Music service platform Mdundo.com marks ten years since founding

The event held at the Wood Avenue Plaza brought together major music industry stakeholders among them artists, Performers Rights Society of Kenya (PRISK), the media and other guests.

Founded in 2012, Mdundo sold music on “scratch card vouchers” similar to airtime purchases from corner shops but later became a free service funded by advertising sales.

The initial advertisers on the service were Airtel, Coca-Cola and Microsoft but today the service works with many pan-African FMCG brands and banks across the continent.

Mdundo staff take part in cake cutting during the marking 10th anniversary since the founding of the company Mdundo mark ten years since starting Pulse Live Kenya

Mdundo Co-founder and Chief Executive officer Martin Nielsen highlighted the company's growth over the past decade, touching on its key achievements, which the c o mpa n y has undergone over the past decade which include expansion from Kenya to the wider region.

“This is an exciting milestone for Mdundo. Our platform currently has 20.3 million monthly active users across Africa with 4.9M in Nigeria, 3.7M in South Africa, 2.8M in Kenya and 2.4M in Tanzania.

"More than 100,000 African musicians have created an account onMdundo.com. The accounts allow artists to manage and control their catalog and withdraw earned royalties. Mdundo has made payouts of Sh100,000,000 to African rights holders in the last 10 years,’ Nielsen said.

Mdundo Co-founder Francis Amisi AKA Frasha during the company's 10th anniversary Mdundo mark ten years since starting Pulse Live Kenya

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Nielsen also noted that the company has over time partnered with a number of record labels in the continent as well as agreements with global record labels.

“We have also been able to partner with leading African record labels such as Mavin Records, Africori, emPawa, MAD, Slide Digital, Zeze Africa, Tamasha Records, CCA, Lynx, Entertainment, Black Market Records and Kings Music.

"Mdundo also has licensing agreements with leading global record labels which include Warner Music Group, Universal Music and Believe Digital,” Nielsen stated.

Mdundo CEO Martin Moeller Nielsen Mdundo mark ten years since starting Pulse Live Kenya

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Francis Amisi popularly known as Frasha who is also one of Mdundo's founders said Mdundo has been critical in helping rising artistes. Frasha said the evolution of the platform has been immense and is looking forward to seeing the platform even grow more.

The company was in September 2020 listed on the Nasdaq First North stock exchange in Copenhagen and is aiming to get 50m monthly active users as well as a positive EBITDA (earnings before taxes, depreciation and amortization) by 2025.