Universal and Boomplay Expand License to 47 African Countries

New markets include South Africa, Ethiopia, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon and Senegal; with UMG catalog now also widely available across French-speaking territories for first time.

New licensing agreement will significantly boost the availability of UMG’s African and international repertoire to music fans across Africa with its catalog now also widely available across French-speaking territories for first time.”

Boomplay, the leading music streaming and download service based in Africa and Universal Music Group (UMG), the world leader in music-based entertainment, today announced a new landmark licensing agreement that will extend licensing of UMG’s global music catalog from 7 to 47 countries across the African continent, as part of an extended relationship that will benefit African musicians and talent and expand the listening experience for Boomplay users across Africa.

In 2018, UMG became the first major global music company to license music to the service, which has continued to grow its audience reach and influence across Africa in recent years. Boomplay’s catalog currently stands at more than 50 million tracks and it boasts the largest repertoire of local African content globally, with 50million monthly active users (MAU). The renewal and expansion of this licensing deal with UMG will enable African music fans across the continent to experience the best in both domestic African and International talent.

As one of the first entrants in Africa, Boomplay has been at the forefront of the music streaming market since 2015 and has a deep understanding of the local market. Now the leading African platform, in December 2020, Boomplay surpassed the 100 million app downloads milestone on Google Play. During this time, Boomplay has supported numerous African artists, across a variety of projects, including: The “concert of the year” – which saw UMG-signed Nigerian singer-songwriter Tiwa Savage shut down Lagos with her debut performance of 49-99 and saw Boomplay invest in the first-ever documentary film focused on the history of Afrobeats.

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Boomplay also gave away 250 million megabytes of data to users free of charge, so they could stream music online during the COVID-19 pandemic. Boomplay and UMG East Africa held conferences that brought together industry stakeholders to find ways of growing and supporting the African music community even further, as highlighted by Boomplay’s announcement to commit $1 million to support up-and-coming artists from the continent.

This agreement underscores UMG’s ongoing commitment to support and grow Africa’s domestic music ecosystems, while also creating new opportunities for Pan-African talent to reach new audiences domestically, regionally, and around the world.

Over the past 5 years, Universal has expanded operations across the continent, opening new divisions in Nigeria, as well as becoming the first major music company to establish divisions in Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Cameroon, and Morocco alongside longstanding operations in South Africa.

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Boomplay users will now have access to UMG’s extensive catalog of both local and global recording artists and labels while UMG’s African Labels will also be supported under the new agreement.

“Since our original deal with UMG, the African music industry has seen exponential growth and made huge strides towards being the next powerhouse that it should be,” Boomplay’s Director of Content & Strategy, Phil Choi said. “We’re excited to continue partnering with the UMG team to help promote their African and international artists by bringing their catalogue to even more regions across Africa.”

“We are excited for our artists and labels to be available now to music fans across these 25 French-speaking countries, but also to reach audiences across the rest of the continent,” said Franck Kacou, Managing Director, Universal Music Africa, who leads Universal Music Group’s activity across Francophone countries.

“Africa is rich with artistic talent and musical culture and continues to inspire millions of Africans for whom music is an essential part of their daily lives. Working alongside Boomplay, we will help introduce these talents to new audiences, as the appetite for music continues to grow throughout these countries.”

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