UP Music: Tanzania and Nigeria Dominate in African Music Streaming Platforms
Music is going digital and the prospects are looking pretty good for artists. Besides simply creating revenue, there are other benefits for artists to being present on streaming platforms. It also opens up possibilities to reach new audiences.
We take a look at Africa’s top music streaming platforms.
Despite some artists calling on others to abandon this platform, Mdundo has about 60 000 monthly unique visitors and as of early 2015, some 250 000 people had downloaded music from the site. With KSH 300, one can have unlimited access to downloading music from the website.
The streaming service is available in Nigeria and South Africa, where users can try the platform for two weeks free of charge, and thereafter need to choose one of the subscription packages.
Currently Spinlet has 635 400 monthly unique visitors, who can choose from a library containing 50 000 local artists (according to 2013 data). Artists or aggregators can upload music to the site and receive 90% of the money generated from selling it, with 10% going to the company.
Tigo Music offers a catalogue of 36 million songs in cooperation with Deezer. It aims to support locally produced music and regularly adds local African content to its library.
This is a free Nigerian streaming service offering streaming of selected music from a range of African labels and artists.
The platform publishes and distributes African music content via any connected device, through the use of specific metadata and computer algorithms.
Mziiki’s catalogue contains mainly African content across all genres, as well as some international music. It currently has more than 100 000 regular users, largely due to the fact that all the music is free (for the time being, at least). Mziiki will soon transition to a two-tiered model, with ad-supported free music and user subscriptions.
To date users can download 90% of its music catalogue for free, with the other 10% requiring payment. To earn revenue, Mkito is supported by ads, primarily short messages before a track is played.
Launched in 2015, the platform aims to provide 100% African music content on a streaming platform with a social feel.
It streams free music from Nigeria and surrounding African countries.
This piece was inspired from a post in Music in Africa Website.
