Sony Music Entertainment (SME) has partnered with African music streaming service, Boomplay to expand its reach within Africa targeting BoomPlay’s over 60 million users.
Sony Music will also help expand BoomPlay’s inventory from its impressive catalogue of over 10 million songs and videos.
Present in Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, BoomPlay sees the deal as confirmation of its vision is to build the largest and most reliable digital music ecosystem for artists and content creators in Africa.
According to SME’s Managing Director, Sean Watson, “SME is delighted about working with Boomplay to deliver some of the greatest music in the world to African music lovers through our newly concluded partnership. We look forward to bringing Africans together on Boomplay to discover, listen to and enjoy the millions of songs our exceptional Sony Music Entertainment artists have created!”
Boomplay sees the partnership as a significant step for it to develop the African music eco-system and we are excited about the opportunities that this strategic partnership will bring for African artistes and our users.
In April, BoomPlay signed a direct licensing agreement with Warner Music to bring the record company’s diverse global roster of music to the region.
The deal allowed Boomplay to distribute Warner Music’s extensive catalogue of more than one million songs to its community of listeners in Africa and as well provide Warner Music’s artists with direct access and exposure to Boomplay’s millions of users in the region.
In the same month, Boomplay also raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Maison Capital and followed by Seas Capital and other strategic investors. The funding will be used to fuel Boomplay’s continued expansion, with a focus on content acquisition, product optimization, recruitment, and a further consolidation of its position as the leader in the African market.
Boomplay offers a freemium service where users can stream for free with advertisements and certain limitations, while additional features, such as offline play and ad-free listening, are offered via a paid subscription.
First launched in Nigeria in 2015, Boomplay began as the default music player of the TECNO Boom J7 music phone. Now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the joint venture established between Transsion Holdings and Chinese Internet tech leader NetEase, the Boomplay app is currently available for Android, iOS and web.
“Music remains the only universal language, transcending the thoughts, boundaries, philosophies, cultures and preferences of individuals. This partnership offers our African stars a stronger opportunity to be heard on the global scene – increasing their reach and exposure,” says Boomplay’s Head of Marketing for Africa, Tosin Sorinola.
