YouTube Revamps ‘Music Foundry’ Program, Names Latest Class Of 14 Emerging Artists

In 2016, to help emerging musicians bolster their YouTube presence, the platform launched the YouTube Music Foundry, offering tools, workshops, mentorship, and exposure to up-and-coming artists.

And now, the video giant has named the latest class of 14 artists that it will support through the development program, including London folk-rock star Beabadoobee (pictured above), Atlanta R&B singer Baby Rose, Nigerian rapper Rema, producer Kenny Beats, Norwegian pop star Girl In Red, EDM artist Channel Tres, singer-songwriter Sam Kim, country artist Hardy, 18-year-old French rapper Lean Chihiro, Xicana reggaeton artist La Doña, indie singer Alfie Templeman, Baltimore rapper Jpegmafia, Japanese singer Sanari, and the rapper Guapdad 4000, Rolling Stone reports.

Furthermore, YouTube revamped the Music Foundry program this year to furnish marketing and promotional support in addition to the aforementioned mentorship tools. It also substantially increased the time scope in which it will work with artists — from roughly a day or two to roughly six months, Rolling Stone reports, in order to cover the full release window of a new project.

The latest additions to the 2019 Foundry class brings the total number of artists this year to 25, according to Rolling Stone. Each artist has a dedicated YouTube Music rep to help craft marketing, programming, and content strategy.

In addition to the Music Foundry, YouTube Music operates other support initiatives for emerging artists, including its Artist Spotlight Stories, a docuseries endeavor that dives into the backstories of buzzy musicians, and Artists On The Rise, which places videos from up-and-coming musicians on YouTube’s Trending tab, and also comprises an original series component, with intimate interviews and reaction videos.

“All the artists [in the Foundry] are independent, but that can mean a variety of things, so it’s unique and important that we’re able to support teams that are creating all different types of content,” Naomi Zeichner, YouTube Music’s artist partnerships lead, told Rolling Stone. “We’re always looking ahead. For 2020, we’re especially looking for localized opportunities — seeing what we might do in each individual market.”