Beenie Man and Bounty Killer joins 43 other artistes who picked up shares in Triller Network after Swizz Beatz and Timbaland sold Verzuz.
There has been a seismic shift in the way music and entertainment have been consumed since the onset of the Covid-19. Some entertainers, especially those in the Caribbean, have not been able to move about as freely as they would have liked. This sort of bondage, not only locally but also on an international level, has seen a halt in tours and live performances. A need for the industry to become a bit more creative was born, and as such, most organizers and entertainers turned online since they could still reach their fans in real-time while remaining socially distant.
One such initiative that was brought to life was Verzuz, with the main strategy to pair popular artistes on a live set mainly in R&B, hip-hop, dancehall, and gospel. Since its launch last March, there has been quite a buzz and a buildup leading to each advertised battle.
The sales for the artistes who are featured on the Verzuz battle have helped to boost their sales and streams. Two entertainers featured in what many have concluded as a keenly contested battle are veteran dancehall artistes and former rival turn friends, Bounty Killer and Beenie Man. Both men have been enjoying a major uptick in their music sales and streaming numbers since their 2020 appearance. Today they got an even further boost, following the announcement that Verzuz, which was created by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, had been acquired by Triller Network.
As a part of the agreement between the mega producers and the Triller team, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland will join their management staff and assist in overseeing the music and other strategies. In turn, both producers have allocated a part of their share to the 43 artistes who have all made appearances on Verzuz so far. As a result, Bounty Killer and Beenie also now have shares in Triller.
Although not all the details of the deal were made public, the list of artiste apart from Beenie Man and Bounty Killer includes Patti LaBelle, Gucci Mane, Ludacris, Rick Ross, Alecia Keys, John Legend, and Gladys Knight, to name a few. Triller Network is responsible for the Triller App, whose main rival is TikTok.
Beenie Man and Bounty Killer’s battle helped to revive the platform and set a bee standard that others would follow. As the first dancehall pairing to do battle via the platform, it has been described as epic and managed to have over 500,000 live views on Instagram. That particular clash was also said to be a favorite of both Swizz and Timbaland, who are both avid dancehall fans.
Swizz Beats and Timbaland expressed that this partnership would assist in moving the brand forward and also give entertainers more options to reach their fans. In a joint statement, they said, “This is a momentous occasion not only for Verzuz and Triller but the music business as a whole. By putting Verzuz in the Triller Network ecosystem and expanding the Verzuz brand to be side by side with the powerful Triller app, we will be able to continue to grow and evolve the music business as a whole, as we have been doing.”
The sale of Verzuz has not gone down well for some members of the entertainment sector, leaving many to label the two producers as sellouts. One Instagram use captioned a post, “Can’t ever jus have something of our own it’s always bout the money.” Young Jamaican actor Michael Rainey Jr. later shared this.
Do you believe Verzuz developers made the right decision?
