Boomplay
Platform · this deep dive is built from the official pages of the platform itself and of the tools that support it.
Overview
Boomplay is a music streaming service with offline track downloads that grew up in Africa and is built for it. Here is how the platform describes itself: "Boomplay focuses on African and international music, you can play and download millions of MP3 songs" — and that is the only way to make sense of how it works: not a radio station and not a social network, but a catalogue storefront with free downloads.
The operator is Transsnet Music Limited; this is stated in the terms of use. The platform lays out its growth story in the "About us" section: a player pre-installed on TECNO phones since 2015, the "Best African App" award in 2017, licensing deals with Universal Music (2018), Warner Music (2019), Sony Music (2019) and Merlin (2019), a 20 million USD Series A round in 2019, and Boomplay streams counting toward the Billboard charts since 2021.
One thing to understand up front as an author: Boomplay is not a self-publishing platform. You cannot upload a track directly; the only way in is through a distributor (see "Getting started"). Beyond music, it also carries a news section called Buzz and podcasts.
Who's here
Every audience figure here comes from the platform itself. The "About us" section states: 100 million licensed songs, 7.5 million artists, 75 million monthly active users and more than 4,000 labels and partners. The same page says that in December 2020 the app passed 100 million downloads on Google Play.
Note the wording "7.5 million artists": that is the number of profiles in the catalogue, not the number of active authors. And "75 million monthly active" — the platform does not spell out the period or publish its counting method.
The platform's own figures disagree with each other. The help page on embedding the player states that "over 90 million songs are currently available in more than 30 African countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa", while the "About us" section cites 100 million licensed songs. Neither statement carries a date, so there is no telling which is newer. The one useful thing to take from the discrepancy: the footprint is "more than 30 African countries", and that is the only geographic estimate the platform names.
Boomplay describes its geography with the tagline "Bringing everything music from around the world to Africa"; the sign-up form on the site defaults to Nigeria's country code. There is no country-level audience breakdown on any public page. The homepage interface language is English, as the page markup shows.
Getting started
For listeners: not everyone needs an account. The terms explain that without registration only basic features are available, while downloading, commenting and sharing require an account. The age threshold is 13; users under 18 need consent from a parent or guardian. Registration asks for your name, email address, age, postal address, phone number, gender and other demographic data.
For artists the path is different. Boomplay offers "Boomplay for Artists" — profile management, stream and follower statistics, and promotion. Verification gives you control over your account data, detailed stream and follower analytics, a verified artist badge, better chances of being featured in promotion, and participation in support campaigns.
The music itself, however, does not enter the platform this way. Boomplay states plainly: "if you are an independent musician, these companies will handle licensing and distribution to Boomplay and pay you royalties when listeners play your track" — and lists the distributors: TuneCore, Africori, The 400 Media, Continued Entertainment, M.A.D, Apprise Music, ONErpm, and for labels, Believe Digital and The Orchard. That is the answer to "how do I put a track up": through an intermediary.
What you can publish
Direct uploads by users are limited to the non-music side. The terms describe Buzz as a space for entertainment industry news and refer to user-generated content "including but not limited to Buzz and comments".
The same document lists what is forbidden: sexual content and profanity; hate speech; violence; terrorist content; dangerous movements and organisations; bullying and harassment; dangerous goods; marijuana; tobacco and alcohol. For violations the platform reserves the right to remove the material immediately and suspend the account.
Rights to uploaded content
This is a gap in Boomplay's terms worth knowing about. The terms of use contain no licence clause covering music, or uploaded content in general: the "User-Generated Content" section describes only prohibitions, and the rights section deals with the platform's own material — "all content and works published and made available by TML as part of the service… belong to TML, its subsidiaries and affiliates, or third-party suppliers or licensors".
The only licence clause addressed to the user covers "comments" in the broad sense — ideas, suggestions and materials sent to the platform. The condition is severe: the material may be used by TML free of any rights and claims; you waive any assertion of ownership rights; you grant TML a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide licence to that material in all media and for any purpose now known or later discovered; and you waive any right to compensation, including attribution. The terms of the relationship between an artist and the platform are set by the contract with the distributor, not by these terms.
How to grow
Boomplay does not describe how recommendations or playlist placement work. The only lever it does describe is verification, which, in the platform's words, improves your chances of being featured in promotion. Promotional tools are listed only in general terms: stream analytics and "promo". There are no numeric thresholds, timelines or playlist selection rules on any public page.
