Boomplay, Africa’s leading music streaming and download service and Universal Music Group (UMG) form African partnership with the signing of a landmark licensing agreement covering multiple markets within Africa. UMG is the first major music company to license its catalogue to Boomplay, which has 36 million users and claims to be the most popular music streaming service in Africa.
Under the terms of the multi-year agreement Boomplay will distribute music from UMG’s labels through its streaming and download platform in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia. Boomplay currently provides more than two million songs and thousands of music videos to its users and is adding nearly two million new users every month.
Boomplay users will now have access to UMG’s extensive catalogue of both local and global recording artists including Eminem, Tekno, Post Malone, Nicki Minaj, Lady Zamar, Lil Wayne, Bob Marley, Brenda Fassie, Wurld, J.Cole, Dr. Tumi, Nasty C, 6lack, Diana Ross, Hugh Masekela, Jon Bellion, Larry Gaaga, Tamia, Maroon 5, Aka & Anatii, TJAN, Jah Prayzah, Nonso Bassey, Mafikizolo, Cina Soul, Ella Mai,and Mr. Eazi.
Earlier this year, UMG announced the launch of Universal Music Nigeria, a new division within Western Africa to provide artists with comprehensive opportunities throughout the region and to provide pan-African talent a launch pad for wider international success. UMG is accelerating the company’s focus on growing the entire African music ecosystem including recorded music, music publishing, production, live events, brand partnerships and merchandising efforts.
Ezegozie Eze Jr., General Manager, Universal Music Nigeria, said “This partnership extends our reach and makes our artists’ music accessible to millions of African music lovers. We are delighted to be the first global music company to partner with Boomplay and look forward to bringing the extraordinary creativity of our artists to as many Africans users as possible.”
Boomplay is available on the web and via its Boomplay App which is currently only available for Android users with an iOS release scheduled in the coming weeks. New Boomplay users will be able to obtain a free one-month subscription when they opt in for a monthly auto-renewable subscription plan. Boomplay currently has over 36 million users, 10 million of which are from Google Play store, and the rest from global pre-installation on TECNO, Infinix & itel devices. The app, which won the Best African App at the 2017 Apps Africa Awards, allows its users to stream and download their favourite songs and videos, as well as subscribe to a plan in order to save music for offline play. Over the years, different payment platforms have been introduced and music lovers are able to pay for music via mobile money, bank cards or Boomcoin cards.
