As live shows remain mute, music streaming sites give artists a lifeline
Otile Brown whose Just in Love album premiered last June and Nadia Mukami’s music album African Popstar are reported to have earned 1.5 million streams barely three months after their release.
The two artists have taken Kenyan music scene by storm as they have had over 11.5 million streams on the music streaming platform, Boomplay, over the last one year.
These pair are among an increasing number of artists who are embracing the idea of earning from music streaming sites. Streaming is a smart move that skirts piracy through unauthorised downloads even as it helps target on the go customers.
Boomplay Music is one among the many media streaming and download platforms globally.
At the moment, it is one of the fastest growing music community, lifestyle and entertainment app.
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Boomplay, which was first launched in Nigeria in 2015, aims at building the largest and sustainable digital music platform focusing on African local and urban content.
Already with over 55 million songs, Boomplay’s Music service helps artists across different genres like Pop music, Rock, Afrobeats, Afropop and Reggae to monetize their content effectively.
For artists to earn from their creative works, one signs up a Boomdistro account where henceforth you upload your tracks, albums, artwork and metadata with ease.
The platform is also configured, allowing artists to sell music, a feature that is available to millions of users across Africa and the globe.
The platform offers to give the artists 100 per cent of the royalties generated from their music.
When a subscriber streams your music, you get a paid proportionate share of Boomplay’s subscription revenue per month, which will fluctuate each month depending on the amount of subscription revenue generated and how often your music was streamed.
For Boomplay, the mission remains the same, which is to give Africans the best music experience possible.
In 2020 some of the other biggest winners in the streaming game in Kenya were rapper Khaligraph Jones and Nyashinski, who took second and third positions respectively, while Mercy Masika and Tanasha Donna rounded up the top three for the female entertainers.
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The music streaming company, which has over 50 million monthly active users and 11 million Active Users as at November last year, recorded a 278.25 per cent uptick in streaming services in 2020, compared to the year before.
Music streaming platforms such as Spotify, Deezer and ITunes pay musicians in royalties. Your music could be earning streaming royalties from the platforms with different factors as they don’t have a fixed “pay-per-stream” rate.
A listener’s country and location, whether the listener has paid subscription or is using a free account, a specific artist’s royalty rate and relative pricing and currency in different regions usually determine the royalties paid.
Obviously, some music services pay better than others.
With the continued government’s ban on public gatherings that is crippling the creative industry, streaming services can provide a reliable income stream.
