 | |
| Company type | Privately held |
|---|---|
| Industry | Entertainment, music |
| Genre | |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Founders | Matt 'Sketchy' Thorne Pierre Godson-Amamoo Koby 'Posty' Hagan |
Area served | United Kingdom |
| Website | grmdaily.com |
GRM Daily (Grime & Rap Music Daily), formerlyGrime Daily, is a British urban music outlet and entertainment platform.[1][2][3] As the name suggests, the platform is an outlet for UK rap and its various genres, such asUK drill,afroswing,trap, andBritish hip hop. The platform also serves electronic genres such asUK garage andgrime.[4][5]
GRM Daily is the largest media outlet platform in the UK, followed byLink Up TV,SB.TV, Pressplay Media andMixtape Madness.[6]
In the early 2000s,pirate radio stations such asRinse FM and DvDs such as Risky Roadz andLord of the Mics were the only major platforms that grime and UK rap artists could promote themselves through.[7][8][9][10] This meant it was often difficult for an artist to find an audience. With this in mind,Jamal Edwards foundedSB.TV in 2007, an online music platform that would be used to showcase artists and allow them an easy platform to release music through. This was followed by the founding ofLink Up TV a year later, and finally Grime Daily in 2009, all based on the same concept. Collectively these platforms have served as the backbone to much of UK urban music and provided a large outlets for artists to gain popularity and fame.[11][12]
Grime Daily was formed in 2009 by founders Matt 'Sketchy' Thorne, Pierre Godson-Amamoo and Koby 'Posty' Hagan. The platform was created in order to create a space for UK urban artists to showcase themselves and release music. At the time, the platform was named 'Grime Daily', to denote its affiliation with thegrime music scene. For the first week, the website was used to upload old grime DvDs and videos, however they also wanted to film their own unique content. Initially, the plan was to have Jamal Edwards film content which would then be uploaded to Grime Daily, however Jamal instead filmed content for his own platform SB.TV. Posty instead decided to buy a camera and film content for Grime Daily himself.[13] The "Daily" is a reference to the fact that the outlet originally intended to release grime related content every single day.[14] Early on, one way this was done was by doing long interviews with artists, splitting the interview into parts, and releasing the parts from the interview throughout the week.[11] An interview with grime artist J2K was Grime Daily's first ever interview.[7] Co-founder Sketchy had previously built J2K'sMySpace page, which led to Posty asking Sketchy to build the Grime Daily website.[13] In its early days, the website struggled with high traffic and would go down on occasion. Within the first year, they hit over a million views a month.[15]
In 2011, the original Grime Daily YouTube channel was taken down by YouTube, resulting in the loss of over 2000 videos.[16][17][18] It was alleged that this was because a man had shown a knife on a music video for one ofScorcher's songs, however this was denied by both Scorcher and Grime Daily (the music video was still actually available on the artist's own channel).[19] Posty also stated it was claimed the channel was terminated due to receiving 3 copyright strikes, however this was disputed by Posty and Sketchy. Posty also stated they were told someone had bought views for a video.[20] Posty, one of GRM's founders, stated in a 2020 interview that he still did not know why the channel was originally taken down. The platform rebranded as GRM Daily in 2012, which stands for "Grime and Rap Music", and created a new YouTube channel (the one-year delay was due to a fear that the channel would be banned again if they returned too quickly).[18] The new name was to clarify its expanded scope with not just grime, but alsoBritish hip hop and related genres.[2][3][17]
In 2012 Grime Daily joined with The BiG! Agency, now taking responsibility for the commercial operations of GRM Daily's website, and Silver Bullet Digital (SBD).[2]
In 2013, GRM Daily had over 40,000 subscribers on their YouTube channel.[21] It took 7 years (from its founding) for GRM Daily to gain over 100,000 subscribers on YouTube. The channel rapidly grew from there, earning over a million in 2018,[22][23] and 5 million by 2022.[24] In 2015, GRM created theRated Awards, an awards show dedicated to UK urban music.[25][26][27]
In 2020, GRM released a documentary entitled "Together We Rise", detailing the platforms history.[28] The platform released "GRM 10", an album to celebrate the platforms 10 year anniversary. The album featured artists such asAitch,B Young,Unknown T,D Double E,M Huncho,Dutchavelli,Not3s,Blade Brown,Nafe Smallz,Yxng Bane, and others.[15][29]
"Daily Duppy" is a platform forfreestyle releases. The platform was launched as a response to the success ofJamal Edwards' "Fresh 64" ("F64") release series onSB.TV, where artists rapped 64 bars of original ("fresh") content.[30][31] As of 2022[update], after more than a decade of releases,[32] "Daily Duppy" singles have charted seven times on theUK Singles Chart and three of them, byAitch,J Hus, andFredo, have been certified Silver by theBritish Phonographic Industry (BPI).[33][34]
| Artist | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK [33] | |||
| Aitch | 2018 | 99 | |
| J Hus | 2019 | 42 |
|
| Fredo | 2020 | 46 |
|
| Digga D | 59 | ||
| Young Adz | 2021 | 44 | |
| Central Cee | 35 | ||
| Bugzy Malone | 2022 | 55 | |
| Nines | 2023 | 20 |
By 2012, the Grime Daily website was taking in 70 million website hits and had over 50,000 daily visitors. The platform played a part in popularising artists such asTinie Tempah,Tinchy Stryder, andWretch 32 in the early 2010s.[2]
GRM Daily has been very influential in propping up UK urban artists from various genres, such as grime, British hip hop, andAfroswing. The platform has been credited for bringing fame to artists such asStormzy,Dave,J Hus,[35]B Young, Amelia Monét,Kojo Funds,Steel Banglez,Not3s,Mabel, and many others.[11][36] GRM Daily, along with related platforms such asLink Up TV and Pressplay Media, have created an ecosystem that allows artists to easily record, produce, and release music to the masses without the need of support from traditional media or themusic industry.[37][38]
In 2010, DJ Werewolf was hit in the chest and buttocks after an individual pulled out aMac-10 submachine gun and fired rounds at a GRM Daily event, containing over 600 people, celebrating their anniversary. Another unidentified woman and man were also shot in the incident. Police claimed they were not informed the event was happening.[39][40][41][42] Donatella Panayiotou, the presenter of the event, quit working for GRM Daily as a result of the shooting, and criticised them for their handling of the event.[43]
In 2018, British rapper Young Spray was stabbed at GRM Daily's Rated Awards event.[4][44][5]
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