YouTube Names Tuma Basa Director of Urban Music

Tuma Basa, who in March left Spotify, where he led curation of the popular RapCaviar playlist, has been appointed YouTube’s Director of Urban Music.YouTube today announced that Basa “will lead activities that draw on his deep industry connections and expertise in programming to increase our engagement with the urban music community, artists and consumers.” Asked for further details on this newly created role, a source told Variety that Basa will be helping artists and labels get the full benefit of YouTube’s direct-to-fan tools through product education; will serve as a liaison between YouTube and the artist community; and will also be programming, a component of which is playlisting.