By Foday Moriba Conteh
It was reported on the 15th March, 2022 that a young Sierra Leonean musician, Drizilik has reached a new streaming milestone. He is the first Sierra Leonean musician across all genres to get two million plays on a music streaming platform. The hip-hop and afrobeats artist became the most streamed on Audiomack. Music streaming has revolutionized the way listeners discover music across the globe, but for creators like Drizilik, more streams mean royalties.
Drizilik joined Audiomack in 2018 to make it easier for fans to explore and share his music. He released his most played songs on Audiomack during the pandemic. In October 2021, Drizilik released Exodus, the first single from his upcoming sophomore album Ashobi. It has 315,000 plays. Waste Time, released in October 2020, has 215,000 plays. Tell, which he released in April 2020, has 196,000 plays.
Drizilik credits his fans and his management for his digital success.
“I have an amazing team beside me; they make it possible for me to be able to continue to make music for my fans––but two million streams? That’s nothing but fan love,” said Drizilik, real name Benjamin M. George.
Audiomack is the preferred streaming platform in Sierra Leone. Unlike Apple and Spotify, which operate on a subscription model, Audiomack has an ad-based freemium model. Users don’t have to pay to access music, making Audiomack more accessible to Sierra Leoneans. Artists also prefer Audiomack because of the brand’s commitment to African talent.
“When fans stream our music on Audiomack, it creates more visibility for artists, and we increase our earnings.”
Other top Sierra Leonean artists with notable streams on Audiomack include Kao Denero with 883,000 plays, Emmerson with 665,000 plays, Star Zee with 577,000 plays, and Rozzy Sokota with 146,000 plays.
About Drizilik
Benjamin Menelik George, commonly known as Drizilik is a Sierra Leonean hip-hop and afrobeats artist. Born and raised in Freetown, Drizilik gained recognition with “Pop Collar” in 2016. Before launching his career as a music performing artist, he honed his skills at Sierra Leone’s prestigious Ballanta Academy of Music and toured with the Freetown Uncut Band. His first album, Shukubly released in December 2018, won four National Entertainment Awards, including Album of the Year and Best Live Performer. In 2019, he won the All Works Of Life (AWOL) Artist of the Year Award. In October 2021, he released Exodus, the first single from his highly anticipated sophomore album Aschobi.
