UT Austin is home to a wealth of talented student musicians who write and produce their own music; however, the student body remains unaware of the musical talent on campus. The University should increase its promotion of its UT Austin Student Artists Playlist to better support student musicians on campus.
The UT Austin Student Artists Playlist is a Spotify playlist created by the School of Design and Creative Technologies (SDCT) to empower student artists. The playlist opens for submission every spring, giving musicians an opportunity to share their music with students and faculty on campus.
“My main goal was just to provide an opportunity for exposure for student artists,” said Michaela Newman, a communications and industry relations coordinator at the SDCT, who started the playlist. “It’s not like I was fighting to make (the playlist) happen. All I had to do was ask, which indicates that people want these kinds of things.”
Although UT administration was supportive of the playlist, efforts to promote it have been minimal. Since the playlist’s debut about three years ago, the SDCT has opened submissions for student musicians only three times and has only received a mere 87 entries in total, according to Newman.
“Currently, (the playlist) is a partnership between the School of Design Creative Technologies and UT as a whole. Usually, I will post (the playlist) from SDCT social media accounts, tag UT and share,” Newman said. “We (also) have an internal SDCT newsletter and we’ll promote it on that.”
Quinn Changus, a recent music performance graduate who goes by her artist name Qlue, said that she was excited about the opportunity to share her music with the UT community but surprised she didn’t find out about the playlist sooner.
“My friend Paola actually found (the playlist) for me. Thanks to Paola, I would never have known that it existed,” said Changus. “I hadn’t seen any other stuff on social media even though I follow a lot of UT accounts relating to multimedia.”
Changus said that she’s grateful for the exposure that the playlist has given her, but she wishes the playlist and its musicians were better promoted across UT’s various social media pages and communications. By leveraging its partnership with UT, SDCT can help more student musicians share their music.
Starting this fall, SDCT should share the playlist beyond social channels and newsletters. They should forge partnerships with student organizations, increase opportunities for submission from annual to biannual and consider expanding the playlist to other streaming platforms like Apple Music and Soundcloud.
Newman said that UT can even use the playlist as a launchpad for student artists to grow their music careers.
“I’d love to see a partnership with KVRX happen…or a playlist showcase with Campus Events and Entertainment,” Newman said. “We can take this playlist to the next level and use it as an entryway to other opportunities to play live or get some airtime.”
It is clear that growing the UT Student Artists Playlist is an idea that excites both faculty and students. Our campus is filled with incredibly talented student artists who would benefit from the University’s support. Expanding this playlist is one simple step UT can take to become a better advocate for its body of student musicians.
Mehta is a business and Plan II sophomore from Frisco, Texas.
