Africa’s first home-grown platform for legal music downloads has launched in Senegal with the aim of promoting artists from the continent, paying them properly, and fighting internet piracy.
Internationally renowned musicians such as Youssou N’Dour and Baaba Maal are among almost 200 who have signed agreements with “MusikBi“, along with younger rappers, jazz artists and Christian and Muslim singers.
“It is the first platform of its kind enabling music downloads by text or PayPal,” Solid, the company behind the project, said in a statement on Wednesday.
The platform draws its name from the word for music in Wolof, the language widely spoken in Senegal and neighbouring Gambia.
Songs cost between 50 and 85 US cents and users can download them using mobile phone credit in a region where few possess bank cards.