she not only shares reviews but also her observations on sustainable lifestyle.

Asees Kaur

Known for her stints on reality shows like Indian Idol and Awaz Punjab Di, Kaur is the third-most streamed woman artist on Spotify in India. The singer is known to ace a soulful track as beautifully as an energetic dance number.

Deepika Arun

An engineer by degree and a child educator at heart, Arun dons many hats. Being a huge Potterhead, Harry Potter audiobooks inspired her to venture into audiobooks in Tamil and to take local literature to the listeners. This led to the launch of Kadhai Osai in 2019, under which Arun has narrated dozens of Tamil audiobooks.

Hanita Bhambri

Holding an MBA degree in marketing and working with several reputed companies, Bhambri decided to trade her career and turned into a full-time musician. In a short time, Bambri has garnered over 25 million streams across platforms, all thanks to her melodious voice and versatile singing.

Jonita Gandhi

A multilingual and multi-genre specialist, this Indo-Canadian vocalist can sing in 12 different languages. Due to her versatility, Gandhi has amassed audiences worldwide and is immensely popular for her live-solo acts. Jonita made her debut as a playback singer with Chennai Express in 2013 and since has sung for many popular films like Dishoom, Doctor and Dil Bechara.

Leeza Mangaldas

Holding a bachelor’s degree from the prestigious Columbia University, Mangaldas is India’s foremost sex-positive content creator who started her shows in 2017 on social media with the intention to normalise conversations around sexuality, sexual health, and the body for women. Mangaldas has also worked as a sports presenter, doing interviews with football players and covering live events.

Mali

Born Maalavika Manoj, Mali is a TedX speaker, a solo artist and a singer who has worked with some of the biggest names in the Indian music business. Earlier, she was a member of the underground band Bass-in-Bridge but became a solo artist after it dissolved in 2011. Mali was also featured on the BBC World News, in the documentary Rhythms of India.

Nikhita Gandhi

This singer, composer and songwriter is not only known for being the voice behind popular Bollywood chart-toppers, but also for her knack to effortlessly transition between traditional Indian singing and western pop styles. Not just Bollywood though, Gandhi is known to have sung songs for Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, and Kannada films too.

Nirmika Singh

Poet, curator and entrepreneur Nirmika Singh is currently the Executive Editor of Rolling Stone India. Singh is also known to have started popular poetry series #AurSuno, a combination of solo theatre and spoken word that address societal malaise, body image, identity, feminism, relationships and more.

Renuka Panwar

This 19-year-old superstar of the Haryanvi music industry has won the listeners’ hearts with her immensely successful titles such as ‘52 Gaj Ka Daman’. She is currently in news for her latest number ‘Laung Laachi', which earned over 30 lakh views in just three days.

Saindhavi

Known as a master of mixing genres like classical chants, film songs and Hindustani, Saindhavi has worked with many great composers in the country. The Carnatic music vocalist has over 3000 songs to her credit including those for Tamil and Telugu language films and title songs for television serials.

The article has been posted in collaboration with Spotify for their campaign AmplifiHer.