Mdundo
Platform · this deep dive is built from the official pages of the platform itself and of the tools that support it.
Overview
Mdundo is an African music service with free track downloads and a paid subscription to DJ mixes billed through mobile operators. The platform describes itself in a single line: «African Music Streaming and Download Platform».
Mdundo differs from most of the platforms in this guide in two ways. First, you can upload music yourself: artist registration is open and no distributor is needed. Second, the payout terms are published in full, with percentages and thresholds — a rarity among music services. Working through those terms takes up more than half of this article, and not by accident: that is exactly where the difference hides between "50% of the revenue" on paper and what actually reaches the author.
The operator is Mdundo.com A/S, a Danish company; the registered address is given in the terms for content providers: Jagtvænget 2, 2920 Charlottenlund, Denmark. The company is publicly listed and maintains a separate site for investors.
Who's here
The platform's own estimates are as follows. The listener-facing storefront claims the "most extensive collection of African music… from more than 100,000 artists". The investor site puts the goal in its headline — easy access to music for 150 million people in Africa — and gives a market estimate: 239 million people in sub-Saharan Africa have internet access from a phone, and about 80% of all music on the continent is created by African artists. The first is a goal, not an audience; the second is a market estimate, not a metric of the service.
The geography is stated directly: Mdundo is concentrated on 15 African countries, with a commercial focus on Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana and Uganda. The artist registration form puts at the top of its country list Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola, Cameroon, the DRC, Ethiopia, Côte d'Ivoire, Malawi, Rwanda, Senegal, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Lesotho, Mauritius, Namibia, Sierra Leone and Sudan, followed by a general alphabetical list of the world.
The interface language is English. The platform publishes no breakdown of the audience by country or language.
Getting started
A listener does not need an account: downloading is free but not unlimited — when you try to download beyond the quota the site reports that you have reached today's limit of free downloads. The daily limit itself is not named on the page.
The age threshold for users is 16, or lower if the law of your territory sets a lower age of digital consent.
For an artist the platform describes a three-step route: enter your personal details, confirm the account by email, create an artist profile and upload your music. No approval of an application, no distributor and no label are required — at registration you only have to agree to the terms for content providers. What the platform promises at registration: to make it easier for fans to download your music, to promote it online, to track downloads minute by minute and to give you a full breakdown of downloads and payouts for each quarter.
Note in advance: when an account is closed, all content and all data about its distribution and consumption are deleted irrevocably, and Mdundo does not give you a file with that data either before or after termination. Termination on your initiative takes effect 90 days after the notice is received.
What you can publish
Formats: audio recordings, recordings of concerts, photographs, texts, graphics and comments. There are no technical requirements for bitrate, duration or file size in the published terms.
Rights to uploaded content
The wording is generous by industry standards: «Any content that you upload… is created, owned and controlled solely by you and not by Mdundo. Mdundo claims no ownership rights in your content».
The licence you do grant is limited by territory: a "limited, Africa-wide, non-exclusive, royalty-free and fully paid-up" licence to Mdundo — to the extent needed to host and run the service; and a "limited, worldwide, non-exclusive, fully paid-up" licence to other users of the platform. The availability of each file can be restricted through settings in the artist dashboard. An important proviso: the licences to comments and to your other messages on the site are perpetual and irrevocable and survive the closing of the account.
What the platform is entitled to do with your music is listed separately: insert advertising material before and after a download or during playback; give a free 30-second preview before a download; use your recordings and fragments in podcasts, DJ mixes and TV shows of its own production as promotional material (with inclusion in a DJ mix being paid as a download); scan the internet for illegal copies and automatically file DMCA complaints with Google on your behalf; and make your music free in the mobile app. Use of your name and image in marketing requires prior consent — with the proviso that you have to object within one working day, otherwise Mdundo will treat it as consent.
What is prohibited
Besides the usual (illegal, offensive, someone else's), the terms contain a clause that bears directly on promotion: it is forbidden to use bots, botnets, automated scripts, applications and extensions to inflate the number of plays or downloads artificially, to add followers or otherwise distort the popularity of your content, and also to offer such means to other users. Scraping the platform's content is prohibited too.
How to grow
Mdundo does not describe its recommendation algorithm. The instruments the platform names itself come down to the dashboard statistics: minute-by-minute tracking of downloads and a quarterly breakdown of downloads and payouts.
A separate channel is the DJ mixes. The platform produces them itself and updates them daily: Afrobeat, Bongo, Gospel, Amapiano, Afropop, Highlife, Hiplife, and also local genres such as Hausa and Singeli. Getting your track into such a mix, as stated above, is paid as a download — this is the only described editorial promotion mechanism with a direct monetary effect.
Another direction the platform names is brand contracts: Mdundo may bring an artist into an advertising collaboration, and such cases are governed by a separate revenue-sharing agreement.
Path to monetization
Here Mdundo is unusually frank. The basic rule: «Payments are calculated and split 50:50 with the content provider» — and it applies to "eligible revenue", that is, income from advertising, licensing and subscriptions on the platform.
But several layers are deducted from the revenue before that split:
- the platform's payment fee — 15% of the revenue attributable to the content; for covers, instrumentals, podcasts, karaoke, DJ mixes and similar "non-original or administration-heavy" formats the rate is higher — 50%;
- an operating fee on advertising — 20% of all advertising revenue;
- direct third-party costs of the subscription services: marketing, payment gateways, telecom billing, taxes.
There is a country threshold as well: revenue in a country where advertising brought in less than 1000 USD in a month does not enter the split at all — neither in that month nor in future. For small markets this means the share may not be credited at all.
