New Music Portal to Launch

From Biz Community Cape Town
6th March 2012

Boom.fm, a new South African music portal serving both musicians and fans, will be up and running in about two weeks, although site development will still be taking place. Bands can upload their content for free and sell their music. Fans can stream, download and purchase music.

More than 300 bands have already signed up and uploaded their music. Fans can also discover new artists through Boom.fm Player recommendations.

Boom.fm was created because of a need for services like Spotify and Pandora that are not available in South Africa. At first the site was mostly interested in the development of local music – but then realised that “local” means different things to different people – and digital changes everything. Artists need international platforms.

Helping fans to discover music

The focus is on helping fans to discover music that they may not have heard before on radio or TV, and to help up-and-coming local bands build an audience (any artist, big or small, from any country, can sign up).

In addition to providing a streaming music portal, Boom.fm also has a small production team that attends festivals, local gigs and interviews bands for behind-the-scenes videos. The team also profiles certain local bands on the site and tries to help out local artists where it can.

RAMfest documentary

A short documentary has been made using RAMfest (the first SA festival on tour) as an example. Industry experts – journalists, brand managers, label owners, fans, and obviously bands themselves were interviewed. A Black Handed Kites music video, with Giant Films, is due to be released in April.

Beta phase

Boom.fm is still in beta phase. At the moment it provides an online streaming service that plays uninterrupted music based on the users’ preferences. Soon, though, users will be able to purchase tracks directly from the site and the site will be socially integrated – meaning that users will be able to discover more music through other users. Users will also be able to create playlists and share them with their friends.

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About Rob

Born and educated in Zimbabwe, Africa, I grew up with in an environment much different from the one that I find I now live in. In some ways I find that the third world has a more appropriate sense of moral standards in comparison to the so called first world. When you are brought up in an environment that expects you to be totally self sufficient and prepared to make your own destiny you develop a strong sense of Entrepreneurship early on in life. You learn a “can do” attitude and become multi skilled. I have been amazed to find that living in a first world country so many people have little or no ambition in life. There is no sense of pride in achievement and everyone follows a set pattern because it is unthought-of to break societies trends. What is the purpose of going to university to become a travel agent? Why spend years educating yourself to sell yourself short at the first hurdle. True visionaries have learnt in this claustrophobic society of the first world to think outside the box. Measured success has come from individuals that learnt to apply themselves through hard work and the ability to see an opportunity and apply themselves accordingly. I was educated in a country that has a record internationally as having a society that are regarded as being the most highly educated people in Africa. That is not to say that they are academically perfect, but they have a practical knowledge that sets them aside as being unique in their ability to take what they learn around them and apply it to their own circumstances to adapt and be successful in ways other societies cannot. I am proud to be a part of this community, and proud of my heritage. As an individual I have learnt over time to have an appreciation for things I never quite understood before I was subjected to the big bad world. I am most certainly not perfect, and far from where I would like to be at in my life, but it is a journey along many roads, and with many adventures and tribulations along the way. Those of you that join me on this blog will find the thoughts, feelings and ideas that this journey generates for me. So I welcome you, and if you like what you read, give me a shout, I would be glad to hear your thoughts and opinions.

Posted on March 7, 2012, in African Musicians, News and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.

  1. Thanx for the knowing bob, and that is also a nice portal.

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