All three major record companies now have licensing deals with Boomplay Music, the music streaming platform which claims to reach more than 60 million users in Africa.
Sony Music Entertainment became the last to partner up with Boomplay today (Nov. 19), following Warner Music Group in March and Universal Music Group, which led the way in November 2018.
Boomplay’s catalog of more than 10 million songs is available in Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Now, that library includes music by such Sony heavyweights as Beyoncé, Travis Scott, Camila Cabello, DJ Khaled and Future, along with African signees like Nigerian artists Wizkid and Davido, and Kenya’s Redsan.
“We look forward to bringing Africans together on Boomplay to discover, listen to and enjoy the millions of songs our exceptional Sony Music Entertainment artists have created,” said Sony Music Entertainment Africa managing director Sean Watson.
Adds Boomplay director of content & strategy Phil Choi: “This is a significant step for us in achieving our aim to develop the African music eco-system and we are excited about the opportunities that this strategic partnership will bring for African artists and our users.”
Launched in Nigeria in 2015, Boomplay is owned by the China-based company Transsnet Music Limited. Boomplay is currently available on Android, iOS and web, and users can subscribe to daily, weekly and monthly payment plans.
In April, when Boomplay announced it had raised $20 million in Series A funding, the streaming platform claimed to have signed up more than 44 million users. At the time, Boomplay said it was adding an average of 2 million new subscribers per month — a claim it seems to have slightly surpassed.
And Boomplay isn’t the only way the majors are expanding into Africa. This spring, Warner formed a partnership with local Nigerian label Chocolate City, while last year, Universal purchased a majority stake Kenyan music label AI Records.
Meanwhile on the streaming front, Apple Music, Tidal and Spotify all have debuted in Africa in the past few years.
Source: Billboard.com
Image: Boomplay Wikipedia
