Dakar, Jan 3 (APS) – Senegalese rapper and entrepreneur Nicolas Omar Diop, alias Nix, listed, Thursday, the main causes of the failure of “Deedo”, the pan-African streaming platform which ceased its activities in 2022, citing, among other things, the absence of African investors and the lack of aid from mobile telephone operators.
»First of all, for this to work, there needs to be political will to support the sector of streaming, selling and listening to music online. Then, help from telephone operators was needed […] to support these platforms, integrate them into their telephone offering to encourage consumers to stream through these platforms. It’s support that we didn’t have,” regretted the artist.
Launched on January 13, 2017, “Deedo”, which Nix co-founded with his childhood friend Awa Diop Girard, had already recorded 12 million titles in all styles of music in five years of operation: mbalax from Senegal, Congolese rumba , Ivorian zouglou, Nigerian afrobeat, rap, Cape Verdean music, etc.
“Deedo” was initially presented as the first 100% pan-African streaming platform.
For Nix, “the activity stopped because, precisely, we could not find our way financially. It was a lot of investment. In five years of activity, almost a million euros have been invested financially.” He indicates that streaming is “a business model [modèle d’entreprise] very slow.”
“So, with the investors, the banks, etc., and for not having had a return on investment, we stopped,” he explained.
The entrepreneur believes that the project was ignored by telecommunications operators who “did not want to put in the resources”.
»And even, I would say a lack of will, I want to say technicality. It was also technically necessary for telecommunications to be able to meet demand, but this was not the case,” lamented Nicolas Omar Diop.
He also pointed out the absence of African investors on this streaming platform made in Africa.
The market is now occupied by foreign platforms, notably “Spotify” which will become the No. 1 platform in Africa, he noted.
»And the problem today is that Spotify will become the number one platform in Africa. This means that even African music will be made profitable by foreign companies. Which is sad,” he denounces.
The artist points out that Spotify, which is the first music streaming platform globally, took fifteen years to become profitable.
»In 15 years of business, it was only this year that Spotify became super profitable. Today they went public. All the investments that have been made through this platform today are paying off. It took 15 years to see a return on investment,” says Nix.
According to him, the Swedish platform found itself in an industry that was quite mature in Europe and the United States, etc.
While African music is popular all over the world, and many African streaming platform initiatives fail, Nix explains this paradox by “a lack of options in the sector”.
»We must understand that this is a sector of activity which has slow profitability. To succeed, you have to put in the means, patience, a vision, you have to invest,” he insists.
FKS/MK/SBS/ASG/BK
