Boomplay is a music streaming service that has revolutionized the way people listen to and discover music. Founded in 2015, Boomplay has quickly become one of the leading music streaming services in Africa, offering users access to millions of songs from both local and international artists.
In this article, we will explore the history of Boomplay, its features, and how it is helping to shape the future of music streaming in Africa.
History
In 2015, Transsnet, a joint venture between two Chinese companies – Transsion, the largest smartphone provider in Africa and NetEase, a Tencent competitor – developed Boomplay. This platform was preinstalled as a music player on Transsion’s phones and has since seen tremendous growth; from 17 million monthly users in July 2018 to 75 million global users by June 2020 (according to Music Ally). The impressive increase of 38 million users within this time period is indicative of Boomplay’s success.
Boomplay is the leading music streaming platform in Africa, with 86% of its 75 million users residing in Sub-Saharan Africa. Despite not being traditionally known as a major hub for commercial music, there is immense potential to be found on the continent.
Boomplay – “African Spotify”
In Europe, the US and Latin America, Apple Music and Spotify are the dominant music streaming services. However, other alternatives are gaining traction in certain regions. In China, Tencent Music (800 million users) and NetEase Cloud Music (600 million users) have become major players. One of these services owns Boomplay, referred to as the “African Spotify”, which recently raised 20 million dollars in a Series A funding round.
Boomplay has become Africa’s largest streaming platform, thanks to its founders Transsnet – a joint venture between NetEase and Chinese phone maker Transsion, which controls the African phone market.
The preinstalled Boomplay app on their smartphones has resulted in 44 million app downloads, 5.6 million daily users and 2 million new subscribers per month. Additionally, the platform boasts the world’s most extensive online African music catalog with 5 million tracks, as well as a focus on African artists and the public.
Pricing
Boomplay stands out amongst streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music in Africa due to its understanding of the region’s unique characteristics. The market is challenging for companies from the West, as people are not able to pay the equivalent of 9.99$ a month for Premium access.
Boomplay Premium offers an affordable solution at just 1.5$/month with no ads and unlimited downloads of songs and videos. Additionally, users can listen to both international and regional artists, particularly African indie which other streaming services lack.
How to get the Boomplay application
The Boomplay App is available for both Android and iOS devices. You can Boomplay download it from the Google Play Store if you have an Android phone, or the App Store if you have an iOS phone. Additionally, it comes pre-loaded on Infinix, TECNO & itel phones.
Boomplay for PC is a pre-eminent application that you can easily download to enjoy music.
Boomplay for artist
Are you, or an artist you work with, looking to gain an international following for Afropop or Gospel music? Look no further than Boomplay. Notable artists such as SINACH (23.9M Boomplay streams) and Nathaniel Bassey (22.3M Boomplay streams) have seen great success on the platform, with hundreds of thousands of Spotify followers and millions of Instagram followers in addition to their millions of Boomplay streams.
For American gospel artists looking to gain more exposure, Boomplay could be a great opportunity. By collaborating with popular artists already on the platform, they would have access to an ever-growing international audience of millions. William McDowell is one example of an artist who has seen success on Boomplay – it could be the same for others too!
Searching or artists
To start your search for artists, head to the Artist List page and sort by Boomplay Streams to get an idea of who is popular on the platform. You can then narrow down your results by genre and sub-genre. Once you have a list of potential artists, go to their individual profile pages to learn more about them. To get a better understanding of their reach, take a look at their Fan Metrics for any broad, cross-platform trends.
After researching an artist, you may want to assess their audience demographics to determine if they share similar fans with you or have ones that you would like to attract. To get in touch with them, check their bios for contact information; if none is provided, try reaching out through one of their social media accounts.
How is Boomplay helping to shape the future of music streaming in Africa?
Boomplay provides a platform for African artists to reach new audiences and to monetize their music. The platform has a wide range of features, such as streaming, downloading, and sharing music, as well as radio and artist-specific content. It also offers exclusive content and videos, and has a wide variety of African music genres.
Boomplay also has a strong focus on local African music, which helps to promote African music to a global audience. Additionally, Boomplay has partnerships with major African labels and artists, helping to further promote African music.
Summary
Despite not being one of the primary streaming platforms, Boomplay offers a unique opportunity to artists. With Music Business Worldwide reporting that Spotify adds around 40K songs daily, it can be difficult for an individual artist to stand out among such a large selection. Similarly, though TikTok has become popular for artist discovery and viral growth, its strength in volume and attention can make it hard for an individual artist to succeed.
Both Spotify and TikTok also cater largely to Western audiences. In contrast, Boomplay services an emerging market with potential for Western music – making it the perfect platform for any aspiring artist looking to make their mark!
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