Mdundo partners with MTN Ghana

The deal, which follows similar arrangements in the last 18 months with MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria and Vodacom Tanzania, allows MTN’s 28 million customers to subscribe to the service from the Mdundo website to get access to premium service, which offers popular daily mixtapes and a curated mix of the biggest genres of music.

Established in 2013 in Kenya and headquartered in Denmark, Mdundo is one of Africa’s leading music services boasting over 20.3m monthly active users of which over 500 000 are in Ghana.

Mdundo says its strategic telco partnerships form part of a new monetisation strategy expected to account for 40% of the company’s revenue in the coming years.

So far, Mdundo has brought its music bundles to some 150 million customers in three territories, which represent 25% of the 600m mobile subscribers in sub-Saharan Africa.

“MTN Ghana’s customers will get exclusive access to Mdundo’s premium service,” Mdundo CEO Martin Nielsen said. “In Ghana, we will focus on the top genres including Afrobeats, hiplife, gospel, reggae, highlife and amapiano.”

“Ghana has been high on our radar since the beginning of the year and MTN is the perfect partner for us in the market. MTN has a very forward-looking product team and has been performing exceptionally in the market.”

MTN Ghana chief commercial officer Noel Kojo-Ganson said: “Music provides uplifting connections which is why we continue to look for partners who deliver unique and rich music platforms and services. We are excited about this service from Mdundo and we believe it offers another enriching and high-quality mix of music experiences for our customers”.

Last month, Mdundo announced a milestone of $1m in payouts to rights owners across the continent, marking a steady growth in its commercial performance while augmenting a strategy to provide a formidable alternative to music piracy in the region.

Mdundo is also aiming at 50m monthly active users by 2025.