YouTube announces ‘Stay Home #With Me’ online music festival

YouTube has announced the launch of the Stay Home #With Me.

The campaign will kick off with a YouTube music festival starting this weekend (28 and 29 March).

The Festival will feature African artists performing some of their hits via a YouTube live stream for their fans who are currently practising social distancing in an effort to flatten the curve of new coronavirus infections in their communities.

Fans will enjoy free LIVE performances from Nigerian and South African artists such as Aṣa, Simi, Seyi Shay, Reekado Banks, Broda Shaggi and Timi Dakolo on their respective YouTube channels.

With 46 African countries having reported COVID-19 cases so far, and several African countries taking steps to restrict movement within communities in order to quell the spread of the disease, artists will share the critical “Stay Home #With Me” messaging with their audiences.

“For the past decade YouTubers have created videos such as Cook with Me, Study with Me, Read with Me, Workout with Me, Meditate with Me, and so on. So the concept of this online music festival is organically in line with what viewers know,” says Addy Awofisayo, content partnership manager for YouTube Africa.

“The Stay Home #With Me online music festival seeks to support the well-being of our community, who are increasingly enduring this disease in isolation – a state that can affect people’s mental, emotional and spiritual health,” Awofisayo says.

Performances will take place this Saturday and Sunday between 2 PM and 10 PM Central Africa Time.