Royel Otis Tapped For Spotify’s RADAR Program

Arise Royel Otis, the freshly-crowned indie kings of Spotify’s RADAR.

Hailing from Sydney, the duo is named to the streamer’s global emerging artist program, an announcement that coincides with the arrival today (March 2) of a new single, “Sofa King.”

Royel Otis is a streaming-era success story, with a knack for crafting catchy, dream-pop numbers.

With their elevation to RADAR, through a partnership with Spotify’s affiliate in Australia and New Zealand, the pair will enjoy a push on the RADAR playlist, plus promotional activity, support for upcoming releases, on-platform marketing, bespoke content and social promotion. 

That leg-up should help when Royel Otis drop a third EP, Sofa Kings, on March 31 — a seven-track set of sunny alt-pop recordings that includes 2022’s “Kool Aid” and follow-up “I Wanna Dance With You”.

Sofa Kings is produced by Chris Collins and Royel Otis, and released on Andrew Klippel’s OURNESS, label home of Genesis Owusu.

Since their debut in 2015, Royel Otis (comprising Otis Pavlovic and Royel Maddell) have amassed upwards of 17 million plays on the platform, featuring on 274 editorial Spotify playlists including Spotify’s Front Left, Indie Arrivals and Supersound.

Also, they’re “a clear fan favourite,” say Spotify reps, with their tracks added to more than 371,000 playlists by the streaming giant’s listeners, and they’ve been added to “Ones to Watch” lists by The NME, The Daily Telegraph and Apple 1’s Matt Wilkinson.

Were it not for the pandemic, the bleakest of all eras for live music, one that shelved progress for a generation of next-big-things, Royel Otis might already be on the throne.

AUNZ RADAR launched in 2020, and has welcomed such homegrown talents to the program as grentperez,  Youngn Lipz,  Genesis Owusu, Baker Boy, merci mercy, and CHAII.

Globally, there are over 300 RADAR-affiliated emerging artists around the globe that Spotify have supported by way of editorial and marketing support “at a pivotal moment in their career,” reps say.

The pandemic did little to hurt Spotify’s user base.

The Sweden-based firm reported 205 million paid subscribers worldwide at the end of 2022, up 5% from 195 million in the third-quarter. At the same time, Spotify’s total monthly active users (MAUs) reached 489 million, up 7% from 456 million in Q3 2022.