Spotify dominates the global music industry, with 217 million monthly active users streaming its catalogue of more than 30 million songs. But it’s a different story in Africa. Of the 54 countries on the continent, Spotify is only officially available in five: South Africa, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt.
“In the rest, people try to use Spotify with VPNs and the process can be quite tedious,” says Victor Ekwealor, senior editor of Techpoint Africa.
Boomplay is filling the void and enjoying rapid growth on the continent. Launched in 2015 by Chinese tech industry veteran Joe He, the streaming service was first introduced as a pre-installed app on phones produced by Tecno, a Hong Kong-based manufacturer.
“The original thought process was to design an app that would best match the technical specifications of the music-focused Tecno Boom series phones,” says He, who used to work at Apple-supplier Foxconn and now splits his time between Boomplay’s headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria, and parent company Transsnet’s offices in Shenzhen, China.
“However, we soon realised there was a real need for an Africa-centric music streaming service that not only provided legal and licensed music for users, but that was transparent and could be responsible for helping artists earn the royalties and revenue they deserve.”
By April 2019, Boomplay had reached 44 million active users, and at the same time it revealed it had raised $20 million (£17 million) in a Series A funding round. Due to its focus on music streaming, Boomplay has inevitably been dubbed the "African Spotify", even though it has comfortably outgunned its Swedish rival on the continent.
It was not necessarily a safe bet that the service would thrive in Africa’s music streaming market, let alone dominate it. Indeed, many tech companies struggle to cope with a challenging environment, where issues such as rampant piracy, prohibitive data costs and poor internet infrastructure are common.
“Africa is still largely unconnected to the internet, and a lot of people do not have access,” says Ekwealor. “Where there is access, the internet is mostly either too spotty or expensive or both. Because of this, most people consider streaming services a luxury.” Unreliable payment systems pose another difficult challenge, although new fintech products are launching regularly.
“Nobody really knew what to expect,” says He. “Before us, there were many services that had tried and failed to build a sustainable solution, but we were quietly confident.”
Ekwealor suggests the practice of bundling Boomplay on the affordable phones made by Tecno and its brands gave it an edge. “Considering how popular the Tecno, Infinix and ITel brand of smartphones became over the years, it only follows that a music streaming service that came with them will eventually blow up,” he says.
Boomplay is not resting on its laurels. “We have big plans to invest directly into the music industry by co-producing content and also nurturing artists to help them reach their full potential,” says He. The company recently announced plans to invest $1 million in the Kenyan music industry – and a licensing deal with Universal has helped propel Boomplay internationally.
“Prior to the deal, we were mainly focused on bringing the best app experience and music for users in Africa,” He says. Now, however, there’s an increasing interest among the African diaspora – the service is gaining a foothold in Europe and around the world.
As other companies play catch-up, Boomplay is looking to make its mark in countries that typically receive little attention from investors and the music industry. “We are expanding our team and operations into different regions in Africa as there is so much great music, and undiscovered, talented artists in places such as Mali, Congo and Zambia,” says He. “With the correct investment in infrastructure and technology, the sky really is the limit for Africa.”
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
