MusikBi - Africa's first music download service launched

Music lovers across Africa now have a platform to legally download music by some of the continent’s finest musicians.

MusikBi, a website created to promote African music acts as well as fight internet piracy was on Wednesday launched in Senegal.

About 200 artists including world famous Youssou N’Dour and Baaba Maal as well as other rappers, jazz artists, Christian and Muslim vocalists have signed up to the website.

Songs cost between 300 and 500 CFA francs (50-85 US cents) to download and users can pay for the songs through SMS or PayPal.

The website launched on Wednesday, is also aimed at properly paying musicians to enable them live comfortably from the proceeds of their works.

“This initiative is very good! It will help us to expand our Senegalese music because it has all forms of music. It also has over 80 artists, so it is already huge and this is only the beginning…so that’s why we congratulate ourselves,” said Duggy Tee a Senegalese musician.

MusikBi draws its name from the Wolof word for music, a language which is widely spoken in Senegal and Gambia.