Warner Music Group has made an investment in Africori, a digital music distribution company operating across Sub-Saharan Africa. Africori has worked with more than 6,500 artists and 700 labels, offering music rights management and artist development services as well as distribution. Continue Reading
Tencent may be focusing on Africa as the next market for its Joox streaming service. The platform is already very popular across Asia, including in some emerging markets such as Indonesia and Thailand. Continue Reading
Boomplay Music has partnered with MUSO for an effort to reduce piracy in Africa. The streaming service is owned by China-based Transsnet Music Limited but focuses on listeners in African countries. Continue Reading
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. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Leading Apple Music’s next act. Podcast recommendations by DM. Streaming growth is still slow in Africa. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web: Billboard on Africa’s early streaming moves. Radio + podcasts + promotion. Why podcasts can’t rely on ads. What a snore! Continue Reading
Several new music services have emerged to secure footholds in Africa’s nascent streaming market. The latest is based in Ethiopia and backed by a telecom. Ethio Telecom has partnered with Awtar Multimedia to unveil a service called Awtar Music. Continue Reading
Universal Music Group has inked a licensing agreement with uduX, a streaming music service based in Nigeria. The deal will bring uduX listeners access to UMG’s catalog of Nigerian and international artists. UMG is the first major to sign with this service. Continue Reading
Boomplay Music, a streaming platform serving Africa, announced that it has raised $20 million in Series A funding. The financing will support the company’s expansion efforts across Africa. The company currently has more than 44 million downloads of its app and is adding an average of 2 million new subscribers monthly. Continue Reading
Tuned Global has partnered with Tunelet to help the startup launch of a new music service in Africa. Tuned Global provides music streaming solutions with consumer engagement and its past clients include Samsung Mobile, Coca-Cola, and Line Music. Continue Reading
LyricFind has entered a deal with South African mechanical rights organization Composers, Authors and Publishers Association (or CAPASSO). The blanket deal will see songs fully licensed and monetized by LyricFind’s lyric licensing platform across 38 countries in Africa. Continue Reading
Universal Music Group has licensed its catalog to Boomplay Music, a top streaming service in Africa. Boomplay will add UMG’s library to its current catalog of 2 million tracks. The company currently boasts more than 36 million listeners across Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia. Continue Reading