SB.TV Global Ltd, also known as SB.TV or SmokeyBarz, is a British music media and creative cultural industry company founded by

Jamal Edwards Jamal Brendan Edwards (24 August 1990 – 20 February 2022) was an English music entrepreneur, DJ and founder of the online R&B/Hip-Hop platform SB.TV. Edwards was an ambassador for the Prince's Trust, a youth charity which helps young peopl ...

. The platform was created on 2 November 2006, and has its origins in

urban music Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contemporary r ...

. Most of the content can be seen on its own

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel, or on the official SB.TV website and includes freestyle raps and

music videos A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

. SB.TV has diversified into events and have curated stages at Bestival, Wireless, Outlook and other festivals. SB.TV were also invited to film interviews with a host of leading politicians at 10 Downing Street, including the Prime Minister David Cameron. Edwards has also built a relationship with the Royal Family and first interviewed Prince Charles in 2013. The popularity of the channel among London's underground scene has led to features in '' RWD'', ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'', ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'', ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', '' Dazed & Confused'', the '' Sunday Times Style'' magazine, '' Vanity Fair'', ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

'' and '' GQ'' while founder Jamal Edwards was on the front cover of ''

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

'', '' Intelligent Life'' and the Emirates In-flight magazine. SB.TV also has assistant production credits from when Edwards was working as a junior runner for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, and

Tiger Aspect Productions Tiger Aspect Productions (formerly known as Tiger Television from 1988 until 1993 and also known as Tiger Aspect Films for theatrical films) is a British television and film production company, particularly noted for its situation comedies. Fo ...

as well as joining the young persons panel at ''The Guardian''s new technology conference activate summit alongside

Martha Lane Fox Martha Lane Fox, Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho (born 10 February 1973) is a British businesswoman, philanthropist and public servant. She co-founded Last Minute during the dotcom boom of the early 2000s and has subsequently served on public servi ...

and others. SB.TV has been credited with 'discovering'

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran ( ; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

whose music was aired exclusively on the channel in February 2010 – a full year before he achieved worldwide fame.

History

SB.TV YouTube channel was created in 2006, when a teenage Jamal Edwards MBE"Music boss gets New Year Honours"
. BBC News, (2014). Accessed 31 December 2014. (son of singer and TV presenter Brenda Edwards) began filming rap freestyles with a

handycam Handycam is a line of camcorders made by Sony and introduced in 1985. Handycam was first used as the name of the first Video8 camcorder in 1985, replacing Sony's previous line of Betamovie, Betamax-based models of camcorders. The name was intend ...

, which he would then upload to his YouTube account. For the first three years Edwards acted alone to provide amateur footage of many British

grime Grime may refer to: * Dirt, in the form of black, ingrained dust Music * Grime music, a genre of music * ''Grime'' (album), a 2001 album by Iniquity * "Grime", a 2023 song by Macklemore from ''Ben'' * "Grime", a 2024 song by Kittie from ''Fire ...

artists, such as

Dizzee Rascal Dylan Kwabena Mills (born 18 September 1984), known professionally as Dizzee Rascal, is a British rapper and MC. He is often credited as a pioneer of British hip hop and grime music and was ranked by ''Complex'' as one of the greatest British ...

, Wiley,

Chipmunk Chipmunks are small, striped rodents of subtribe Tamiina. Chipmunks are found in North America, with the exception of the Siberian chipmunk which is found primarily in Asia. Taxonomy and systematics Chipmunks are classified as four genera: '' ...

and

Tinchy Stryder Kwasi Esono Danquah III ( ; born 14 September 1986), better known by his stage name Tinchy Stryder, is a British rapper, singer, songwriter, entrepreneur and investor. Stryder has released three solo studio albums, '' Star in the Hood'' (2007 ...

, with the first SB.TV video being uploaded in February 2007. A Channel 4 documentary series, Bedroom to Boardroom that follows SB.TV was filmed in Edwards' first office, Camden Collective. As the channel began to attract more attention, it also began offering lifestyle interviews and event coverage, and a production team of ten people was established as a result. The company has stated its aim to become a more "diverse youth lifestyle broadcaster", incorporating more genres of music. This has been seen in the inclusion of acoustic artists such as

and other popular artists such as

Jessie J Jessica Ellen Cornish (born 27 March 1988), known professionally as Jessie J, is an English singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, she began her career on stage, aged 11, with a role in the West End musical '' Whistle Down the Wind ...

Nicki Minaj Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian rapper, singer, and songwriter. Regarded as the "Queen of Rap" and one of the most influential rappers of all time, she is noted for her ...

The Wanted The Wanted are a British-Irish boy band formed in 2009, and originally consisted of members Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness, Tom Parker, and Nathan Sykes. The group signed a worldwide contract to Universal Music, Island Reco ...

and

Pixie Lott Victoria Louise "Pixie" Lott (born 12 January 1991) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. Her debut studio album, ''Turn It Up (Pixie Lott album), Turn It Up'' (2009), reached number six on the UK Albums Chart and sold over 1.5 millio ...

. In February 2011, SB.TV launched their own music label ''Just Jam'' (an imprint of Sony RCA) and announced their first signing as east London MC, Maxsta. In March 2011 it had been suggested that the company were expected to go into business with restaurant chain

Nando's Nando's (; ) is a South Africa, South African multinational fast casual restaurant chain that specialises in Portuguese flame-grilled, peri-peri style Chicken as food, chicken. Founded in Johannesburg in 1987, Nando's operates over 1,200 outl ...

. In August 2011, Edwards was featured in a

Google Chrome Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google. It was first released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Versions were later released for Linux, macOS, iOS, iPadOS, an ...

advertisement by London advertising agency BBH, which tracked the emergence of SB.TV as one among many of the UK's rising youth broadcasters. The SB.TV website subsequently crashed as close to a million people searched "Jamal Edwards." The advert was revealed to be the second most watched video advertisement on

in the UK in 2011. On 10 April 2012, SB.TV released a video with grime collective

Boy Better Know Boy Better Know, often abbreviated as BBK, is a British grime collective and record label. The collective was founded in North London in 2005 as an independent record label by brothers Jamie and Joseph Adenuga, better known as Jme and Skepta, ...

, to celebrate reaching 100 million views across all videos. In September 2013, Susana Giner, director of the Youth Media Agency told The Independent newspaper there was a marketing term that has been adopted in Edwards' namesake; 'The Jamal Edwards effect', a newly adopted ideology that anything’s possible in the digital age. In 2013 Edwards became the first YouTuber to release an e-book and interactive game, ‘Self Belief: The Vision', which subsequently became a no.1 best seller with demand leading to an unintended print version via Virgin Books. Edwards worked with ''

Burberry Burberry Group plc is a British luxury fashion house established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry and headquartered in London, England. It designs and distributes ready to wear, including trench coats, leather accessories, and footwear. It is l ...

'' as part of Creative Lives, fronted a '' Puma'' campaign, presented at the ''

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

'' Children’s Awards, and delivered talks for '' Cannes Lions'', TedXHollywood and TedXHousesOfParliament. In a nod to his grandparents, he received a St Vincent Business Award in 2013. Edwards was honoured when he became one of the Queen’s Young Leaders, after being called upon to run the first ever social media hub at ''

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

''. Achievements like this saw Jamal placed at no. 2 in The Guardian’s top 30 young people in digital media 2014. In 2014, Edwards was invited to collaborate with American Freshman on a headwear range for ''

Topman Topman is a British online-only men's fashion retail brand operated by ASOS. Along with its women's clothing counterpart Topshop and the rest of Arcadia Group, Topman went into administration in late 2020. All high street stores subsequently c ...

''. The snapbacks and bucket hats went on sale in the summer. Edwards co-founded UGOT, a yogurt, juice and health bar chain with entrepreneur Jo Carnell. In December 2014, Edwards was appointed a MBE for his services to music. In January 2016, SBTV announced the launch of SBTV News, an online news service, in partnership with the Press Association, chaired by former EMAP, Hearst, Axel Springer and Future CEO Colin Morrison.

Services

SBTV is built on three core services: broadcasting, production and editorial services.

Broadcasting

SBTV continue to broadcast video whether for music, freestyle, acoustic, interviews or any other categories within youth culture. All of the company's content is displayed on their YouTube channel. This content is mainly produced by SBTV but they do allow submissions as well. The company also uses social networking extensively to interact with viewers through which new blog and news articles are published.

Production

Just like broadcasting, SBTV has always produced its own content and have developed new techniques over time. Most of the content is shot in "fast and agile situations" to deliver an enticing perspective for the viewer. Among the videos that are shot, produced and directed by SBTV are music videos, documentaries and SBTV event material.

Editorial

The majority of employees at SBTV have experience in various printed urban publications and therefore know how to present material to a younger audience. This includes providing the latest news on music releases, films, music videos and artists.

References

External links

sbtv.co.uk
* {{Hip hop websites British music industry Companies based in the City of Westminster Mass media companies established in 2006 YouTube channels British music websites Hip-hop websites 2006 establishments in England Internet properties established in 2006

History

Services

Broadcasting

Production

Editorial

See also

References

External links