Business
Who Will Succeed in the Crowded Field of Africa’s Online and Mobile Music Platforms?
As an acknowledgement that device ownership has not moved as far as necessary to smartphones and feature phones, several of the mobile platforms have focused just on using SMS (text nessaging). South Africa’s 37618 Store (powered by Bozza) is run by musician Slikour and is entirely SMS based. Mkito has added SMS to the ways in which potential users can get tracks.
So where are the international platforms? The rumours that Spotify will arrive shortly are legion. And there are others but no-one has yet said that they will go into the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. The music industry is fragmented and respect for copyright is low or non-existent. Musicians survive on live concert sales and sponsorship. This may be putting off many of the internationals. It’s a hard race to call.
Source: Balancing-Act Africa
