Music streaming is having a major effect on spreading the music of countries and cultures and making them popular around the globe.

Spotify recently published a report on how major Latin music has been on their platform in recent years and the part they’ve been playing in its worldwide reach. It speaks to the wider power of streaming services and the internet at large to make local culture a global phenomenon.

Spotify have put nine rising artists in Latin Music to the forefront of their attention in their Radar Latino video series, accompanying their hugely popular ¡Viva Latino! playlist. Spotify says that as they tracked the progress of rising Latin artists through their featured playlists and series they helped to “bring their success to new heights”.

They report that the artists they features gained an average of 49% increases in streams after being featured. Some artists saw their streaming success grow by as much as 200% after featuring in Spotify’s top playlists.

It’s not that Spotify in particular are making Latin music massive worldwide, YouTube did a lot for Despacito a few years ago. Even before internet platforms were quite as big Latin music was becoming a phenomena in Europe and the US; remember the Macarena?

It does however speak to the power of music streaming services in sharing music and broader culture worldwide. It used to be that if national radios picked up a song they had the power to make it a hit. Now it’s influencers and even just people power with the choice to listen to who and what we want.

Anyone can tune in to music of a certain culture whether it be modern Latin music, Indian Filmi music, Middle Eastern hip-hop, and so much more. The barriers to success have been lowered and the potential for worlwide reach is massive, no matter the origins.