Nigeria: Josplay launches Josplay Enterprise music tool

The service, created by a team of software engineers and musicologists, allows users to create their own mood-perfect playlists using tags to search through a catalogue of more than 200 000 African songs. It is engineered to match African music with relevant audiences by harnessing AI technology. It is available via browser and mobile and desktop apps.

Josplay says the innovation aligns with its vision to preserve African musical heritage while equipping businesses with culture-rich, mood-targeted music to amplify positive emotions and boost customer engagement to increase growth and profitability. It added that its enterprise-grade playlists were “sensitive to the nuanced challenges organisations face when playing music within their premises,” and would help brands deepen their connection with audiences by constantly scaling and adapting customer behaviour.

“Josplay understands musical tastes of African audiences at a local level,” Josplay co-founder Emmanuel Ogala said. “We also understand how these tastes differ as you cross geographical and cultural boundaries. It is with this understanding that Josplay helps businesses entertain their audiences and boost their profit.”

The service is expected to offer solutions for organisations that are unable to find the right music for their audience within their premises or navigate the complexities of acquiring music licences. The company says the service will take care of licence negotiations for users while giving them access to hundreds of playlists curated for local audiences.

To ensure that royalties for the use of creative works reach to rights owners, Josplay is partnering with various performance rights organisations and record labels across Africa. This, the company hopes, will ameliorate the complexities of obtaining music licensing for businesses.

“It is important for us that artists are paid whenever their works are used,” Ogala said. “When businesses use Josplay, they do not just profit from the benefits of happier customers, they are also giving back to their local creative industry.”

Josplay is privately funded but Ogala says his outfit is preparing a series A round of funding to expand the service globally.