UMAPLAY: This app might just let you discover the African artists you love

Over the years we have heard Artists complain about the lack of platforms to facilitate their exposure on a regional level. For those, I come bearing a possible solution.

Created by 27 year old Ghanaian programmer Stefan and his business partner Eugene, Umaplay is a simple application that may provide our local artists with the exposure they so desire. I spoke to Stefan for over an hour, getting a better understanding of how they got to this point.

3 years ago the pair created a social media application, but after realising that market was saturated, they took time to reassess the gaps in African entertainment. After trying a few other projects, they finally found the idea that won them a 2^nd place award in the lifestyle category of the 2.0 MTN Apps Challenge Ghana last year – Whisspa, which has since rebranded to Umaplay.

It is a simple enough app to navigate as it allows you to browse through the artists and categories without any hassles and also lets you either listen to your favourite tracks online, or you can opt to download them. I had to ask Stefan how the app works for artists though,

Our target is primarily users across Africa who want to enjoy our good music. But what drives us is wanting to help artists monetize their music without having to pay payola. Our website is more feature complete, so while songs are free by default, an artist can actually sell their music. They can make preview versions available for free, and they will also be able to keep track of their numbers etc. So once we start monetization of the platform there will be direct discussions with the artists on how sales via the platform will be split as well as stream payments. Artists can, however, be assured that they will never be charged to use the service as it is against our policies. ‘

At some point users may have to pay to access extra services, but Stefan says the idea is to ensure a 100% African platform that is free for everyone across the continent, while exposing them to some of the best music we have to offer. So far, you’ll find big names such as Tiwa Savage, Awilo Longomba, Korede Bello and Mafikizolo on the app and after only two weeks of official release it does look like a promising platform, I am curious to see which of our Zimbabwean artists will jump on this boat. I am particularly excited about the possibilities this could introduce for collaborations across the board.

The UMAPLAY app is now available for download in the Play Store for Android, the app for iOS will be out soon …. In the meantime, check out the website www.umaplay.com especially if you want to upload your content.