Boomplay, Universal Music expand licensing to cover 40 new African markets

All the markets now include Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo-Brazzaville, DRC, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, eSwatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Conakry, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho and Liberia.

Other countries include Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The new licensing agreement builds on Boomplay’s partnership with UMG, which became the first major music rights holder to license its content to the streaming service in 2018. It also makes UMG’s catalogue widely available in French-speaking territories for the first time through Boomplay.

“We are very optimistic that this expansion will further embed the blossoming relationship between both parties,” Boomplay director of artist and media relations Tosin Sorinola said. “This expansion will afford us an opportunity to help open up more music to our users and opportunities for artists in the new regions”.

UMG managing director Franck Kacou said: “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.”

UMG’s African labels will also be supported under the new agreement, including Def Jam Africa and independent artists and labels distributed via Ingrooves Music Group, and its recently acquired subsidiary Electromode.

The deal comes on the heels of Spotify’s recent announcement that it would expand into 80 new markets, including more than 30 African countries. Last year, Apple Music said it had made a foray into 52 new markets, including 25 in Africa.

In an interview last year, Sorinola told Music In Africa that Boomplay did not see European and US services like Spotify, Apple and Deezer as serious competition in Africa.

“These streaming services are not so big in Africa right now and may not necessarily be considered ‘serious competition’, since we are currently operating in different markets,” she said. “However, we have noticed some moves recently with respect to content acquisition and marketing. Africa is termed the ‘last frontier of the global economy’ with a population of about 1.3 billion. Coupled with the recent international explosion of African music, these moves into the market are very well anticipated.”

Boomplay’s catalogue boasts more than 50 million tracks and the largest repertoire of local African content globally. The company has been at the forefront of the music streaming market since 2015. In December 2020, the streaming platform surpassed the 100 million app downloads milestone on Google Play.