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Artistes earn Sh64m Mdundo in 6 months
Martin Moeller Nielsen, CEO and Co-founder of Mdundo gives a Press brief on the company’s financial performance and outlook at Pine Tree Plaza in Nairobi on June 27, 2023.
Kenyan musicians earned $500,000 (Sh64.6 million at current exchange rates) from music platform Mdundo in the six months to June 2025, taking half of the $1 million (Sh129 million) paid to artists across Africa during the period.
Mdundo is a Nairobi-based platform that offers free access to African music through streaming and downloads, generating revenue from advertisements, premium subscriptions and partnerships with telcos.
“This milestone highlights Mdundo’s commitment to empowering music creators through fair, transparent, and accessible royalty payments that make a real impact on Africa’s creative economy,” said Martin Nielsen, chief executive at Mdundo.
The top Kenyan earners were hip-hop group Wakadinali, gospel singer Stephen Kasolo, and gengetone artiste Iyanii, reflecting the diversity and strength of Kenya’s music scene.
Muriuki Kiai, head of licensing operations at Mdundo, said an artist’s earnings are directly tied to the number of downloads their music receives.
“At the end of the payout cycle, artists take home 50 percent of what Mdundo has generated based on the downloads they’ve received,” he said.
Mdundo attributed the performance to partnerships with Safaricom, Airtel, MTN, and Vodacom, along with payment processor Cellulant, which enables seamless, cross-border payouts directly to artistes’ mobile wallets.
These collaborations have boosted legal streaming and downloads while curbing piracy and unlocking new revenue streams for musicians and telecom companies.
The platform now has 39 million monthly active users, with artistes from Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Ghana, Uganda, Cameroon, Zambia, Rwanda, Malawi, and Mozambique also benefiting from the July payout.
To strengthen its catalog, Mdundo has signed licensing deals with African labels including Sol Generation, Chocolate City, and Swangz Avenue, while working with major brands such as East Africa Breweries Limited, Serengeti Breweries, Samsung, and Nivea to drive advertising revenue.
Looking ahead, Mdundo projects royalty payouts of up to $1.2 million by 2026, supported by expected revenues of $1.7 million to $2.2 million. Expansion into Southern Africa and the rollout of its Progressive Web App (PWA) are expected to fuel this growth.
