Boomplay, Africa’s leading music streaming service and Merlin, the independent’s digital music licensing partner, today announced an expansion of their licensing agreement that will extend the availability of Merlin members’ music catalogue to 47 additional countries in Africa.

In 2019, Merlin signed a licensing deal covering 11 countries with Boomplay, which now has over 60 million monthly active users and boasts a rich and expansive catalogue of over 65 million tracks, housing the most extensive catalogue of African content globally.

The expansion of Boomplay’s licensing deal with Merlin will give millions more African music lovers across the continent access to the best local and international music from Merlin members’ incredibly diverse catalogues.

Boomplay has been at the forefront of helping the African music industry unlock its full potential by securing successful partnerships with the world’s largest labels and distributors, actively supporting artists through various promotions and sponsorships, amongst others, and facilitating collaborations that aim to ease data costs for music lovers in Africa.

This expansion, along with Boomplay’s recent partnership with Billboard that enlists Boomplay’s streams as part of the data that informs the prestigious Billboard Charts, reaffirms their commitment to ensuring African music is heard worldwide.

This licensing expansion also emphasizes Merlin’s commitment to drive new value for its members, including access to new audiences across Africa, while offering a richer music experience for Boomplay users.

Boomplay’s Director of Content & Strategy, Phil Choi, said, “As our user base and service grows rapidly across the continent, it’s important that we have the right partners to continue on this journey with us, and to grow and support the local music industry.

"As the world leader in independent music rights, we’re delighted that Merlin shares the same vision as us and together with Boomplay’s advantages in the digital music sector and Merlin’s top-quality catalogue of songs, we can look forward to a striving music eco-system for many years to come."

Charlie Lexton, Merlin’s COO, added, “Through this expanded partnership, Boomplay users from the newly opened territories can now access Merlin members’ extensive catalogue of homegrown and international music across all types of genres and an array of languages. We are excited to see Boomplay grow their reach and offer their service to new users across Africa.”

About Boomplay

Boomplay is a music streaming service provided by Transsnet Music Limited. The company has regional offices in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Cote d’Ivoire and Cameroon. The service is available globally on mobile through the Google Play Store for Android, App Store for iOS and on the web via www.boomplay.com.

Boomplay has over 60 million Monthly Active Users (MAUs), with a catalogue of over 65 million songs.

Whereas Merlin provides independents the means to own their future. Merlin is a member led, music focused organization providing digital music licensing for independents across the globe.

Members benefit from Merlin’s premium deals, but work directly with key digital partners. Membership consists of independent labels, distributors, and other rights-holders, representing tens of thousands of labels and hundreds of thousands of artists from every country in the world.

Merlin works collaboratively with our digital partners, delivers value back to those digital partners, and seeks to drive other incremental benefits to our members. Merlin has resources in London, New York, North Carolina, the Netherlands, and Tokyo.