Boomplay, or Boomplay Music, is an Africa-focused media
streaming
Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...
and download service. Developed by Transsnet Music Limited, the platform was first launched in
Nigeria
Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
in 2015 by
TECNO Mobile
Tecno Mobile is a Chinese mobile phone manufacturer based in Shenzhen, China. It was established in 2006. It is a subsidiary of Transsion Holdings.
Aimed at emerging markets, Tecno has focused its business on the African, Middle Eastern, South ...
,
Transsion
Transsion () is a Chinese manufacturer of mobile phones based in Shenzhen. It was the largest smartphone manufacturer by sales in Africa in 2017, and also sells mobile phones in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Latin America. It ...
Holdings. Boomplay has a
freemium
Freemium, a portmanteau of the words "free" and "premium", is a pricing strategy by which a basic product or service is provided free of charge, but money (a premium) is charged for additional features, services, or virtual (online) or physical ( ...
and subscription based service; basic features are free with advertisements or limitations, while additional features, such as download for offline play and ad-free listening are offered via paid subscriptions. The service is currently available for Web, Android and iOS. As of August 3, 2018, Boomplay Music recorded 10 million installations off the
Google Play
Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store, Play Store, or sometimes the Android Store (and was formerly Android Market), is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certifie ...
and
App store
An app store, also called an app marketplace or app catalog, is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not i ...
. It currently has over 75 million monthly users (MAU) with a catalogue of over 100 million songs by 7.5 million artists.
History
Boomplay primarily focuses on African local and urban music content and was first launched in Nigeria in 2015. Boomplay Music released "Boomplay Music Version 2.1" in March 2016 introducing its Premium Subscription which featured paid subscription services, ad-free listening and downloads for offline play. In March 2017 Boomplay Music released Version 3.0 which featured a new logo, redesigned
User Interface
In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine fro ...
, the follow feature and the introduction of a new "Buzz" feature that allows users access to entertainment news without leaving the app. In 2017, it won the ‘Best African App’ Award at the AppsAfrica Innovation Awards in
Cape Town
Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...
, South Africa and on April 14, 2017, announced a partnership with
TuneCore
TuneCore is a New York City–based digital music distribution, publishing and licensing service founded in 2006. It was acquired by Believe Music in April 2015.
TuneCore distributes music through online retailers such as Deezer, Spotify, Amazon ...
. On 5 November 2018, Boomplay Music agreed a deal with
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...
to distribute content from Universal's music labels. The agreement brings UMG's extensive catalog of both local and global recording artists including
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...
,
Tekno,
Post Malone
Austin Richard Post (born July 4, 1995), known professionally as Post Malone, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. His music blends various genres including hip-hop, Pop music, pop, Contemporary R&B, R&B, Tra ...
,
Nicki Minaj
Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian rapper, singer, and songwriter. Regarded as the "Queen of Rap" and one of the most influential rappers of all time, she is noted for her ...
,
Lady Zamar,
Lil Wayne
Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all ...
,
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, he fused elements of reggae, ska and rocksteady and was renowned for his distinctive voca ...
,
Brenda Fassie
Brenda Nokuzola Fassie (3 November 1964 – 9 May 2004) was a South African singer, songwriter, dancer and activist. Affectionately called MaBrrr by her fans, she is also known as the "Queen of African Pop" or the "Madonna of The Townships." Fas ...
,
Wurld,
J. Cole
Jermaine Lamarr Cole (born January 28, 1985) is an American rapper and record producer. Born in a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained attention as a rapper following the release of his d ...
, Dr Tumi,
Nasty C
Nsikayesizwe David Junior Ngcobo (born 11 February 1997), known professionally as Nasty C, is a South African rapper, songwriter, and record producer.
After releasing three mixtapes, and two Extended play, EPs, Ngcobo released his debut album ' ...
,
6lack
Ricardo Valdez Valentine Jr. (born June 24, 1992), known professionally as 6lack (stylized as 6LACK, pronounced "black"), is an American R&B singer and songwriter. Born in Baltimore, Maryland and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, he gained recognitio ...
,
Diana Ross
Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Known as the "Queen of Motown Records", she was the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown#Major divisions, Motown's most suc ...
,
Hugh Masekela
Hugh Ramapolo Masekela (4 April 1939 – 23 January 2018) was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, singer and composer who was described as "the father of South African jazz". Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and f ...
