10 African music streaming platforms you need to know

Plenty of musical content is already available for streaming on platforms like Youtube and Daily Motion, but these platforms often don’t provide a comprehensive licensing environment like dedicated music streaming platforms. It therefore definitely seems wise to make content available, at least on stores that pay decent revenue to 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. Considering that approximately 2.5 billion people worldwide don’t have bank accounts and 2 billion of them are using mobile technology[ii], in places where easy mobile payments have become a reality, huge new markets for the music industry have emerged. The rapid growth of smartphones (especially Android phones) now enables the recording industry to reach markets that it previously could not monetise through physical retailing or other channels.

Through streaming, people in developing countries now have the possibility to consume music at affordable prices, because costs for smartphones and data are steadily decreasing. Latest statistics show that streaming will replace most music downloads in the near future, a trend which is already in progress in most ‘first world’ countries, as subscription services already now account for the majority of digital revenue in 10 territories[iii].

Next to global players like Spotify, Deezer, Google Play or Apple Music, there’s a seemingly ever-growing number of streaming music services available, many of them African. This article introduces 10 that focus mainly on pan-African or regional African content. It tries to rank them according to specific criteria. For an artist, the revenue and the number of active registered users are probably the most important factors. For consumers, the affordability and amount of music offered are the main criteria. I have therefore considered equally the amount of revenue per stream, number of purchases, registered users, monthly traffic and the amount of music on offer.

1. Simfy Africa (South Africa)

Simfy Africa was launched 2010 in South Africa and is wholly owned by Exactmobile. It has a catalogue of 27 million songs across all genres. However, local music only makes 5% of their catalogue. 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 chose one of the subscription packages, which range from R25 to R60 per month. The artist gets paid a proportionate share of subscription revenue or a proportionate share of the ad-revenue. The payout rates fluctuate each month, depending on how much revenue was generated and how often music was streamed, so a clear answer on revenue to an artist per stream can’t be given.

2. Spinlet (Nigeria)

Spinlet is a privately held company which was formed 2006 in Finland and bought by Nigerian investors. It was launched in 2011 in Nigeria and has regional offices in Lagos as well as the USA and South Africa. It hit 650 000 subscribers in 2013 and targets to have 50 million by 2016. 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. The payout per stream is currently about US$0.0038. Genres on the site include Afrobeat, gospel, dancehall, Fuji, Highlife, Hip-Hop, Hiplife, House, Jújú, Kwaito, Reggae, RnB and Traditional.

3. Tigo (Tanzania/Ghana)

Tigo is the leading telecommunication company in Tanzania, with over 8.5 million registered subscribers on their network. It is owned by Millicom, an international company with commercial operations in 44 African and Latin American countries. It launched its music stream in Latin America in 2013 and has since become Colombia’s largest streaming service. Since October 2014 it has been available in Ghana. Tanzania followed in early 2015. 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. The revenue for the artist could not be found but as the music is streamed from the Deezer library it is likely be what Deezer pays, which is around US$0,0168 per stream (according to July 2015 data).

4. Mdundo (Kenya)

Mdundo is an audio content sharing platform that allows users to upload, download and stream music. It was formed 2012 in Kenya. By 2015, 6000 artists had signed up to the platform. It has about 60 000 monthly unique visitors and as of early 2015, some 250 000 people had downloaded music from the site. Customers can download for free within a limit, or pay 300 Kenyan shillings (around $3) a month for unlimited access without adverts. Mdundo pays 70% of the revenue to the artist, but does not guarantee a fixed amount per download. Usually the revenue to the artist is to date around US$0.038 per download/stream. In 2014 more than US$18000 was paid to copyright owners, mainly made from advertising.

5. iRoking (Nigeria)

iRoking is a free Nigerian streaming service offering streaming of selected music from a range of African labels and artists. It was founded in September 2010 and has its headquarters in Nigeria with a branch in UK. According to 2012 data it has 100 000 users and a library of 35 000 tracks containing mainly Afro-Pop, Gospel, Jazz, Afro Beat, Juju and hip-hop from Nigeria’s biggest artists. This site reaches over 20 000 people a month, of which 38% are reportedly based in the US.

6. Vuga (Nigeria)

Vuga was formed in Nigeria in mid-2013 and a beta version was launched in the US in 2015. The platform publishes and distributes African music content via any connected device, through the use of specific metadata and computer algorithms. The catalogue currently contains about 65 000 songs, with over 1000 new tracks added monthly. A cool feature is that information about every individual song that goes on the Vuga platform includes detailed information about the artist too. Vuga currently offers music from about 600 artists to their roughly 5000 users (1500 of them active). The music streamed on the site is for free. Music genres on offer include Afro-pop, hip-hop, R&B, reggae, jazz, soul, Juju, Afrobeat and Fuji. These are consumed by 7000 unique monthly visitors, mainly from the US, UK, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and the Netherlands.

7. Mziiki (Tanzania)

Mziiki is a free music streaming service from Tanzania. It was unveiled by Spice VAS Africa, a subsidiary of a Singapore-based digital content company. Some 1500 local and international artists have already joined. It has 800 sub-Saharan artists signed to exclusive distribution deals and looks set to expand. 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.

8. Mkito (Tanzania)

Mkito.com is a Tanzania-based company that launched in 2014. 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. Mkito has over 290 000 unique viewers and 35 000 regular users since launching, thanks in large part to artists promoting the platform.

9. Orin (Nigeria)

Orin was founded by NETng, a Nigerian company. First discussed during the Nigerian Entertainment Conference in 2014 and launched in 2015, the platform aims to provide 100% African music content on a streaming platform with a social feel. Orin’s library consists of over 5000 audio tracks and 1000 videos (as of April 2015) but aims to expand this to 100 000 tracks within the next 12 month. The service is 100% free to use (for now), although it is planned to stream for probably $3 a month in the future. Revenue so far is made purely from advertising. Royalties are paid to artists, although the exact amount paid out is unclear.

10. Las Gidi Tunes (Nigeria)

Las Gidi Tunes was founded by Femi Ashafa in 2014. It streams free music from Nigeria and surrounding African countries. It incorporates social networking elements into the user experience, so users can create and share playlists, access each other’s playlists and also interact with other users. LasGidi Tunes is free to use. To utilise the service, users are required to sign up by email or their existing social media accounts.