Streaming & Africa: an emerging market
Streaming has taken over music. Long gone are the days of CDs & individual album purchases. Many have let this go in favor of paying flat monthly fees for access to an unlimited amount of music. While definitely appealing to many music-lovers, there is one place that streaming hasn’t begun to dominate: Africa.
There are numerous reasons why streaming isn’t as popular in Africa. First of all, there are fewer big players in the market. Most streaming services aren’t available in all African countries, with many only being available in a select few. For example, Spotify is currently only available in five African nations. They hope to expand this figure to thirty-nine by the end of the year. Across the content, there are over 25 different services in operation. This fractionation has made it hard for any service to be successful in multiple nations. Another issue is with the internet connection. 29% of Africans use the internet. Many of these users face relatively high internet data prices. These two conditions have seriously restricted where streaming services have chosen to expand. The core markets tend to revolve around the same five to ten countries.
As of now, many Africans resort to pirating music. There are huge markets centered around illegally downloading songs and buying pirated CDs. These options are what has been working for many consumers but artists are getting the short end of the sack. African artists lose millions in profits.
With streaming services set on expanding operations within the continent, streaming is becoming increasingly popular. The only thing certain is change and it looks like we are on the brink of another evolution in the music industry.
Sources:
