The largest music streaming service in the world, Spotify, is available in 79 countries worldwide and yet it is not available in any West African Nation (There are 16 countries in West Africa). There is a serious lack of options for music streaming services in West Africa, with Apple Music and Google Play Music being the only platforms that are widely available throughout the continent. As a result of this, most people have resulted to using VPNs just to be able to listen to music.

It will be great to have Spotify, with its extensive music library, readily available to music listeners from Senegal to Niger. Bringing Spotify to West Africa will also aid in eliminating the dominance of illegal downloads of music which is clearly a serious issue and a really big problem, especially in nations like Nigeria and Ghana.

The availability of Spotify will also go a long way to help West African based artists reap the benefits of their streams. I am an artist based in Ghana and the largest percentage of my audience resides in Ghana. It recently came to my attention that all my streams on Spotify from Ghana will never be acknowledged. Not even with the use of VPNs. So it is easy to picture the number of Artists throughout these countries, including big names like Afro B and WizKid, that have made their work available on Spotify but will never actually earn their total streaming revenue. 

Spotify, as a company, can benefit greatly from establishing itself in the emerging markets of West Africa and there is no doubt that the people of West Africa are ready to embrace Spotify as their go-to source for listening to music. Please sign this petition to make this a reality!

Thank you!