Mdundo has over 7 million active users per month and a combined 20 million-plus downloads and streams per month, it says, and also works directly with 100,000 African artists and offers a catalogue of 1.7m African and international songs.

Through the Mdundo Mixes bundle, Vodacom Tanzania will give subscribers the music of their choice, from salsa to rhumba and as far as bolingo. Mixes will also be curated by Tanzanian DJs and artists including DJ Massu, DJ Summer, DJ Bike, DJ Feruuh, DJ Allybu and DJ YLB.

By partnering with Mdundo, Vodacom Tanzania will offer a unique means of acquiring new and old music, but will also expand its reach to subscribers in both urban and peripheral areas.

While already one of Tanzania’s leading music services, Mdundo’s deal with Vodacom Tanzania, which Vodacom claims has a base of 15.5m mobile subscribers, will see it reach even more listeners.

Nguvu Kamando, Vodacom’s head of Value Added Services, said: “Instead of struggling and moving from one platform to another, we as a digital valuing company, saw the importance of creating one bundle which will include all music genre, that’s why we also decided to partner with Mdundo.com.”

Patrick Sambao, Head of Telco at Mdundo.com, said: “Mdundo has a very strong following in Tanzania and we’re therefore pleased to launch our first telco bundle in this market. Vodacom has a clear and ambitious product team with a strong focus on delivering new and innovative solutions to the market aligned with the Mdundo vision.”

Warner Music Group signed a licensing deal with Mdundo in 2017.

Last year, Mdundo raised DKK 40.0 million, approximately $6.4m, by listing on the Danish stock exchange.

In February of this year, Mdundo announced it saw its monthly active users grow by 39% and reach 7m in December, up from 5 million in June.

The company is now targeting 9m MAUs by June 2021 and 18m by June 2022. -  JACK NEEDHAM, MUSIC BUSINESS WORLDWIDE