MyMusic.com.ng opens fresh revenue stream for musicians

IN a bid to make sure that musicians get paid for their content and also bypass the menace of piracy, four young individuals, Damola Taiwo, Dolapo Taiwo, Tola Ogunsola and Olisa Adibua have struck up a partnership to deliver music to millions of fans across the globe who yearn for Nigerian music.

According to the team, their offering is not only a breath of fresh air; it’s also simple, uncomplicated and seamless.

At the launch of the music company which took place in Lagos, Damola Taiwo, who is the Chief Operating Officer of the company, stated that a lot of research went into the formation of the company. In his words, “This has been in the making for the past two years now, but it’s just going live now. It’s basically a two-step process where people can search for the music they want and download it. All they need to pay is N30.00 from their phone credit, and of course data to access the Internet. ­
   
On the reach of the website, he said, “For now, we have only Nigerian songs because we want to focus, and once we can get that right, we’ll move to other territories.” Damola also disclosed that they have signed necessary agreements with all artistes whose songs are on the website. He said, “We have signed agreements with all artistes; we make sure that all songs on our site are there legally and legitimately.”
   
Also speaking, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Co-Founder of the company, Dolapo Taiwo, revealed the plans they have to checkmate hacking. He stated, “To prevent hacking, our technology is very strong. We’ve been building this for the past two years, and we focus so much on technology. We’ve separated the payment process from the download process even though it’s one and the same to the user. We’re hosted on servers that the likes of Netflix, Twitter and Facebook are hosted on as well. We have a system in place called auto-scaling. What it does is that depending on traffic, it expands our infrastructure. It scales up and down in a dynamic fashion, so whatever traffic is coming to us, we’re sure that we have the server resources to cater for it. I can tell you that mymusic.com.ng is very safe, secure and robust. We also have partnerships with companies like Amazing Web Services in the USA, as well as Paypal who went through our business model, and they think that we’re offering value.”
 
In a similar vein, the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of the company, Tola Ogunsola, re-iterated that a lot of groundwork had gone into making the project a reality. He said, “This company came into being as a result of discussions with friends in the entertainment industry. We discovered that they had literally given up on the retail aspect of their music, so they resort to giving out free music to gain popularity, and get endorsements from companies, as well as get shows. But we have come up with a system that enables them to get paid from the sale of their music. I have a background in technology payments, and I’ve been in the industry for about six years. I consulted in that space when the Central Bank licensed some operators, and some of the companies I consulted for are currently in operation.
 
“I’ve also worked with organizations like Interswitch, Mastercard, Central Switch and a host of others. Basically, what we’re doing now is to help record labels create a system where it’s easy for consumers to download music in a process that’s simpler than what currently exists. We believe that if you don’t create a legitimate alternative, people will have to resort to sites with pirated works. It’s not everybody that doesn’t want to pay for music; it’s just that there’s no service that satisfies their needs. If I have to go through a 10-stage process just to download a song; of course, that’s a deterrent.”