,
Jon Bellion
Jonathan David Bellion (born December 26, 1990) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. He was born and raised in Lake Grove, New York on Long Island. He is best known for his 2016 single "All Time Low," which peaked at ...
,
Lady Gaga
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influ ...
,
Tamia
Tamia Marilyn Washington Hill (born May 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Windsor, Ontario, Tamia performed in various singing and dancing competitions as a child. In 1994, after signing a development deal with War ...
,
Maroon 5
Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Adam Levine, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine (musician), James Valentine, d ...
,
AKA &
Anatii
Anathi Bhongo Mnyango (born 8 January 1993), known professionally as Anatii, is a South African rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer.
Career
Anatii began his professional musical journey at the age of 14 when he received his first m ...
,
Tjan,
Jah Prayzah,
Nonso Bassey,
Mafikizolo
Mafikizolo is a South African Afro-pop music group formed in 1996, consisting of composer Theo Kgosinkwe, lead singer Nhlanhla Mafu and Composer Tebogo Madingoane, who was shot and killed 14 February 2004. The group rose to fame after they relea ...
,
Cina Soul
Christie Quincyna Quarcoopome (born 3 May 1996), known professionally as Cina Soul, is a Ghanaian singer, songwriter and performer. She was a finalist at the 2014 Vodafone Ghana Music Icons competition held in Accra, Ghana.
Early life
Christie ...
,
Ella Mai
Ella Mai Howell (born 3 November 1994) is an English R&B singer and songwriter. Her musical career began at London's British and Irish Modern Music Institute in 2014, during which time she auditioned as part of a trio on the 11th season of ...
, and
Mr Eazi
Oluwatosin Oluwole Ajibade (born 19 July 1991), better known by his stage name Mr Eazi, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter, and record executive. He is the pioneer of Banku music, a fusion of sound he describes as a mixture of Ghanaian highlife a ...
to its users. In December 2018, the iOS version of the app was released. In March 2019, Boomplay announced a licensing deal with
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "Record label#M ...
. The terms of the partnership allow Boomplay to distribute Warner Music's extensive catalogue of more than one million songs to its community of listeners in ten countries; Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. In March 2019, Boomplay successfully completed a series A funding of US$20 million led by Maison Capital and followed by Seas Capital and other strategic investors. In 2021 it was announced that Boomplay is working with Croatian vendor Centili to innovate data payment models. Customers earn points that can be used in exchange for data, can take part in promotions and competitions to win data, and can gift data to others users. This feature was launched initially in Nigeria, but is expected to be rolled out to the other countries in which Boomplay operates.
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
announced in October 2021, that data from Boomplay streams would be added to the data used in collating the
Billboard Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...
, Billboard 200 and other Billboard data-driven charts.
Partners
In May 2019, Boomplay signed a distribution agreement with
Believe Digital
Believe SAS (also known as Believe Music; previously known as Believe Digital) is a global digital music company headquartered in France. Believe has several brands including TuneCore, Nuclear Blast, Naïve, Groove Attack, Play Two and AllPoints ...
distribution services. Believe was founded in Paris in 2004 by Denis Ladegaillerie as a worldwide online distribution and services arm and an in-house record label. With 32 offices in 16 territories, the company's clients include Scorpio Music, Kitsune, Chinese Man Records, Fargo, Baco Records, Afrique Caraibes Productions and Yellow. Also in 2019, Boomplay announced licensing deals with Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group,
Sony Music Group
Sony Music Group (SMG) is the American holding company that controls the recording and music publishing business of Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation and managed by Sony Entertainment. Sony Music Group is one of the "Record label, Big ...
, and global indie rights agency
Merlin
The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...
.
In June 2022, Boomplay partnered with telecommunications company AirtelTigo to offer its users cheaper data to stream music in its app.
Expansion
Boomplay announced its move into East Africa by opening its Kenyan office in August 2016. It opened its Tanzania office In April 2017. It currently has local operations and offices in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon.
Accounts and subscriptions
As of the middle of 2020, Boomplay had 75 million users in Africa.
As of July 2022, the two Boomplay subscription types, both offering unlimited listening time and enhanced sound quality (up to 320 kbit/s bitrate) are:
References
External links
Boomplay Music - WebPlayerBoomplay - descargar musica
{{Music streaming services
Music streaming services
Android (operating system) software
Nigerian music websites