Who is Mdundo? The Kenyan streamer with huge growth
A promising year for the African music streaming service sees it step onto the global stage and look towards joining the major players in digital music.
Mdundo are a music streaming service based in Kenya and operating in sub-Saharan Africa . You may not have heard of them before but you’re sure to be hearing a lot more about them. Following stunning growth in 2023, the music streaming service is well on its way to becoming a significant global player.
Mdundo ended 2023 with 30.8 million monthly active users. That represents 16% growth in their service from June 2023, putting them well on the way to their goal of 50 million by 2025. Even more impressive, their subscription revenue grew a whopping 48% year-on-year. Subscriptions now make up the majority of their income, accounting for 55% in 2023.
For reference, Spotify is the most popular dedicated music streaming service in the world. They recently announced 602 million active users. That puts Mdundo at just over 5% of the monthly users as Spotify, very impressive for a regional music streaming service. Even more impressive, Mdundo are fast approaching even big dogs like Apple Music, who last reported 88 million subscribers.
Mdundo aren’t new to the game though, launching in 2013 – just 5 years after Spotify. They operate differently as well. Mdundo allows users to download tracks for free, offering the rightsholders advertising income. They offer DJ mixes which are sold as “premium products”.
It’s not all positive for the service, as Mdundo reported a 41% year-on-year drop in advertising revenue. They claim this is due to a delayed reseller agreement and stress a lack of concern over the dip.
Mdundo wrote: “Management considers the loss for the period as well as the cash burn in line with the growth strategy and mission of the company to become the primary pan-African music service with 50 million unique monthly users by 2025.”