Senegalese-American singer Akon has announced he is purchasing 50% of Senegalese company Musik Bi to create a music streaming service in Africa that can compete with global competitors. Musik Bi is Africa’s first home-grown platform for legal music downloads. It was launched in Senegal in February 2016.
Musik Bi is Africa’s first home-grown platform for legal music downloads. It was launched in Senegal in February 2016 with the mission of promoting African artists, paying their music properly, and fighting internet piracy.
It is, therefore, no surprise that is garnered the interest of Aliaune Badara Thiam (Akon), a music mogul who has devoted more of his time in recent years to his Lighting Africa solar energy initiative and other charitable pursuits. The super star now wants to delve into changing how the continent listens to music announcing in Dakar that he would become the majority shareholder in the service. He said to BBC Africa that,
“The music catalogue is Senegalese music but my goal for it is to expand it beyond Senegal,” adding that, “Of course it is going to be a platform for Africa, in general, to be able to distribute your music and be able to stream music as well.”
He even went a step further to launch his latest single Khalice, a collaboration with Senegalese superstar Youssou Ndour, exclusively on Musik Bi.
More than 200 internationally famous musicians, along with younger rappers, jazz artists and Christian and Muslim vocalists, initially agreed to put their music on Musik Bi, where users can download it using their phone credit.
By Kylie Kiunguyu
Source: Africa: Akon Partners With Music Bi to Change How the Continent Listens to Music – allAfrica.com
