Aussie Acts Named In YouTube Black Voices Class of 2023

Victoria’s A.B. Original, Sydney’s BLESSED and Brisbane’s Tia Gostelow were among 40 global musicians, producers and songwriters named in the YouTube Black Voices Music Class of 2023.

It’s a US$100 million multi-year initiative that YouTube Music introduced in 2020 to provide emerging Black creatives with resources needed to maximise their success on the platform.

The three Australian acts will have a dedicated YouTube Strategic Partner manager “to optimise and grow their channel and receive a grant that can be used to help elevate their channel,” the platform said.

They also receive seed funding to invest into the development of their channels, and opportunities to participate in training and networking programs focused on production, fan engagement and wellbeing.

The other class members came from Brazil, Nigeria, South Africa, the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Ghana and Jamaica.

They include names such as Nova Twins, Armani White, BNXN, MashBeatz, TH4I and Tempest.

Last year’s Australian YouTube Black Voices Music Class members were Barkaa, Budjerah, Dallas Woods, Kobie Dee and YAOB.

YouTube said that Black acts in many of these countries slip through the cracks when it comes to government funding.

YouTube remains an important channel for music creatives wanting to make an impact.

According to statistics from earlier this year, it has 1.7 billion unique monthly visitors (17.5 million in Australia), 53.9% of whom identity as male and 46.1% identify as female.

Visitors spend an average of 19 minutes a day on YouTube, with 694,000 hours of video streamed each minute.

Music is incredibly popular on YouTube – the top two queries on YouTube searches in 2021 being “song” and “songs”.

“DJ”, “dance”, “new song”, “TikTok” and “karaoke” also landed in the top 10.

YouTube said financial support have also been given to over 300 grantees including beauty entrepreneurs, comedians, activists, poets, personal trainers, parents, photographers and gamers to build their channels.