Akon purchasing 50% of Senegalese music streaming service: Musik Bi

Senegalese singer Akon has announced he is purchasing 50% of Musik Bi, a Senegalese company, and African home-grown platform for legal music downloads.

Musik Bi launched in Senegal in February 2016 with a mission to promote African artists, pay them properly, and fight internet piracy, however, the platform has been struggling to gain a foothold.

According to Akon, Musik Bi is “the platform of the future (…). It’s not just a platform for Senegal but for Africa”. In order to give more power to his new music streaming platform, Akon exclusively launched his latest single “Khalice”, a collaboration with Senegalese superstar Youssou Ndour, on Musik Bi.

Musik Bi CEO, Moustapha Diop, said that ongoing disputes with phone companies over their cut of takings had hindered Musik Bi’s reach. However, 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.

With Akon on board, the company hopes it will be able to come up with better solutions to its challenges as well as leverage on Akon’s influence to expand their catalog of music and services to include streaming, music festivals, and TV.