Boomplay, a Chinese-owned music streaming platform for African artists and songs, has launched in Côte d’Ivoire.
Today, the platform opened the doors of its Ivorian offices in Abidjan to enhance music streaming, and help Ivorian artists reach a broader audience within and outside the continent.
Cote D’Ivoire marks the 6th African country with Boomplay’s presence after Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Cameroon.
Speaking about the launch, Boomplay Côte d’Ivoire General Manager, Paola Audrey Ndengue, said, “We’re particularly proud to establish a presence in Abidjan, a creative and cultural hub in the region. The warm welcome our team has received from artists, local partners and stakeholders is a strong indicator for us moving forward. Boomplay is committed to contributing to the dynamism of the Ivorian music industry’.”
While there is no available data on the growth of the Ivory Coast’s music streaming industry, several of its artists have risen to prominence in the past few years due to an increase in streaming services. For example, French singer-songwriter Kikimoteleba rose in Spotify’s ranks when his hit single Tigini exceeded 15 million streams. Others have also been thrust into the spotlight on social media; the Nigerian remix of Aboutou Roots La Blessure, for instance, have been used in thousands of videos across the internet.
The role these streaming services play in democratising income for Ivorian artists cannot be understated especially as many artists depend of live performances for their income. Guy-Constant Neza, an Ivorian label manager at Believe Digital told Lemonde that 80% of Ivorian artists’ income comes from live performances. Streaming platforms, according to Neza, provide “a double awareness among our artists, of both the limits of the existing model and the opportunities that streaming offers.”
With the launch of Boomplay, Ivorian artists now have access to 70 million active users on a platform where they’ll be paid per stream/purchase.
The company has a freemium model similar to YouTube where users can play music for free but with ad intermissions, or pay for an ad-free version.
According to Director of Artist and Media Relations, Tosin Sorinola, “This physical presence extends Boomplay’s mission to promote local talent by providing them with a platform and resources within and outside of the service, which enables them to reach a wider audience of music lovers across the continent. We are delighted to provide a transparent service which ensures that artists get due revenue from their music streaming.”
