It’s long been touted as one of the most exciting music streaming platforms in Africa – with over 98 million monthly active users as of the end of 2023 and a steep growth trajectory.

But now Boomplay’s relationship with music’s leading global rightsholders is looking precarious.

MBW has confirmed that Sony Music has this week pulled its full catalog from the service, including titles distributed by The Orchard and AWAL.

Meanwhile, sources tell MBW that concerns have been growing at other rightsholders over late royalty payments from the platform.

Boomplay is owned by Transsnet Music, a joint venture between China-based mobile phone maker TRANSSION Holdings Group and China-headquartered internet giant NetEase (owner of streaming service NetEase Cloud Music).

Virgin Music Group, Universal Music Group‘s global indie artist and label services division, has formed a strategic partnership with Hungama Digital Media to boost the international exposure of Indian regional music.

The collaboration aims to leverage Hungama‘s digital entertainment network and Virgin Music‘s global distribution capabilities to create opportunities for Indian artists to reach worldwide audiences.

“This collaboration will expand our reach in India and enable their songs to reach new global audiences, supporting our commitment to artist empowerment and innovation,” said Amit Sharma, Country Manager of India for Virgin Music Group.

ADA, the global independent music distribution and artist services arm of Warner Music Group, has entered into a strategic partnership with FaroLatino, a Latin American music distributor headquartered in Argentina.

Founded in 1995, FaroLatino claims to be the “first music distributor established in Latin America”.

Since then, the company has expanded to seven countries, working with what it calls “a robust catalog of independent artists, record labels, and content creators.”

The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) says it has now enrolled more than 100 independent distributors in over 20 countries in a program to identify unpaid mechanical royalties owed on music played on streaming platforms.

The MLC describes the Distributor Unmatched Royalties Portal (DURP) as “a highly efficient and effective way to identify independent, self-administered songwriters who are not yet receiving their digital audio mechanical royalties in the United States.”

Universal Music Group (UMG) and Cardiff-based Rescape Innovation have teamed up to explore a new virtual reality (VR) treatment for anxiety that incorporates personalized music.

The collaborative research project, dubbed ‘VR-Melody’, aims to develop a new approach to mental health treatment by integrating music, scenic virtual environments, and active listening exercises, according to a press release on Wednesday (December 11).

The study will involve up to 50 participants who will use a VR module at home for 10-14 days to assess its potential benefits.

The timing of the research is particularly significant. In the UK, anxiety affects about60% of the population, with mental health costs estimated at £105.2 billion ($134 billion) in the country alone. Concerningly, a third of teenagers have been prescribed antidepressants, rising to 43% among 19-21-year-olds, Universal Music Group andRescape Innovation noted, citing earlier research.

Does Spotify want to be the next YouTube?

That might be a tall order for the music streaming service, but there’s little doubt the Sweden-headquartered company wants video to be a larger part of its platform, and so far, its efforts have been proving successful.

As of last count, more than 170 million users have streamed a video on Spotify, up from 10 million in 2019, and the number of monthly active users who engage with video podcasts has jumped 60% year on year.

Supply is growing along with demand. The number of video creators on the platform has jumped 50% in the past year, and there are now more than 300,000 video podcast shows on Spotify.

That’s all translating into greater engagement on the platform. The average time spent by users on Spotify has grown from around 30 hours per month in 2020 to nearly 40 hours today.

Now, Spotify has unveiled a series of new features to increase engagement with video, and entice video creators to its platform.

At its Now Playing event in Los Angeles on Wednesday (November 13), the company unveiled its new Spotify Partner Program that offers video and audio creators multiple revenue streams to monetize their content.