Shane O warns artistes to stop buying YouTube views

Dancehall deejay Shane O is against the act of purchasing views or streams for music videos and told THE STAR that the practice does not reflect well on artistes who are legitimately garnering viewing numbers.

"I don't know weh the man dem get dah style deh from, fi ah buy views," Shane O said, admitting that "people think I'm one ah dem".

He has been celebrating the success of songs like Dark Room and Wicked People, for which the music videos on YouTube have garnered over 15 million views in the past year, and over one million views in three months, respectively. However, Shane O has found that he has to defend his integrity.

"When unuh ah buy views and me get my one million the natural way, people ah say me buy views. It's not realistic for some people because dem used to buying dem way, and it nuh give a true representation of who really ah do the work and get the traction of a number one song," he said. "It is better fi people invest in something else with the money dem a spend to buy the views. It nuh right, and me think professionals fi stop spend money on that. Personally, I rather invest, seek some land. I have interests in real estate, and we have taxi pon the road."

Shane O, who was recently signed to Ciga Records, said that he was grateful to his supporters and promised that he would finally be giving his audience an album this year, after spending more than 15 years releasing mostly singles.

The deejay said, "I won't be using back anything weh release already, except maybe Dark Room, but the album is to represent my journey to this day. It will have about eight tracks telling a story, like Friends Gone after that leads into Dark Room, and so on. The fans always say I should be further or doing more, but me nuh know wah happen...sometimes it's just the surrounding. Jah love keep me up, and me continue to do music and put in the work."

In 2004, Shane O achieved his first major breakthrough with Lightning Flash as a teenager. Now, as he entertains the idea of having a label manage his career, he has high expectations.

"I want to see the career move off from where it is now, and I also see myself doing more collaborations, which the label has said they can pull together easily. Over the years, I gave persons around me a try, and dem only talk and no action. But me is one artiste who nuh wait pon people, so even though I maintain my respect for the person in the management seat, I'm used to keeping things moving," Shane O said.