Safaricom Grows Its BAZE Platform to Include Music Streaming

Platform set to offer customers a unified access to their favourite local and international tracks and give Kenyan artists a new avenue for monetizing their music

Safaricom  has today announced the expansion of its Baze platform to include music, enabling its customers to enjoy a mobile-first, ad-free, music streaming experience from as little as KES 10 per day.

As a way of promoting and supporting Kenyan talent, Baze Music will feature a vast collection of local music genres including gospel, gengetone, urban local, reggae and bongo flava, with over 45,000 local songs and 1.1 million international tracks available. Among the Kenyan artists whose content is on Baze Music include: Two-time Afrima Award winner Nikita Kering, Trio Mio, Jua Cali, Bahati, Mejja, Nviiri The Storyteller, Femi One, Ohangla maestro Prince Indah and gospel artists Daddy Owen and Guardian Angel, among others.

“Our goal is to provide Kenyans freedom, choice and control over the content they consume, and I am delighted that our customers have enjoyed a variety of content on Baze since the platform was launched in May 2021. To further enhance their experience, we are introducing Baze Music, which will also provide Kenyan artists a new avenue for monetizing their music in addition to the Skiza platform,” said Peter Ndegwa, Safaricom CEO.

Baze Music is accessible via *544*55# or www.bazemusic.co.ke, with three affordable subscription plans available. These include an all-day pass with 50MB at KES 10/-, a weekly pass with 300MB at KES 50/- or a monthly pass with 1.5GB at KES 200/-. New customers will also enjoy a 7-day free trial with 500MB daily.

Customers using Baze Music will be able to set any of the tracks that they love as their Skiza tune directly from the portal.

“With such a unique digital platform, I call upon our artists to be part of this journey and utilize this opportunity to earn while showcasing and growing their musical talents,” added Mr. Ndegwa.

The launch of Baze Music is a continuation of Safaricom’s commitment to growing Kenya’s creative and music industry. In August 2021, the service provider increased the Skiza revenue share by 33%, enabling more than 20,000 artists and content-creators to benefit from increased earnings from all their tunes on the platform.