African music platform Boomplay lands licensing deal with Sony

Sony has secured a licensing deal with Boomplay Music, a Chinese-owned music platform operating in Africa. This means that Boomplay now has agreements with all three of the major labels to bring their catalogs to its streaming and download platform; it secured a deal with UMG in November 2018 and with WMG in March 2019.

“We are delighted to partner with SME and having their internationally recognised repertoire on board,” Boomplay Director of Content and Strategy Phil Choi said. “This is a significant step for us in achieving our aim to develop the African music ecosystem and we are excited about the opportunities that this strategic partnership will bring for African artistes and our users.”

Along with announcing the Sony deal, Boomplay said that it now has an audience of 60 million users. The previous update was 42 million users in February. It has been continuing to grow thanks to a $20 million funding round in April. Boomplay offers listeners a mix of streaming and downloads.

Anna Washenko