Mdundo

Mdundo are essentially online music publishers and distributors. They act as intermediaries between the musician and the public. They also collect payment for phone downloads on behalf of artists and distribute an agreed percentage to them.

Mdundo was only a dream in August 2012 when Martin, Frasha and the seed investment fund, 88mph, started to discuss how an online music distribution service could work in East Africa. In November 2012 the first beta version of Mdundo.com was launched, together with artists such as Nazizi, Collo, P-Unit, Jua Cali, Mejja, Alpha Msanii, Calif Records, Juliani, Mbuvi, Alice Kamandea and Octopizzo. Only one month later, in December, Mdundo launched the service officially after establishing its first corporate partnership with Airtel Kenya.

2013 was a break-through year for Mdundo. That year 1000 East African artists signed to Mdundo. Mdundo paid out more than one million Kenyan Shillings to artists in royalties. They also reached more than 200 000 people, 100 000 of whom registered as users. They went further to establish partnerships with Samsung, Microsoft, Airtel and Nokia. They also received exposure from the likes of the BBC, Financial Times, Citizen TV, Kiss100, Homeboyz Radio, Daily Nation, The Nairobian and others.