What Artists Should Know about Boomplay and Audiomack in 2026
Boomplay is strongest when:
- You want deep engagement with African audiences.
- Local chart success is important.
- You depend on long-term regional traction.
Audiomack is strongest when:
- You’re starting out and need easy upload and discovery.
- Virality and social sharing are important.
- You aim for rapid attention without limitations.
In 2025, Audiomack reported delivering more than 58 billion Afrobeats streams in Nigeria alone since 2020, with 15.3 million monthly active users and 4.9 million daily users in the country.
That scale shows the massive appetite for African music and the importance of streaming services.
Africa’s music streaming sector is growing, with Boomplay and Audiomack at its heart. Both come with very different approaches to catalogue, earnings and discovery, and those differences determine which platform genuinely serves artists best.
How Boomplay and Audiomack Stand Today
Boomplay is widely seen as Africa’s largest homegrown streaming service, with frequent reports citing over 90 million monthly active users across the continent and a catalogue built especially for African tastes.
Boomplay began in Nigeria in 2015, backed by Transsion (the phone maker behind brands like TECNO and Infinix). Its early focus on local markets helped it gain traction among African listeners well before many global competitors arrived.
Audiomack, by contrast, started in the United States but has quickly localised in Africa, celebrating a five-year anniversary on the continent with huge engagement. It has never revealed the full Africa-wide user count publicly in recent reports, but in Nigeria alone, the metrics are strong, also backed by billions of Afrobeats streams.
These two platforms now define the current generation of music streaming on the continent. What is most important to artists, however, isn’t just popularity, but how these platforms create value, pay creators, and help music grow.
Catalogue: Local versus Global Reach
Boomplay’s Strength, Deep Local Roots
Boomplay’s catalogue is built with Africa in mind. It has tens of millions of tracks and a strong emphasis on Afrobeats, Highlife, Gospel, Amapiano and other regional sounds.
In targeting local tastes first, Boomplay ensures that users discover music they know and love. For many African artists, especially those still building audiences, this means faster traction in core markets.
Licensing deals with global labels like Universal and Warner also help bring major international content alongside African music, increasing overall richness.
Audiomack’s Edge, Free Uploads and Discovery
Audiomack grew from a platform where artists could upload music without cost. That early openness made it a favourite for emerging and independent artists long before most DSPs went mainstream.
Its catalogue thrives on user activity: artists and creators re-upload tracks, repost and generate playlists that boost visibility. That model allows beginners to get exposure quickly.
But content quality and discoverability depend heavily on community interaction, not just licensing deals.
Monetisation, Can Artists Really Earn?
Boomplay: Volume and Regional Loyalty
Boomplay pays artists through a royalty system tied to streams, usually routed via distributors. Most African artists earn less per stream than on global platforms like Spotify or Apple Music, but they may earn more total revenue thanks to higher local volume.
Because Boomplay is so widely used in Africa, especially among active local listeners, artists can build deep engagement with fans who stream regularly.
However, payment reliability and royalty timing have been a point of concern, most noticeably when a major rightsholder like Sony withdrew its catalogue from the platform due to delayed payments.
When a label pulls music, artist income and listener engagement drop quickly. That matters for careers and for fan loyalty.
Audiomack: Free Access with Monetisation Program
Audiomack’s Audiomack Monetisation Program (AMP) lets qualifying artists earn from advertising revenue. The upside is accessibility: artists can upload for free and potentially earn without a distributor.
But AMP only operates in select countries (including Nigeria and Ghana) and requires verification and ongoing management.
Earnings from AMP are generally moderate, because they depend on ad revenue rather than subscription funds or paid streams. That means artists with huge play counts may still earn less than they expect unless they diversify their income streams.
Discovery Tools & Growth: How Artists Get Heard
Boomplay
- Curated local playlists and charts.
- Editorial features that highlight regional talent.
- Deep integration with local culture and language preferences.
This local focus ensures that artists who resonate with their communities get priority visibility.
Audiomack
- Social features such as reposts and interactive playlists.
- Heavy emphasis on user-driven discovery.
- Frequent viral picks from DJs and influencers.
Audiomack is great at grassroots growth: tracks can spread fast if they catch fire on social media or in niche communities. This is why it helped push artists from underground to mainstream early in their careers.
But this model relies on network effects more than institutional curation.
Stats from Audiomack show how powerful independent streaming can be. Artists like Asake have amassed billions of streams across his catalogue on the platform, showing genuine engagement beyond mere downloads or casual plays.
Boomplay has also powered many breakout moments for African stars, though the platform typically reveals milestone plaques for cumulative streams and local impact rather than global counts.
Audiomack may push volume quickly, Boomplay builds regional music loyalty steadily.
Key practical tip
Choose platforms based on goals. If your music must speedily build a grassroots fanbase, Audiomack may bring early momentum. If you want sustainable regional income and loyalty, Boomplay is more likely to help.
In most cases, artists today benefit from being on both platforms and supplementing them with global services like Spotify and Apple Music for international reach.
This isn’t about crowning one platform the best. Both Boomplay and Audiomack play commendable roles in the African music space.
Boomplay is where regional culture is honoured and monetised more. Audiomack is where discovery begins and early careers can catch fire.
Artists succeed not by choosing one over the other, but by understanding the unique strengths each brings to the table.
Embracing both, with smart content, engagement and strategy, is the necessity to building a lasting music career in Africa in 2026 and beyond.
