SPOTIFY has been urged to include Scots on its list of languages after its exclusion was noted by a prominent Scottish musician.
In a letter to the music streaming giant, singer Iona Fyfe said it was “heartbreaking” that people who sing in Scots have to categorise their songs as “English”.
Fyfe, who was named Scots Performer of the Year at this year’s Scots Language Awards, had previously asked Spotify to include the language on the list, but was told to make do by “selecting the language closest to it”.
The letter, which Fyfe shared on Twitter, says that Spotify’s “inaction and unwillingness to remedy the issue is startling”.
She accused the platform of “blatant undermining of a distinct and unique language”, which she described as “alarming”.
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Fyfe says that there are already thousands of Scots songs on the platform, and asks for an editorial playlist to be created. She says this would be a “fitting” step forward for the streaming giant.
She points out that Scots is recognised under the European Charter for Minority Languages and provides its ISO 639-2 language code (SCO). This, she says, “will be of use [to Spotify] should [it] choose to recognise the Scots language”.
Cornish, Manx, Welsh, Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic are all already available as categories.
Small Channel Island languages, such as Guernesiais and Jerriais are not included. However, they have just a few thousand speakers between them. In comparison, around 1.5 million people speak Scots.
You can read Fyfe’s full letter here:
Please RT ✊🏻 This is my open letter to @Spotify to urge them to add Scots to its list of languages so that singers can categorise their Scots Songs under the correct language. Spotify currently recognises every UK minority language apart from Scots. @SpotifyCares @spotifyartists pic.twitter.com/Ozo2Xsx2eI
— Iona Fyfe (@ionafyfe) December 17, 2020
Spotify has been contacted for comment.
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