Popular and influential music chart, Billboard recently published an article detailing how musicians can go global through YouTube with a case study of Diamond Platnumz.
The Billboard analysis shows that the WCB President has managed to garner over 980 million views on YouTube with over 3.6 million sub-subscribers, making him the only artist in Sub-Saharan Africa with such a milestone.
YouTube Music Trends manager Kevin Meenan was particularly struck by the innovative approach that Tanzanian Bongo flava artist Diamond Platnumz takes with his Youtube channel just one facet of an entrepreneurial strategy that includes an FM radio station.
He was also struck by Diamond's full service management, recording, publishing and entertainment company, Wasafi Classic Baby, which represents Rayvanny among other top music acts.
Rayvanny and Harmonize have also been featured on the list of 15 sub- Saharan African artistes based on Global views Billboard.
“In that time, Platnumz has a mind-blowing 3.6 million subscribers and 980 million views on his channel, about 80% of them from outside of Tanzania. For the measurement period of May 1, 2019, to May 1, 2020, globally, Kenya, which is on Tanzania’s northern border, drove the most views for Platnumz, followed by Tanzania and the United States,” said Kevin Meenan.
He also was wowed that in span of 1 year, Platnumz had posted 600 videos on YouTube.
“I literally had to check it three times to make sure it was right,” said Meenan in what he described as mind blowing.
Bongo flava artists dominate YouTube’s Tanzania chart and Afrobeats stars in Nigeria and Ghana.
Top 100 songs in Nigeria and Tanzania were compared for the same week and shared nine tracks.
The United States and Tanzania shared four songs in their respective top 100, according to the YouTube music and culture.
''Local music cuts through because it's reflective to the culture. It really speaks to how these countries are theri own musical ecosystem'' said Meenan.
According to the analysis Diamond's most views are from Kenya, followed by Tanzania and the United States
Billboard is one of the most influential platforms in determining the music trends in the United States.
