Common Music Group indicators licensing take care of African streaming service Mdundo – TechCrunch

The music catalog of the Common Music Group (UMG), the world’s largest report firm, will likely be obtainable to customers of Africa-focused streaming service, Mdundo, following the signing of a licensing deal.

Mdundo mentioned the deal will strengthen its providing to its 17 million lively month-to-month customers, and speed up its progress throughout Africa. The music streaming service, which Mdundo says has achieved exponential progress within the Nigerian market, can also be obtainable in a variety of nations together with Kenya, Ghana and Tanzania.

Final 12 months, Mdundo signed partnerships with telcos throughout the continent in a bid to develop its earnings and consumer base, a transfer, it says, has boosted its progress. Mdundo customers can entry music utilizing USSD providers on a bundled program (day by day, weekly or month-to-month). The streaming service can also be accessible by way of its web site or app, which has greater than 1 million downloads.

“Our focus is to supply a related service to the lots of of tens of millions of potential customers in Africa which are getting on-line… We’re extraordinarily happy to work with Common Music inside Africa in direction of our imaginative and prescient of offering Africa with a straightforward and authorized answer to accessing music that matches the native customers,” mentioned Mdundo founder and CEO Martin Nielsen, in an announcement at present.

Mdundo was based in 2013 and was listed within the Nasdaq First North Progress Market — a Nasdaq Nordic division — in September 2020 to fast-track its progress throughout Africa. It has grown its user-base from lower than a million in 2016 to twenty million by the top of June, with projections of reaching 25 million by 2025.

Its newest deal comes as UMG strengthens its presence in Africa, by way of its subsidiary Common Music Africa, which has over the past decade expanded throughout Africa by establishing a presence in South Africa, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Senegal, Cameroon, Kenya and Morocco. UMG can also be behind a few of Africa’s main labels together with Def Jam Africa, Blue Observe Africa and Motown Gospel Africa.

“We welcome Mdundo as a associate, and are excited for extra followers throughout Africa to have higher entry to a few of Africa’s most fun musical expertise, in addition to UMG’s unequalled catalog of worldwide artists,” mentioned Sipho Dlamini, the CEO of Common Music South Africa & Sub-Saharan Africa.

Throughout Africa there are greater than 20 music streaming providers, together with Sweden’s Spotify, which is now in over 40 African nations after increasing to a further 38 final 12 months. Nigeria-headquartered Boomplay, and Songa by Kenya’s telco Safaricom are the opposite widespread streaming providers. Spotify and Boomplay are already licensed by the three main report firms that additionally embody Sony Music.