Advertising is a separate product, aimed at brands rather than authors. The platform describes buying on a CPM basis and the available placements: launch splash screen, expanded player, interstitial, an "anchor" above the playback bar, the library, the music homepage, search, the playlist page, and audio ads that play when a listener skips to the next track. The splash screen runs for 5 seconds. From the platform's own case studies: a Coca-Cola jingle was played 1.4 million times in a month; a Martell campaign gathered over 2.5 million impressions at a CTR of 7.44%; Club Shandy branded playlists drew over 3.4 million impressions in 6 weeks at a CTR above 5%. These are the platform's own figures about its own campaigns.
Path to monetization
Boomplay does not pay authors directly. Royalties flow through the distributor: "these companies… will pay you royalties when listeners play your track". The platform publishes no rates, payout thresholds, currencies or timelines — those are set by your contract with the distributor.
The platform collects money from two directions: advertising (see above) and subscriptions. The paid Premium tier offers unlimited song and video downloads, premium content, better audio quality, a larger cache, no ads, exclusive merchandise and discounts, boosted points and profile customisation. The only numeric difference named on the page: the cache on the free tier is 256 MB, on Premium up to 1 GB. The page does not show the price without a login.
Payment terms are covered in the terms of use: there are monthly, weekly and daily plans; the monthly plan renews automatically, while the daily and weekly ones are one-off. Refunds are not offered: TML does not refund the remainder of a subscription already paid for. The service also sells virtual goods and physical merchandise — the platform changes the selection and prices at its own discretion.
Tools and automation
Boomplay's site has no developer section and no API documentation, and the robots.txt file blocks crawling of the service paths /search/, /json/, /oauth/, /podcasts/ and /episode/.
The only built-in tool the platform names is the artist dashboard: stream and follower analytics. There is an embeddable player widget — the site has an embedding instructions page, and the interface offers 300×600 and 300×250 sizes along with HTML/HTML5 code.
External automation here comes down to one thing: the distributor. That is the "publishing tool" — TuneCore, ONErpm, Africori and the rest of the partner list upload the catalogue, collect reporting and pay out royalties.
Limits and rules
- Age. 13 and up; under 18 requires consent from a parent or guardian.
- Geography. Using the service is expressly forbidden wherever it is illegal, not permitted or subject to prosecution.
- Catalogue. Platform materials may be used only for personal, non-commercial entertainment purposes; copying, forwarding, selling, modifying and creating derivatives are forbidden.
- Accounts. TML may suspend or close an account immediately and without notice if it deems the behaviour unlawful or improper.
- Money. There are no subscription refunds.
- Legal. The terms are dated 13 July 2022; the platform amends them at its own discretion, and the duty to keep track of changes rests with the user.
- Crawlers. The robots.txt file has separate lines banning ClaudeBot, CCBot, DataForSeoBot, AhrefsBot and SemrushBot from crawling the site; we worked within the general rule for user agents and requested none of the blocked paths.
Who it's for
A good fit for artists working with African audiences who already have a distributor: getting onto Boomplay is simply a matter of ticking the platform in the store list at TuneCore, ONErpm or Africori. A good fit for labels: the partner programme is designed for them.
A good fit for brands that need an African streaming audience: the ad inventory is described in detail and the CPM model is clear.
Not a fit if you want to put a track up yourself and right away: there is no direct upload. Not a fit if you need transparency on payouts from the platform — Boomplay publishes neither rates nor thresholds, and all of that stays with the distributor. And not a fit for projects where automation matters: there is no public API.
Verified data
The checked data this deep dive rests on.
About the platform
the platform describes itself as: "Boomplay focuses on African and international music, you can play and download millions of MP3 songs, such as the latest songs, download for free songs, gospel songs, worship song, Christmas songs, Rema songs, Burna Boy songs, Mercy Chinwo songs etc."
