For years, broadcasting titans have been looking to push the Arab music sector into the era of digitization, away from piracy.
Music broadcasting platforms began to focus more on emerging market such as the Middle East and North Africa from 2019, after success in Europe and America.
The global recorded-music market grew 7.4 percent in 2020, marking the sixth consecutive year of growth.
Total revenue for 2020 projected to be $21.6 billion, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s World Music Report.
8.4% streaming revenue increase in ME
Streaming revenue increased by 18.5 percent, owing primarily to paid-subscription streaming revenue. At the end of 2020, there were 443 million paid subscription account users.
As a result, total broadcasting revenue — including paid subscriptions and sponsored ads — increased by 19.9 percent to $13.4 billion, accounting for 62.1 percent of the total global recorded-music revenue.
The popularity of digital music is increasing across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and changing the musical scenario.
The MENA music-streaming market is growing, as customers become more interested in purchasing content that they can access for free.
For the first time in the report, recorded music revenue in Africa and the Middle East increased 8.4 percent, led primarily by the MENA region, where the rise was 37.8 percent. The flow reigned supreme, with revenue rising 36.4 percent.
The Region’s Most Popular Music Streaming Services
Spotify:
The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, and Egypt are among the 13 MENA nations where Spotify is now available.
Spotify, the world’s most popular music streaming service, has made no secret of its goal to revive the region’s dormant music industry, which has been afflicted by political instability and economic crises for decades.
“We launched in 2018 with Arabic-language services, regional playlists, and a regional team,” Claudius Boller, general manager of the Swedish group’s Middle East and Africa division, told AFP in November 2020.
Spotify’s integration with over 2,000 different types of applications and devices, such as Google Maps and PlayStation, has also helped boost Spotify’s user engagement in the MENA.
For example, Spotify engagement on PlayStation was particularly high, with gamers using the app to customize and localize their gaming experience with Arabic music.
Furthermore, Spotify launched several programs in the region to help support local artistes. For example, the company launched March 2020 RADAR, a global emerging artiste program localized on a market-by-market basis.
Spotify also partnered with Jordanian artiste Issam Al-Najjar in the MENA region, who was then promoted across billboards in the US and Canada.
Spotify also launched the Sawtik initiative to support and encourage women among audio talents while also recognizing their achievements.
Deezer
In 2018, French company Deezer set its sights on capturing a sizable share of the region’s markets by signing an exclusive contract with the Saudi Rotana Group.
Deezer’s catalog of 53 million tracks includes Rotana’s extensive catalog of Arabic music that is now fully available for listeners in Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and the UAE.
Salem Al-Hindi, CEO of the company owned by Saudi billionaire Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, predicted that revenues would resume their normal flow “following the signing of contracts with international companies such as Deezer.”
However, according to AFP, the company’s internet presence remained limited, and many of its stars recently abandoned it.
In addition, it has not signed any new prominent stars or seen a significant increase in its production over the last two years.
According to a survey on the music-streaming industry in the MENA region conducted by Statista, in the first half of 2020 the UAE accounted for 30 percent of exclusive users of the music streaming platform Deezer, but Anghami was the music-streaming leader in the region in that year.
The platform is currently developing original content for the region, besides trying out a new Arabic podcast and seeing how the content is accepted, especially considering the intense competition.
Anghami
Lebanon-headquartered Anghami has provided music content to Arab audiences in MENA since 2012. Eddie Maroun and Elie Habib launched the music service in June 2005.
At present, the service has a library of over 50 million songs and more than 70 million users. It has expanded to include offices in Beirut, Dubai, Cairo, and Riyadh.
Anghami has a deep understanding of the local area as well as its different cultures. It appears confident that it will not lose its market-leading position in the Middle East anytime soon, thanks to a large network of independent label deals and partnerships with 29 mobile operators.
Anghami signed a post-launch marketing agreement with MBC Group as part of the partnership, which helped it cement its presence in the region by securing exclusive integration deals for TV shows such as Arab Idol, The Voice, and X-factor.
In addition, according to the company, it was able to sign a series of agreements with more than 15 telecom companies throughout the Arab world.
Anghami also signed a $220-million merger agreement with Vistas Media Acquisition Company Inc, a US acquisition company, to become the first Arab technology company listed on Nasdaq.
Head-to-head competition
According to recent research by Grand View, Spotify and Deezer have one major rival in the Middle East: Anghami, which produced over 10 billion music streams in 2019.
Anghami’s official website claims it is currently operating in the region and is available to consumers in several countries across the region.
It raised approximately $14.3 million in funding over five rounds, with the last round taking place in 2016, according to CrunchBase.
The company’s revenue increased more than 80 percent over the past three years, and is expected to increase fivefold over the next three years.
The company used the market’s first-mover advantage to increase its output of new content in the form of podcasts. For example, Lebanese singer Elissa created a podcast about her life that was exclusive to Anghami.
There is confusion in the region’s music-streaming apps market today because it is yet to mature and has an unclear vision.
For example, Anghami’s customer base is still largely reliant on mobile users, while listeners may not yet be willing to pay to hear local musicians.
As a result, Anghami’s free services are used by those who are more inclined towards Arabic music, particularly in North Africa and Egypt, while paying customers, especially in the Gulf, are more focused towards international music.