YouTube Black Voices We’re incredibly proud of the progress made thus far, but like a marathon, we know we’ve got a long way to go, said YouTube s Tuma Basa.
The #YouTubeBlack Voices Fund is opening applications for its 2022 class and expanding eligibility to include songwriters and producers, the company announced today (June 9), alongside a string of other new initiatives to amplify Black voices on and off the platform.
Announced last year, the fund amplifies Black creators on YouTube by equipping them with resources and support to thrive on the platform. The fund will open grant applications for its 2022 class on June 21, and for the first time, the program is now open to those based in the UK and Canada (in addition to the U.S., Brazil, Australia, Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria).
YouTube Music Gives Update on $100 Million Black Voices Fund
Jem Aswad, provided by
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Last June, YouTube launched a $100 million #YouTubeBlack Voices Fund in an effort to help equip Black musicians with the resources and support to enable them to “thrive and invest in work that amplifies the voices, perspectives and stories of all Black artists around the world,” according to the announcement.
The company has provided periodic updates on aspects of the program, and on Wednesday, unveiled a report on the progress its music efforts have made over the past year in multiple cities and countries, which are recapped below.
How completely has streaming transformed the music world? The platform rose from 7% of the US market in 2010 to a whopping 83% by the end of 2020 – and recorded-music revenues saw their fifth consecutive year of growth, topping US$12.2bil (RM50.37bil), per the RIAA. AFP Relaxnews
LOS ANGELES: Ask any executive what the music business was like in the ‘00s and their face may take on an expression more commonly associated with narrowly averted disasters like car accidents or, more accurately, attempted robberies.
Due to peer-to-peer file-sharing platforms like Napster and Limewire, US recorded-music revenues lost more than half their value in the early years of the 21st century, falling precipitously from an all-time high of US$14.6bil (RM60.29bil) in 1999 to US$6.7bil (RM27.67bil) in 2014 and 2015 (according to the Recording Industry Association of America or RIAA) as songs transitioned from being sold on a physical object like a CD or vinyl to becoming a sound file that could
Imagine the “WandaVision -style alternate-reality version of the last year for Walt Disney Co.
Executives, filmed in 1950s sitcom black-and-white, shake hands by the pool to celebrate a massive 2020. They toast “Black Widow” grossing $1 billion, full queues for Rise of the Resistance at the theme parks and strong numbers for Disney+.
But wait . what’s that faint voice crackling through the transistor radio? Is that . Dr. Anthony Fauci?
Back to the real world.
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In many ways, the pandemic hit Disney harder than any other media and entertainment company.
The Burbank, Calif.-based entertainment giant lost $2.8 billion in fiscal 2020, furloughed more than 100,000 workers, laid off thousands, delayed the release of its biggest blockbusters, closed an animation studio (R.I.P. Blue Sky) and decided to shed 60 Disney Stores to focus on e-commerce.