Audiomack has partnered with MTN in Nigeria for zero data cost music streaming

 

MTN Nigeria and Audiomack have announced a partnership known as the Audiomack+MTN Data Bundle program. Through this partnership, MTN subscribers in Nigeria will be able to purchase tailored data bundles for streaming unlimited music and accessing content on Audiomack free of data charges.

The partnership will see MTN subscribers gain free access to Audiomack’s streaming service via their mobile devices on weekly and monthly subscriptions. The weekly plan offers 1.2GB + Free Audiomack at N270 while the monthly plan offers 2.5GB + Free Audiomack at N550.

“Collaboration is not just rhetoric for us; it is the guiding philosophy behind everything we do. We are good together. We recognize the growing need of our customers to have more options to access entertainment and have partnered with Audiomack to offer them an uninterrupted stream of the best, newest and most diverse music selections," said Srinivas Rao, Chief Digital Officer at MTN Nigeria.

Competing for music streaming subscribers in Nigeria

For a large portion of the previous decade, the music streaming industry has been mostly a tricky one across Africa. This has been because the majority of mobile phones were still feature phones and also the cost of mobile Internet is one of the highest (as compared to people's income) across the world, this makes it a difficult business no only to enter but also to turn profitable.

However, this has gradually been changing with the introduction of sub-$50 Android smartphones, especially Chinese manufactured brands. One such popular brand of smartphones, especially in Nigeria, are manufactured by China's Transsion Holdings. Transsion is home to, and manufacturer of, some of Africa's popular and affordable Android-based mobile phone brands such as TECNO, Infinix, and itel.

Added to a booming smartphone business, Transsuon also has one of Africa's leading digital music platforms, Boomplay. Boomplay's success can mostly be attributed to the fact that its smartphones come preloaded with the Boomplay music app.

This has led to Boomplay being the leading digital music platform in Africa despite competition from Spotify, Apple Music and TIDAL, a factor which has immensely assisted the company in reaching the milestone (as reported by Boomplay) of 45 million users in Africa earlier in 2019, and now reportedly over 60 million.

With the zero rated partnership between Audiomack and MTN in Nigeria perhaps Boomplay may have a competitor considering MTN's 76 million subscribers in the West African country.

Democratizing access to digital music

According to Audiomack, they already have millions of users residing in Nigeria. The digital music company believes that the partnership with MTN is a step towards democratizing music streaming.

“High data costs are one of the barriers to music streaming and we are glad to be partnering with Africa’s leading telecommunications company to provide the Audiomack+ Data Bundle. We are truly excited to offer the best and hottest new musical tracks—a mix of real-time trending, top charts, and expertly-curated playlists to MTN subscribers," said Charlotte Bwana, Head of Business Development and Media Partnerships for Audiomack Africa.

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