With 600,000 subscribers in place in Latin America and having emerged as the largest source of digital revenues for the music industry in Colombia, Millicom’s Tigo Music service is set to launched in Ghana this last quarter bundled as part of pre-paid data plans.
Tigo Music will offer unlimited music streaming with instant access to a library of more than 30 million songs.
According to Millicom’s CEO and President, Hans-Holger Albrecht, “Africa’s digital music market is taking off fast with online and mobile penetration growing strongly. Tigo Music gives us a first- mover advantage, reinforces our strategic shift from voice to data and extends the digital lifestyle.”
Millicom will work with Africori, a digital music company to fund, acquire and manage music rights through “Africa Music Rights” (AMR) which will invest in rights directly from artists, writers, micro-labels and others in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya as well as Millicom’s six Tigo markets.
With offices in Johannesburg, Lagos and London, and reps in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda, Africori is the best suited to work with Millicom to transform how music is consumed in Africa. Africori offers digital distribution, licensing and rights management services to artists, labels and producers across the African continent. It has a catalogue of over 11,000 songs spanning 25 years and includes more than 70 gold and platinum releases from high-profile South African legacy artists such as Oleseng and Sammy Malete.
“With the sheer wealth of music emerging from Africa, supported by the timely market growth of digital sales, right now Africa is undeniably the most exciting region for the music business globally,” said Africori’s CEO, Yoel Kenan.
