YouTube has announced a selection of four fast-rising Nigerian artists who will receive career support. The musicians are Simi, Teni, Reekado Banks and Kizz Daniel. The four singers were announced at an event, titled A Celebration of Afrobeats, in Lagos last week.
This is one of the outcomes of the Google for Nigeria initiative, held in Lagos in July 2019, when YouTube made a commitment to support 10 Nigerian artists through Mr Eazi’s emPawa Africa accelerator programme.
The four artists have been invited to conduct a series of workshops and content creation sessions where they will experiment with various YouTube formats. They will get marketing promotion and education on best practices for engaging and growing their international audiences.
“We are very excited to partner with these amazing artists to support their careers as their music travels across borders and they expand their audience globally,” YouTube’s content partnership manager for sub-Saharan Africa, Addy Awofisayo, said at the A Celebration of Afrobeats event.
“YouTube has been a mainline for African artists to connect all over the world. From Yemi Alade’s ‘Johnny’ hitting over 100 million views to Davido’s ‘Fall’ at over 150 million views, there is no doubt that global audiences are dancing to an African beat”.
YouTube’s announcement comes on the heels of the inclusion of Nigerian rapper and singer Rema on the streaming platform’s Foundry development programme in late September.
