According to Youtube Music CEO Lyor Cohen in a Financial Time interview last week, the UK music scene is the most interesting right now.
The music mogul is relocating his offices along with his family to London Town as they set up shop for YouTube’s next phase in music development.
He said,
“If you cut a French person open, they bleed cinema. If you cut a person from the UK open, they bleed music. So why not be here? And the best music is coming out of the UK.”
Lyor, who played an integral role in signing rap superstars like DMX and Jay Z to DefJam records in the 90s, has been at the cutting edge of developing YouTube Music in the competitive streaming environment.
Already YouTube Music has hit the ground running with their UK operations as they partner with LIVE to launch “Re:Boot Live”. Which is a series of workshops to support digital education for music venues and post coronavirus economic rebuild. Per Pollstar
In referencing the African, UK rap and drill music scene Lyor said. “That’s going to take it to an even higher level. The risks that people are taking here are much more than in other places.”
Among the acts in the UK to top the YouTube Music charts with African or Drill Music influences are Stormzy Rema, Wiz Kid, Dave, Haadie One, Digga D, Central Cee, Shayboo. and Dutchavelli
Other major acts with distinct Jamaican dancehall influence include platinum rapper Stefflon Don, and Jorja Smith whose debut studio album, Lost & Found, peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart.
Popular Youtube channel GRM daily stands at the epicenter of music’s development in the UK with more than 4 million subscribers. The “Daily Duppy” YouTube series whcih is also on their website grmdaily.com amass the tens of millions of streams for new and established artists giving them unprecedented exposure and chart presence.
Stefflon Don told World Music Views, ” They get artists to come on the channel. They stand up by a mic and a lot of UK artists get on that platform to display their skills and show people what they do”.
In June Cohen announced via his newsletter that in 2020 when most artists were not able to perform for live Youtube Music paid out 4 billion dollars to rights holders globally.
As the UK’s music industry eases back into live performances Dan Chalmers, director of YouTube Music EMEA, reinforced the comittment by YouTube to help the UK:
“Never has it been so important to show our support to the live industry, a vital part of our music ecosystem. Seeing our favorite acts live is irreplaceable and we are fully committed to helping this side of the industry getting back on its feet after a very difficult time.”
YouTube is the largest music platform in the world with over 2.3 billion users and one of the largest social media platforms, second only to Facebook, according to Statista.
Elsewhere even as the music streaming battle rages on, YouTube seeks to make more changes that will further connect music streamers to the content they love.
As of November 3, starting in Canada background listening for unpaid users will be available but video playback remains a Premium subscriber commodity.
Prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, the UK’s creative industries were growing at five times the rate of the wider economy. The forced closure of music venues cancelled shows and froze ticket sales, resulted in the toughest year the industry has ever faced. Per Pollstar
Watch Idris Elba’s Daily Duppy:
