African music streaming service Boomplay and Universal Music Group (UMG) have struck an expanded deal that will extend licensing of UMG’s global music catalog from 7 to 47 countries across the African continent.
Amongst the new markets are key territories such as South Africa, Ethiopia, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon and Senegal, with UMG’s catalog now also widely available across French-speaking territories for first time.
Boomplay’s catalog currently stands at more than 50 million tracks and claims to offer the largest repertoire of local African content globally.
One of the first music streaming players in Africa, Boomplay launched in 2015 and surpassed 100 million app downloads on Google Play in December 2020.
The expanded deal follows Boomplay rival Spotify‘s recent expansion into key territories across Africa such as Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe.
Boomplay says that it has given away 250 million megabytes of data to users free of charge, so they could stream music online during the COVID-19 pandemic.
UMG’s African labels will also be supported under the new agreement including: Def Jam Africa, which launched in five countries in 2020, Motown Gospel Africa, AI Records, Afroforce1 and other distributed labels including: Kalawa Jazzmee, Aristokrat, Family Tree and Soulistic amongst others.
The agreement also includes artists and labels distributed via Electromode and Ingrooves Music Group within the continent.
UMG says that the agreement underscores the its “ongoing commitment to support and grow Africa’s domestic music ecosystems, while also creating new opportunities for Pan-African talent to reach new audiences domestically, regionally and around the world”.
Over the past five years, UMG has opened new divisions in Nigeria, as well as establishing divisions in Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Cameroon and Morocco alongside UMG’s longstanding operations in South Africa.
UMG says that this presence will continue to grow throughout 2021 and beyond.
Boomplay users will now have access to UMG’s catalog of both local and global recording artists and labels including: Tiwa Savage (Nigeria), Nasty C (SA), Mi Casa (SA), Sauti Sol (Kenya), Cassper Nyovest (SA), Toofan (Togo), Tekno (Nigeria), Suspect 95 (Côte d’Ivoire), Brenda Fassie (SA), Tenor (Cameroon), Black Coffee (SA), Dena Mwana (DRC), Singuila (DRC), Locko (Cameroon), Hugh Masekela (SA), Charlotte Dipanda (Cameroon), Diamond Platnumz (Tanzania), Alpha P (Nigeria), Tomi Owo (Nigeria), Cysoul (Cameroon), Major League Djz (SA), Fior De Bior (Côte d’Ivoire), Larry Gaaga (Nigeria), Prince Kaybee (SA).
They will also have access to music by UMG artists like Da Baby, Drake, Lil Baby, Justin Bieber, The Weeknd, Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, Stevie Wonder, Billie Eilish, Booba, Dadju, Tasha Cobbs, Niska, Lionel Richie, Rihanna, Motown’s Catalog and Bob Marley.
UMG content will now be available via Boomplay in the following markets:
Angola
Benin
Botswana
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cabo Verde
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Comoros
Congo
DRC
Côte d’Ivoire
Djibouti
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Eswatini
Ethiopia
Gabon
Gambia
Ghana
Guinea Conakry
Guinea-Bissau
Kenya
Lesotho
Liberia
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mozambique
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Rwanda
Sao Tomé and Principe
Senegal
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
Tanzania
Tchad
Togo
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe
“Through this extended agreement, Boomplay will now help supply improved access to the world’s largest and most diverse music catalog to their broad user base.”
Sipho Dlamini, CEO, Universal Music Group, South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, said: “We are delighted to expand our relationship with Boomplay, who over the past few years have shown themselves to be dedicated to providing the best in music to fans across the continent.
“Through this extended agreement, Boomplay will now help supply improved access to the world’s largest and most diverse music catalog to their broad user base, as we continue to introduce the best in African and international music to the rapidly growing streaming audience across Africa.”
“Since our original deal with UMG, the African music industry has seen exponential growth and made huge strides towards being the next powerhouse that it should be.”
Phil Choi, Boomplay
Boomplay’s Director of Content & Strategy, Phil Choi, said: “Since our original deal with UMG, the African music industry has seen exponential growth and made huge strides towards being the next powerhouse that it should be.
“We’re excited to continue partnering with the UMG team to help promote their African and international artists by bringing their catalogue to even more regions across Africa.
“Africa is rich with artistic talent and musical culture and continues to inspire millions of Africans for whom music is an essential part of their daily lives.”
Franck Kacou, Managing Director, Universal Music Africa, who lead’s Universal Music Group’s activity across French-speaking Africa, added: “We are excited for our artists and labels to be available now to music fans across these 25 French speaking countries, but also to reach audiences across the rest of the continent.
“Africa is rich with artistic talent and musical culture and continues to inspire millions of Africans for whom music is an essential part of their daily lives.
“Working alongside Boomplay, we will help introduce these talents to new audiences, as the appetite for music continues to grow throughout these countries.”
“As a platform, we are committed to ensuring that we help artists spread their music and that our users have access to all the music they love wherever they are.
Tosin Sorinola, Boomplay
Tosin Sorinola, Director of Artist and Media relations said: “We are very optimistic that this expansion will further embed the blossoming relationship between both parties.
“As a platform, we are committed to ensuring that we help artists spread their music and that our users have access to all the music they love wherever they are.
“This expansion will afford us an opportunity to help open up more music to our users and opportunities for artists in the new regions.”Music Business Worldwide
