Romeich Major, the boss of Romeich Entertainment, the company that brought Grammy nominated singer Shenseea to fame, has launched a talent search on TikTok to find musical talent from Jamaican for an upcoming EP.
The music marketing executive who recently joined the ByteDance platform says he hopes to use his presence on TikTok to be a positive influence.
“We ago show them seh everything single thing we do we can become in a positivity,” he said.
The former fashion designer turned record label impresario conducted a live audition on Sunday using TikTok. Among the names from those who auditioned to have made the cut are, Witty, Tri-Star, Colony, and Triller Rush, who Romeich says will all make the EP The it’s their respective songs.
During the impromptu live he called his in house producer to share the good news about the talent he found for the “Mother EP”. “Some ‘mother song’ over yah me a tell you them solid bro bro.”
The talent search by Romeich comes after last January, Vevo and TikTok joined forces to launch ‘Trending on TikTok’, a weekly program similar to World Music Views Chart show that was launched in 2018. The show showcases the music videos of popular songs trending on TikTok
U.K. dancehall rapper Stefflon Don said that TikTok is the reason Dancehall’s future is exciting.
She said,
“Dancehall is huge, especially since TikTok. I think when a Dancehall artist drops a song, it transitions to the world through TikTok straight away, like it’s instantly. Before it would have to travel, you’d have to be at a Dancehall party to hear certain songs, or you’d have to have Jamaican friends to hear certain songs. Now, it don’t matter what country you’re from- If you’re on TikTok, you’re going to hear the baddest Jamaican songs,” She told Anthony Miller of Entertainment Report.
TikTok, generated USD $4 billion in ad revenues in 2021, and aims to triple that figure to $12 billion this year, according to China based news outlet Latepost.
According to an MRC Data survey in 2021, 63% of TikTok users heard new music on the platform that they had never heard before, while 67% said they are likely to seek out a song on a music streaming service that they heard on the app first.
There is also a resurgence of interest in older music too. Reggae artist Ini Kamoze 1995 hit Here Comes The Hotstepper recently went viral on TikTok videos using the song and hashtags #hotstepper and #herecomesthehotstepper. The song has since entered the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales chart peaking at No. 7 on the chart, before slipping to No. 9 and then to No. 25. It peaked at No. 1 on the US iTunes Reggae song chart.
TikTok is the 6th most popular social media network in the world according to data collecting website Statista.
A remix of Conkarah and Shaggy’s Banana jumped by 250 thousand views within a day on the platform.
Laa Lee had a viral challenge with his song Tip Innnah It streaming almost 13 million times with users making over 14 thousand videos doing the #tipinnahitchallnege at a rate of over 500 thousand streams per day. Compared to YouTube where the David Island and Everton Gentles music video for the same song only has 7 million views since December 2020.
