Sony Music has pulled its catalogue from Boomplay, a leading music streaming service in a number of African markets, seemingly as a result of the platform not making royalty payments that are due to the major label. The move also affects music distributed by The Orchard and AWAL, Sony’s label services and artist direct distribution arms.
Nigerian trade publication TurnTable Charts says that, as a result of Sony pulling its catalogue from the service, catalogue and new releases from high profile artists including Davido, Wizkid and Loyjay are now unavailable on Boomplay.
The news has sparked concerns about the financial position of Boomplay, which raised a $20 million series A investment round in 2019, backed by a group of Chinese investors, including Shenzen’s Maison Capital, Beijing-based Seas Capital, and Yunshi Capital, which operates out of Chengdu.
Since then Boomplay has grown fast, with the company claiming over 100 million monthly active users. Data from mobile app intelligence platform Appfigures.com shows nearly 5 million downloads over the past year, with substantial numbers of those coming from non-African countries including India, Pakistan and the Philippines, as well as the US, UK and Germany.
As a key local platform for African countries, Boomplay has played an important role in supporting local talent and the emerging local industry in the markets where it operates, as well as giving a local platform for artists from the African diaspora, including global Afrobeats superstars. TurnTable notes that, if Boomplay loses its partnerships with the global music companies, that could “stifle opportunities for local talent to gain international exposure”.
Although the specifics of the dispute between Sony and Boomplay are not known, TurnTable cites sources that suggest “Boomplay has failed to report and pay royalties since April 2023”. It adds that “other distributors are rumoured to be boycotting the platform over similar grievances”, and suggests more labels and distributors may also pull their music off the platform.
Boomplay has become a key regional streaming service competing with the global players like Spotify and Apple Music in a number of African markets, including Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Cameroon.
It benefited from being a relatively early entrant into the African streaming market and from its efforts to build a solid local catalogue alongside the music it secured from its deals with global music companies.
However, music streaming is a notoriously tricky business, with services generally needing significant scale and a decent level of premium subscribers to be commercially viable. Some reports suggest that some distributors have had issues with royalty payments from Boomplay as far back as 2021. There are also complaints about a lack of transparency when it comes to the service’s royalty reporting.
Nigerian news site Pules quotes music industry executive Igbokwe Amaechi as saying that some labels seeking payment from Boomplay have been “forced to show up at their office to demand it due to a lack of transparency”.
Despite those issues, many still acknowledge Boomplay’s role in supporting local talent and the emerging local music industry. However, that makes the company’s apparent financial problems all the more concerning.
TuneTable writes, “Boomplay’s withdrawal of major label catalogues could have serious implications for the Nigerian music industry” because it has “been instrumental in distributing African music to global audiences, particularly for emerging artists”.
“Losing the trust of major labels and distributors undermines its reputation as a reliable partner”, it adds, “potentially stifling opportunities for local talent to gain international exposure”.