The agreement builds on a previously signed licensing arrangement between the two companies for the US. It will make a selected catalogue from UMG available to Audiomack subscribers in 16 African markets: Algeria, Benin, Cameroon, Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Audiomack’s premium subscribers will be offered UMG’s full catalogue.
“Millions of listeners across Africa, the UK and Canada use Audiomack every day,” Audiomack co-founder and CEO Dave Macli said. “Our expanded partnership with UMG helps artists in these regions better connect with their local fans and helps artists around the globe tap into a new audience of discovery-focused music fans.”
Universal Music Africa managing director Franck Kacou said: “Working with Audiomack will enable our artists from across the continent to reach wider across both French-speaking Africa and beyond, as well as to build their audiences across Canada, the UK and US. We are excited for the future development of streaming across the continent and looking forward to finding great new ways to collaborate together with the team at Audiomack.”
In the past few years, Audiomack has been growing its presence in Africa with several partnerships. In July last year, the platform struck a deal with Ziiki Media to bolster artists’ presence in South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, which was followed by the launch of Swahili Radio, a dedicated podcast highlighting music from East Africa.
In 2020, the music streaming company inked a deal with the Chinese-owned Transsion Holdings, which manufactures smartphone brands Tecno, Infinix and Itel to “drive the growing need for a tech-enabled entertainment platform in the Nigerian music market”.
Audiomack says it reaches more than 20 million monthly users globally. Last year, Billboard started counting Audiomack streaming data towards some of its flagship charts, including the Hot 100, the Billboard 200 and the Global 200. And in March 2021, Fast Company magazine named Audiomack one of the 10 most innovative companies in music.
Audiomack allows creators to share unlimited music and podcasts for free. It also offers users additional services like free access to content-sharing tools.
Meanwhile, UMG recently launched Virgin Music Label and Artist Services – a dedicated distribution service for independent African artists and labels across the continent.
