YouTube has revolutionized the way content creators across Africa and the world produce and share their work. The platform has enabled them to reach a wider audience and tap into significant revenue opportunities. From short-form to long-form videos, YouTube has opened up new avenues for entertainment creators across the film, music, podcast, and comedy industries. This has been particularly beneficial for African artistes, who can now share their music and stories with a global audience.
Amosun Adekunle, popularly known as M'Kido, is one such artiste who has benefited significantly from the YouTube platform. With over 166,000 subscribers, M'Kido has been able to share his music with a diverse audience across nationalities. His blend of multiple languages in his music has taken his craft across different cultures, opening him up to a wider audience through the platform. M'Kido's music reflects his African heritage, and he hopes to use YouTube to share his culture and story with the world.
According to M'Kido, YouTube has become a vital tool for his career, allowing him to connect directly with people beyond borders. He wants his music to be heard not just in Nigeria but also in other parts of the world, such as Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, and France. For M'Kido, YouTube is more than just a platform for uploading music; it's a global stage where he can introduce people to his culture, languages, journey, and vision as an African artiste.
M'Kido believes that YouTube has changed the way Nigerian artistes promote and release music, compared to the traditional era of radio, television, and physical media. In the past, artistes relied heavily on gatekeepers such as radio and television stations to reach their audience. However, YouTube has made it possible for independent or emerging artistes to speak directly to the world. Today, an artiste can release a song or music video and have it discovered by someone thousands of kilometers away almost immediately.
The artiste attributes the biggest change in the music industry to accessibility, which YouTube has provided. He believes that YouTube has given African artistes another powerful way to tell their stories, promote their music, and build communities around their work. With YouTube, artistes can now reach a global audience without having to rely on traditional media platforms.
Looking ahead, M'Kido sees YouTube becoming even more important in taking African music and stories to the world. He believes that Africa has many stories, cultures, languages, and sounds that the world still needs to discover. As an artiste who creates across languages and wants to connect Anglophone and Francophone Africa, M'Kido sees YouTube as one of the bridges that can help make that happen.
M'Kido's dream is to see Nigerian and African music become truly global without losing the identity that makes it African. He wants people to hear African languages, see African culture, and understand African stories while still enjoying music that can compete on a global level. For M'Kido, the future is not just about exporting music from Africa but also about exporting African stories, creativity, and identity.
Key points
- YouTube has given African artistes a global voice, enabling them to share their music and stories with a wider audience.
- The platform has changed the way Nigerian artistes promote and release music, providing a direct connection to people beyond borders.
- M'Kido sees YouTube as a bridge that can help connect Anglophone and Francophone Africa, taking African music and stories to the world.
