Johnson Caleb (not real name), a gospel singer, never imagined waiting for several months without getting royalties for his singles streamed on Boomplay Music App until the wait began.

Caleb has three of his songs on Boomplay for two purposes: To earn royalties from the content and to gain wider recognition for his brand. He is not sure which of these two purposes he has achieved.

He partnered with Symphonic Distribution to share his songs. These singles were distributed in March. According to the terms of the partnership, the distributor was to remit 80% of royalties collected from Boomplay to Caleb on a quarterly basis.

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Since March, the songs have amassed over 223,900 streams from 36,258 unique listeners, evidencing that his brand awareness is gaining traction. But no payment has been made to Caleb, and his prospect of getting paid anytime soon remains uncertain even as his streaming numbers grow by the day.

“I distributed my latest songs to Boomplay Music App Store through a music distributor called Symphonic Distribution Nigeria with their headquarters in the United States since March 29, 2024,” the artiste told FIJ in September.

“But Boomplay has refused to pay royalties for my music being streamed on its platform till now.”

WHO IS HOLDING ON TO HIS ROYALTIES?

Owned by Transsnet Music Limited, Boomplay is one of the largest digital music distribution platforms in Africa with over 75 million users.

The streaming service failed to respond to FIJ’s email sent on September 13. Symphonic Distribution Nigeria, the distributor, too, had not responded to FIJ’s email at press time.

When he grew tired of waiting for his due payment, Caleb emailed the distributor. In response, Symphonic Distribution Nigeria told him that Boomplay was responsible for the delay. It further said that Boomplay had not sent any royalty payment to all the artistes under its distributorship since April 2023.

“At the end of two and maximum of three months, Boomplay is supposed to pay my distributor a major part of my royalties and pay the rest to the performing right organisation (PRO) that I registered with, who would then pay me,” the creative explained. 

The distributor also stated this in its most recent report published in June, in which Boomplay and 66 other streaming partners had not paid royalties to it spanning various periods. With this, the artiste strongly believes that Boomplay is responsible for withholding the royalties.

After spending nothing less than N612,750 on advertisement, the singer expressed his frustration because his return on investment is being withheld by Boomplay.

Expressing his frustration, Caleb said, “I had to borrow some money to promote the songs on Boomplay so that I can get people to listen to my music. I have accumulated more than 224,000 streams from March 29, 2024, to date.

“Sadly, I have not received a dime from Boomplay. My distributor said that Boomplay has not sent any payment since April, 2023, to them for their artistes. So, I sent Boomplay emails several times with no response. Yet they were collecting the little money I had for promotion on the platform.”

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ESTIMATED ROYALTY VALUE

Caleb drove home his point by painting a picture of himself as an independent artiste.

With no record label backing, Caleb recognises how much the royalties could be of help.

“I am an indie artiste; I don’t have enough capital. I depend on those royalties to push my music career forward. I need money for recording, mixing and mastering, promotions and stuffs. Now, I am stranded,” Caleb told FIJ.

Although how much Boomplay pays per stream is inconsistent, the information provided by Caleb and reports reviewed by FIJ showed that a stream by a non-subscriber is worth N20 at least. A stream by a subscriber, otherwise called a unique listener, is worth a minimum of N50.

While the amounts above may not represent Caleb’s actual due royalty, they help to understand how the payment system works. In this light, Caleb could be getting N5,567,740 or more for the total streams his songs had attracted between March and September.

Caleb’s royalties are more important to him as he looks to pay off the debts he incurred while trying to shoot the songs into prominence on the platform.