By Boniswa Sidwaba, TikTok Content Operations Manager, Africa

TikTok and the African Union have partnered to place the spotlight on African content through a month-long campaign dubbed #IamAfrican in celebration of Africa Day on 25 May. The campaign calls on users to share their views on what makes them proudly African across various categories, including music.

We are glad to see that TikTok has become a powerful promotional tool for the discovery of breakout music and artists - a change that is revolutionising the music industry. Not only has TikTok changed how people discover music, but we are changing music consumption habits too. This is especially evident through the popularity of TikTok playlists – an in-app feature that allows users to group their favourite videos and sounds for easy access at a later stage.

This month, we will programme a line-up of in-app initiatives to highlight African content with genre-specific playlists, including: Gengetone, Afrobeats, Amapiano and an exclusive in-app playlist. Some of South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria’s top musicians are among the artists whose songs will feature. Names like Sauti Sol, Nameless, Bahati, Cassper Nyovest, Mi Casa’s J Something, Davido, and Dice Ailes.

TikTok has undoubtedly become a launchpad for music with both upcoming artists and the industry’s finest taking equal advantage. Through initiatives like the #IamAfrican campaign, we are shining a spotlight on the amazing talent and encouraging everyone to get involved.

All videos uploaded using one of the songs featured in the playlist with the official #IamAfrican hashtag stands a chance of being selected and shown on the music channel, TRACE, during the month of May.

“As we celebrate Africa Day, it's important for us to highlight the future of our great continent. This partnership with TikTok and African Union is part of our commitment to empowering the African youth by enabling them to stand up and shine. We at TRACE are dedicated to using our platform to support and promote the brightest stars from Africa and we plan to continue to make Africa proud," said Sam Onyemelukwe, MD for TRACE in West Africa.

“This partnership with TikTok and TRACE is very exciting for us because, in addition to celebrating Africa Day, it allows us to explore creative ways to implement the One Million by 2021 initiative of the African Union Commission. Our focus is to provide tangible opportunities to the African youth in four key areas: education, employment, entrepreneurship and engagement. The #IAmAfrican campaign will allow youth to showcase their talents across these thematic areas and many more while shining a spotlight on the dynamism of Africans,” said Prudence Ngwenya, Head of the Youth Development Division at the African Union Commission.

As the celebrations for African music continues during this special month, we would like to give a shout-out goes to some of the hits which, in no particular order, recently featured on the #IamAfrican playlist:

  1. Angisho Guys by Cassper Nyovest
  2. Jiggy Bop by Alpha P & TMXO
  3. Money Dance by Dice Ailes
  4. Forget You by Bensoul
  5. Man On Fire - Mix by Idahams & Falz

Users can access the full playlist in-app and more here: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZSJytPYW5/

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About TikTok

TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. Our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. TikTok has global offices including Los Angeles, Mountain View, New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Dubai, Singapore, Jakarta, Seoul, and Tokyo. www.tiktok.com.