[WATCH]: The Kiffness remixes a Ukraine folk song and raises over R200 000

South African YouTuber, David Scott, also known as The Kiffness, has recently remixed a Ukrainian folk song and is donating all royalties to Ukraine.

In the credits of the video, Scott states: “All royalties of this remix will go to humanitarian aid towards Ukraine’s armed forces”.

Ukraine fans of The Kiffness suggested the idea

The video shows Scott adding his own twist to the song alongside Andriy Khlyvnyuk, who is singing “Oy u luzi chervona kalyna”.

Khlyvnyuk is the frontman for a Ukrainian band called Boombox. The band was originally on tour in the US when the invasion began and Khlyvnyuk left to defend his country.

Scott also shared that the idea for the video first came from his fan base in Ukraine. And according to Scott, his fans have been suggesting similar types of videos since the beginning of the invasion.

“The video with Andriy stood out to me, and so we reached out to his management, and they kindly allowed me to remix the video. We all agreed that we would send all the money to Ukrainian Aid,” Scott said.

“It was important [to do the remix], because I feel for the people of Ukraine, and I felt that the song could not only help financially but also in raising their spirits,” he said.

Proof of payment received

The YouTuber has already made the first payment of R169,245.00 to the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine – and we even have the payment receipt as proof.

More than R100 000 in the first 24 hours

According to Scott, they managed to raise R215 000 in mere eight days. And on the first day alone, the video brought in over $7000 (±R100 000).

All donations come from YouTube and Facebook, however, the biggest contributor is definitely from Bandcamp.

“The nice thing about Bandcamp is that people can pay whatever amount they want for the track, and it’s been amazing to see some people paying over $100 for the track,” Scott said.

“Every time you see an advert on a Facebook or YouTube video, 50% of the money that the advertiser paid for that ad is given to the creator,” the musician said.

He further explains that platforms such as YouTube and Facebook will pay creators between R10 000 – R30 000 per million views. And on other streaming platforms like Apple Music and Spotify, creators will receive approximately R30 000 for a million streams.