The fact that the music industry in Kenya and the continent at large is growing is undeniable. Gone are the days when music from the western hemisphere used to rule our airwaves. Nowadays, it all about our music as people across the continent start to appreciate the different cultures and music styles.
In a bid to tap into this growing industry, Safaricom yesterday launched a new music streaming service ‘Songa’ that is meant to offer a wide variety of music to consumers. It will also act as platform through which musicians can be able to sell their music. The service is currently accessible via an app on Android mobile devices and provides one-touch access for music across all major genres, giving subscribers the convenience of listening to their favorite music on their smartphones.
The app has a music catalogue with over 2 million songs from over 400,000 artistes. These artists include Sauti Sol, Mercy Masika, Nyashinski, and Eric Wainana, and international sensations Wizkid, Camila Cabello, Usher, Chris Brown, Beyonce and Davido among others. The service has concluded agreements with major international and African music labels and aggregators including Sony Music Entertainment, Africori, Africha, Ngoma and Expedia, and is at an advanced stage of negotiation with other labels so as to expand the catalogue.
Songa has a free 14-day trial, thereafter customers will have the freedom to choose a subscription plan that suit them at 25 bob a day, 150 bob weekly or 499 bob monthly. The app offers both online and offline play, track and full album downloads, playlist creation and an ability to share links with other subscribers
To start enjoying the service, one can dial *812# or download the app from Playstore here.