Tanzanian singer Rajab Abdul Kahali, popularly known as Harmonize, recently received the YouTube Gold Button award after his YouTube channel reached one million subscribers.
Harmonize is now the second artist from WCB record label to get the prestigious award after his boss Diamond Platnumz who currently stands at over 2 million subscribers.
Statistically, Tanzanian artists enjoy more viewership on YouTube than their Kenyan counterparts. Whereas Diamond is the leading artist in Tanzania with over two million subscribers, Sauti Sol lead in Kenya with approximately 325,000 subscribers.
No artist in Kenya has received the YouTube Gold button, leave alone reaching 500,000 subscribers. In Tanzania, however, artists like Ali Kiba, Mbosso, Rayvanny just to mention but a few have crossed the 500,000 subscriber mark.
YouTube has four levels of awards for channels in terms of subscriber achievement. The first and highest award is the Diamond Play Button for channels with 10,000,000 subscribers. The second highest one is the Gold Play Button for channels with 1,000,000 subscribers. The third highest is the Silver Play Button for channels with 100,000 subscribers. Finally the lowest level of award, the Ruby Play Button for channels with 50,000 subscribers.
The new achievement by Harmonize will have a direct impact on his earnings since YouTube is one of the main sources of income for artists. The number of subscribers not only reflects his value on YouTube but also his earning.