Boomplay acquires license for Universal Music’s catalogue

The global music company has signed an agreement to license its catalogue to the streaming platform, which was founded in 2015 and owned by two Chinese companies: Transsion Holdings and NetEase, Inc.

“Boomplay is determined to continue meeting the music passion point of Africans in a legitimate way, especially Boomplay users, and teaming up with a major music company in the global music industry like Universal Music Group, offers yet another significant opportunity for us to do so,” said Boomplay CEO Joe He.

Universal recently extended its African operations, establishing an office in Nigeria as well as in Abidjan. For its part, Boomplay is the most popular streaming platform across the continent, with over 36 million users. The reach of both companies is bound to increase as it has been projected that smartphone use will increase manifold in within a decade.

The new deal gives users of Boomplay access to such international and local acts as Tekno, Mr Eazi, Lile Wayne, Brenda Fassie, Post Malone, Nicki Minaj, Hugh Masekela, Nonso Bassey, Maroon 5, Nasty C, Wulrd and others.

“We’re looking forward to working with Boomplay as we provide our African artists a range of creative, marketing and promotional resources to accelerate their careers within this vibrant and growing music market," said Universal Music Group's Executive Vice-President, Market Development Adam Granite. "This agreement will help UMG artists to reach new audiences, whilst boosting the African streaming experience to benefit both music fans, artists and songwriters.”

“This partnership extends our reach and makes our artists’ music accessible to millions of African music lovers,” said Ezegozie Eze Jr., General Manager, Universal Music Nigeria. We are delighted to be the first global music company to partner with Boomplay and look forward to bringing the extraordinary creativity of our artists to as many Africans users as possible.”

The Boomplay app, only on Android, will get an iOS version soon. Music lovers in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia can use the streaming service, which is only present on Android phones. An iOS version is set for release soon.