In recent years, streaming has boomed on the African continent. Just in recent years, global streaming platforms have entered many of the previously underserved African markets. But how have streaming platforms changed the artists and music coming from African countries? In this article, we explore that question and interview a researcher on the subject.
A brief history on music streaming in Africa
Music streaming began gaining a real foothold in Africa in the early 2010s, after the Finnish startup Spinlet was bought by Nigerian investors. It quickly built up one of the world’s largest catalogues of African music and grew rapidly. In the years that followed, Deezer and Tidal expanded into different African markets, but without establishing any real dominance. After Spinlet quietly lost its position in the market, a newly founded streaming platform called Boomplay began rising in popularity. In 2018, Boomplay had 36 million users and was dubbed Africa’s leading music streaming service. In the same year, Spotify entered the African market for the first time with its launch in South Africa.
Apple Music had already launched in several African markets following its global launch in 2015 and a further expansion in 2020. One of the biggest changes came in 2021, when Spotify launched in 39 new markets across sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Tanzania. This meant that some of the world’s largest streaming platforms were now competing directly with services such as Boomplay and Audiomack, which had already spent years building their presence across African markets.
The influence streaming platforms had on African artists
To get a full view of how streaming platforms have affected African artists, we contacted Amon Kirui, lecturer at the Department of Music and Performing Arts at Kabarak University in Kenya, to get his perspective. In his doctoral research, he studied how Kenyan musicians were affected by the digital economy. He found that a release is no longer solely built around an album, but has instead become part of a constant flow of content used to promote the music. As part of this shift, intros were often cut and hooks moved into the first twelve seconds of songs in an attempt to prevent listeners from skipping.
The pressure does not stop with the music itself. Kirui found that some artists posted as many as four promotional videos a day on TikTok and Instagram Reels simply to maintain their monthly listener numbers. “For most independent Kenyan artists, streaming is a promotional tool rather than an income source” he says.
How streaming affects the music being made in Africa
Kirui further explains how the recommendation system doesn’t just reflect listeners’ tastes, but can affect how artists make their music. He describes this as “algorithmic tutelage”, where artists adapt their sound to what performs well on streaming platforms.
Language can also play a role. Kirui found that some artists felt pressure to use English or more globally recognisable styles instead of local languages. This applied to genres as well. For lesser known genres such as Benga or Genge (Kenyan music genres), someartists chose to tag their music as Afrobeats or Amapiano to reach a wider audience.
The economic challenges of streaming
Kirui states that the core problem is that streaming can pay independent African artists very little. He states that the production costs often exceed the royalties from the songs. “The pro rata payout model sends most money to the top of the charts and starves the long tail where most African artists sit”.
Why one streaming model doesn’t fit every African market
While explaining about the global streaming platforms presence in Africa, Kirui argues that premium subscriptions paid in hard currency were designed for wealthier markets, while many African users rely more heavily on free, ad-supported options. Effectively, Kirui states that Africa shouldn’t be treated as one market. Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa all have different payment habits, listening cultures and economic conditions, and therefore one interface and price can’t serve all three simultaneously.
Kirui found one particularly striking example in his research. One track with more than 45,000 streams earned its artist less than 15,000 Kenyan shillings, around $116, despite costing close to 40,000 shillings, or roughly $309, to produce.
Conclusion
In recent years, major music streaming platforms have tried entering new markets across the African continent. With already established platforms and different local listening habits, newcomers have had to compete with already established local and regional platforms. Amon Kirui, lecturer at the Department of Music and Performing Arts at Kabarak University, argues that the Western premium subscription model was designed for wealthier markets and does not always fit the economic realities of African countries.
His research also shows that streaming has done more than change how music is distributed. It has affected how artists promote themselves, how songs are structured and which genres are most likely to gain visibility. While streaming has opened new opportunities for African artists, it has also introduced a new set of challenges, from low payouts to algorithmic pressure and dependence on global platforms.