Boomplay to foray into Francophone Africa

The Chinese-owned music streaming service will look to add to its estimated 53 million users and grow its revenue in the process. As with most streaming apps breaking new ground, Boomplay will curate country- and genre-specific playlists and strike deals with labels and industry players to appeal to local listeners, although the company has not been specific about its Francophone Africa strategy.

Boomplay general manager Dele Kadiri said besides French-speaking countries in Africa, the company would also target African expatriates living in the US, Canada and Europe.   

"We have started to look at Francophone countries such as Cameroon and Cote d’Ivoire, as well as the areas where there is a large diaspora communities in North America and Europe,” he said, adding that Boomplay was already adding about 2 million users a month to its service.

Boomplay is majority owned by Chinese phone maker Transsion Holdings, which makes the Infinix, Tecno and Itel brands and preloads the Boomplay app on them, giving the streaming service a nudge towards mass subscription and beating newcomers like continental newcomers Tidal, Spotify and Apple Music.

In April 2019, the company secured $20m funding to expand into various regions in Africa. A month later it announced that it would invest $1m in Kenyan artists who were signed to the platform. The funding would go towards production and A&R, Boomplay Kenya general manager Martha Huro said in May.

Boomplay Music, which distributes the catalogues of Universal Music and Warner Music, the latter of which signed a deal with the streaming service in March, currently has offices in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Tanzania.