- The fastest growing licensing partners on Mdundo in the period were Slide Digital (Tanzania), Dapper and Mavin (Nigeria), Content Connect Africa (South Africa) and Saldid Records (Kenya).
- The growth is an indication of the catalog released within the period as well as marketing initiatives within the Mdundo service.
- The milestone is in line with the 2025 Strategy of reaching 50 million monthly active users.
Africa music service platform, Mdundo.com has reported a strong performance for the first half of the financial year ending December 31,2022 as unique monthly users reached 23.4 million.
This was a 15 per cent increase, with revenues growing by 161 per cent to over USD1.23 million.
The fastest growing licensing partners on Mdundo in the period were Slide Digital (Tanzania), Dapper and Mavin (Nigeria), Content Connect Africa (South Africa) and Saldid Records (Kenya).
The growth is an indication of the catalog released within the period as well as marketing initiatives within the Mdundo service, the firm says.
Top DJ mixes on Mdundo were Kings Music Playlist (Tanzania), Black Market Records (Kenya division), Empawa Mixtapes (Nigerian), Mavins Playlist and Tamasha Records (Kenyan).
The milestone is in line with the 2025 Strategy of reaching 50 million monthly active users.
Artistes payout
Mdundo pays 50 per cent of revenue to rights owners, which translates to Ksh60 million ($479,233) during the review period.
“The increase in unique monthly has majorly driven by use of smartphones, internet penetration, premium products, and partnerships with telecommunication companies,” CEO Martin Moeller said.
Of the total users, 3.5 million were from Kenya, up from 2.7 million in December 2021.
Advertising revenue closed at USD 620,348 in the financial period (Half 1 2022-23), compared to USD 331,814 in the same period previous financial year, an increase of 89 per cent.
Majority of Mdundo’s advertising orders came from Kenya.
Paying subscriber revenue accounted for USD302,960 in revenue, an estimate of 33 per cent of the total revenue for the financial period.
The revenue subscription increased six times in the current financial period compared to the previous half one revenue subscription, which stood at USD 51,214.
About 487,000 tracks had been uploaded by over 140 thousand African rights holders onto Mdundo.com, an increase of 32 per cent from December 2021.
In addition, the service offers 1.7 million songs from Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, and Believe Digital.
Outlook
Mdundo.com expects the number of monthly active users to increase to approximately 25 million at the end of the financial year 2022-23.
It is aiming at a positive Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of the financial year ending June 2025, as per the company’s strategy of growing the number of users to 50 million.
The company is expecting total revenue of up to USD2.3 million in the financial year ending June 30 2023, up from USD1.03 million last financial year, and EBITDA in the range of minus USD1 million –USD1.2 million in 2022-2023.
“This is as result of increased investment focusing on driving value per user through premium products and telco partnerships,” it said during the release of the financial results in Nairobi, on Thursday.
Subscription revenue is expected to account for 40 per cent of the total revenue within a few years.
Mdundo aims to provide Africa’s millions of internet users with easy access to music whilst contributing structure, legality, and income to the sector.
