Ghana: Inside Tieme’s digital music ecosystem

Founded in 2022 by Paris-based music producer Franck Osei-Mensah, with Charlène Osei-Mensah as country manager, Tieme boasts a comprehensive ecosystem comprising a digital streaming service as well as distro and label services.

The two executives tell Music In Africa that the company’s primary focus is to provide artists with a robust platform to showcase their talent, expand their reach and provide more control over their music.

Tieme was inspired by a vision to develop a user-friendly medium, drawing lessons from the behaviours, preferences and obstacles faced by Ghanaian consumers of digital content, while offering a monetisation module and providing legal and easy access to content.

“As parts of the Ghanaian diaspora, we couldn’t imagine working on a project without bringing this value for our motherland,” they said. “The Ghanaian market is both creative and productive, and we believe that it has the same potential to reach global markets such as Nigeria.”

Tieme plans to validate its model within the Ghanaian market before expanding its reach to other African countries, with the founders saying that many other markets across the continent encounter similar problems as in Ghana, such as high data costs, low internet penetration and music piracy.

“The experience that we propose is mainly focused on the local audience,” they said about what differentiates Tieme from other digital music platforms operating in Ghana.

Among the notable features of the platform is an offline reward system, which is aimed at striking a balance between offering consumers an extensive catalogue of music and ensuring that artists are remunerated fairly. This allows listeners to access offline music by watching a minimum number of ads; depending on the number of ads watched, users can enjoy varying amounts of offline time. For example, watching six ads will give listeners two hours of offline time, while 12 ads equate to four hours of offline listening. Those willing to watch 24 ads can enjoy eight hours of offline access.

“We believe that listeners knowing that once they are watching ads, their favourite artists will be paid, it will encourage them to patronise legitimate streaming more,” the executives said.

Tieme works with artists to promote their music and grow their fan base through digital marketing support, strategic release planning, music video production, and fundraising. Artists can get their music on Tieme by using its distribution platform, starting with creating an account and submitting their music, which will then be delivered to all music stores, including Tieme’s. With its distribution platform, Tieme is able to work as a simple aggregator, working with popular streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music and Boomplay.

“Already, we have been able to facilitate a collaboration between rapper Jay Bahd and his French counterpart Le Juiice, a BET Hip Hop Award nominee. We are also distributing some very popular songs like ‘Obaa Hemaa’ from Skyface and ‘Cinderella’ by Beeztrap KOTM.”

By curating playlists, Tieme is able to connect listeners to new and emerging artists, giving them exposure to a wider audience. The company uses a team of expert curators to create playlists to promote new music to its users, and is looking to leverage the power of machine learning and data analysis to create even more personalised and relevant playlists for listeners.

To ensure that artists are fairly compensated for their work, Tieme counts each stream and pays rightsholders accordingly. The company has partnered with South Africa’s Composers, Authors and Publishers Association to ensure fair compensation for artists.

Ultimately, the company says it is looking to “reshape the Ghanaian music industry and make it a viable ecosystem for the next generation of creatives.”