This is the platform's statement about itself, not an independent assessment
source, checked 2026-07-28
the service is operated by Transsnet Music Limited and its affiliates ("TML" in the terms)
From the terms of use (EULA) in force since 13 July 2022
source, checked 2026-07-28
the platform states: a player pre-installed on TECNO phones since 2015; the "Best African App" award (AppsAfrica) in 2017; licensing deals with Universal Music (2018), Warner Music (2019), Sony Music (2019), Merlin (2019); a 20 million USD Series A round in 2019; streams counted toward the Billboard charts since 2021
A timeline as told by the platform itself; we did not check independent confirmation
source, checked 2026-07-28
the platform is operating: on the date of the check the home page returned code 200 with a working catalogue; there is no farewell page or placeholder
A separate check for service shutdown
source, checked 2026-07-28
Who's here
the platform states: 100 million licensed songs, 7.5 million artists, 75 million monthly active users, more than 4,000 labels and partners; over 100 million downloads on Google Play by December 2020
The platform's own claims, with no measurement date and no disclosed method for counting "active" users
source, checked 2026-07-28
Sources diverge: the help page states "over 90 million songs in more than 30 African countries", while the "About us" section cites 100 million licensed songs
A discrepancy within the platform's own materials; neither statement carries a date
source, checked 2026-07-28
Getting started
no direct upload for artists: the platform refers you to distributors — TuneCore, Africori, The 400 Media, Continued Entertainment, M.A.D, Apprise Music, ONErpm; for labels, Believe Digital and The Orchard
The platform writes that these companies handle licensing, distribution and royalty payouts
source, checked 2026-07-28
artist verification gives: control over account data, detailed stream and follower analytics, a verified artist badge, better chances of being featured in promotion, participation in support campaigns
The platform publishes no numeric verification criteria
source, checked 2026-07-28
Account and access
minimum age is 13; users under 18 need consent from a parent or legal guardian · the source is dated 2022-07-13
EULA dated 13 July 2022
source, checked 2026-07-28
Content
user content is forbidden if it contains: sexual material and profanity, hate speech, violence, terrorist content, dangerous movements and organisations, bullying and harassment, dangerous goods, marijuana, tobacco and alcohol
The User-Generated Content section; applies to Buzz and comments
source, checked 2026-07-28
Advertising
ad formats: launch splash screen (5-second display), expanded player, interstitial, an "anchor" above the playback bar, the library, the music homepage, search, the playlist page, audio ads when a track is skipped; bought on a CPM basis
There is no rate card on the public page — only a request form with a budget field in USD
source, checked 2026-07-28
the platform presents its own case studies: a Coca-Cola jingle played 1.4 million times in a month; the Martell campaign — over 2.5 million impressions at a CTR of 7.44%; Club Shandy branded playlists — over 3.4 million impressions in 6 weeks at a CTR above 5%
The platform's own figures about its own campaigns, not an independent measurement
source, checked 2026-07-28
Analytics
the artist dashboard promises stream and follower statistics; the dashboard itself is served as an application at a hash-based address and cannot be read without executing scripts
We could not confirm the set of metrics or the file requirements
source, checked 2026-07-28
How the money works here
the platform does not pay artists directly: the distributor pays royalties when listeners play a track; Boomplay publishes no rates, thresholds, currencies or timelines
source, checked 2026-07-28
Paid subscriptions
cache size: 256 MB on the free tier and up to 1 GB on Premium
The only numeric difference between the tiers named on the public page
source, checked 2026-07-28
monthly, weekly and daily subscription plans are available; the monthly plan renews automatically, the daily and weekly ones are one-off; the remainder of a paid subscription is not refunded
Prices are not served on the public page without a login
source, checked 2026-07-28
Restrictions
catalogue materials may be used only for personal, non-commercial entertainment purposes; copying, forwarding, selling, modifying and creating derivatives are forbidden
source, checked 2026-07-28
robots.txt has separate lines banning ClaudeBot, CCBot, DataForSeoBot, AhrefsBot and SemrushBot from crawling the site
We worked within the general rule for user agents and requested none of the blocked paths
source, checked 2026-07-28
Legal
the EULA contains no licence clause for uploaded music; the only licence granted by the user covers "Comments" — ideas, suggestions and materials sent to the platform: TML receives a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide licence in all media and for any purpose, while the user waives ownership rights and any compensation, including attribution
The key fact about rights: the terms for an artist are set by the contract with the distributor, not by these terms
source, checked 2026-07-28
Languages
the interface language of the home page: en
The language is taken from the markup attribute, the versions from hreflang
source, checked 2026-07-28
Catalogue section: all similar See also: catalogue index · region: Africa · scheduler comparison · find by situation · platform restrictions