Timing and the payout threshold: settlement twice a year, by number of downloads and by plays longer than 30 seconds; payment is made once more than 50 USD has accumulated, and smaller amounts are carried over to the next half-year; payment is made in the author's local currency at the market rate on the date of transfer. The money is not held forever: unclaimed revenue below the threshold is kept for three years, after which it is forfeited without notice. The first payout may be made conditional on a notarised statement and certified copies of documents.
There are no guarantees, and that is stated directly: Mdundo guarantees neither a fixed amount per download nor a minimum share; if there is no revenue, there are no payouts. Payment goes only to the uploader: strictly to the uploader and to no third party, regardless of membership of collective rights management societies, and dividing the money between co-authors and rights holders is your own concern.
A separate line has appeared for music games: Mdundo contributes to the general artists' royalty pool an amount equal to 5% of the net revenue from such games.
On the listener side the money is collected by mobile operators. The prices are named in the FAQ: Tanzania, Vodacom — 199 Tanzanian shillings a day; Kenya, Safaricom — 5 Kenyan shillings a day; Ghana, MTN — 40 pesewas a day; South Africa, MTN — 2 rand a day, 15 rand a week, 30 rand a month. Ordinary songs, meanwhile, are downloaded free, and the service is funded by advertising.
Tools and automation
Mdundo has no public API: there is no developer section on the pages we checked, and the terms directly prohibit any automated means of access, log-in and account registration. The robots.txt file, meanwhile, is almost empty — the only prohibition concerns the address /test/.
There is a single in-house instrument: the artist dashboard with download statistics and half-yearly reports.
Limits and rules
- Age. 16, or a lower age of digital consent under local law.
- Breaches. More than two written warnings in any twelve months is grounds for immediate termination of access.
- Notices. The platform undertakes to report the removal of material and a block within 24 hours to the email address given, and changes to the service within 7 working days.
- Termination on your initiative. 90 days after the notice is received; after that the account and all content are deleted.
- The service's geography. Mdundo reserves the right to suspend or terminate access to the platform in particular territories.
- Dates. The terms for content providers have been in force since 1 November 2014 and were updated on 13 January 2026; the user terms since 9 July 2026.
Who it's for
It suits independent African artists who have no distributor: uploading is direct, the entry fee is zero, and the payout terms are published — a rare combination. It suits those working in the markets of Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana and Uganda: that is where the platform does its commercial work.
It does not suit covers, instrumentals, podcasts and DJ mixes as a source of income: the service fee on them is twice as high as on original music (50% against 15%). It does not suit you if your audience is in a small country: the threshold of 1000 USD of advertising revenue per country per month can wipe out your share. It does not suit you if you need money quickly: settlement twice a year and a threshold of 50 USD mean waiting. And it does not suit you if you are not prepared to divide the money with co-authors yourself — Mdundo pays only the person who uploaded.
Verified data
The checked data this deep dive rests on.
About the platform
the platform describes itself as follows: «African Music Streaming and Download Platform»
Self-description: this is the platform's claim about itself, not an independent assessment
source, checked 2026-07-28
the operator is the Danish company Mdundo.com A/S, address: Jagtvænget 2, 2920 Charlottenlund, Denmark; the company is publicly listed and runs a separate site for investors
source, checked 2026-07-28
the platform is operating: a request to mdundo.com redirects to play.mdundo.com with code 200 and a working catalogue, and the sections /terms, /artists and /in/signup are served from the main domain; there is no farewell page or placeholder
A separate check for whether the service has shut down. The platform shows different versions of the site to different requests — this explains the address with utm parameters in the project database
source, checked 2026-07-28
Who's here
the listener storefront claims a collection from more than 100,000 artists; the investor site gives market estimates: 239 million people in sub-Saharan Africa have internet access from a phone, and about 80% of the music on the continent is created by African artists
The first is the platform's claim, the second a market estimate, not a metric of the service
source, checked 2026-07-28
Getting started
artist registration is direct, without a distributor: enter your personal details, confirm the account by email, create a profile and upload your music; at registration you have to agree to the terms for content providers
The platform promises minute-by-minute tracking of downloads and a quarterly breakdown of downloads and payouts
source, checked 2026-07-28
Account and access
the minimum age for a user is 16, or lower if the law of the user's territory sets a lower age of digital consent
The user terms have been in force since 9 July 2026
source, checked 2026-07-28
Business terms
the platform is concentrated on 15 African countries with a commercial focus on Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana and Uganda; the stated goal is «easy access to music for 150 million people in Africa»
A goal, not an audience metric
source, checked 2026-07-28
How the money works here
Creator's share. the basic split of «eligible revenue» (income from advertising, licensing and subscriptions) is 50:50 with the content provider; payouts go strictly to the uploader and to no third party, regardless of membership of collective rights management societies
Dividing the money between co-authors and rights holders is the uploader's duty
source, checked 2026-07-28
deducted before the share is calculated: the platform's service fee of 15% of the revenue attributable to the content, and 50% for covers, instrumentals, podcasts, karaoke, DJ mixes and similar formats; an operating fee on advertising of 20% of all advertising revenue; direct third-party costs of the subscription services (marketing, payment gateways, telecom billing, taxes)
The 50% rate for non-original formats is the most striking detail of the terms
source, checked 2026-07-28
revenue in a country where advertising brought in less than 1000 USD in a month does not enter the split — neither in that month nor in future
For small markets the share may not be credited at all
source, checked 2026-07-28
settlement twice a year, by number of downloads and by plays longer than 30 seconds; payment once more than 50 USD has accumulated, with smaller amounts carried over to the next half-year; payment in the author's local currency at the market rate on the date of transfer; unclaimed revenue below the threshold is kept for three years, after which it is forfeited without notice; the first payout may be made conditional on a notarised statement and certified copies of documents
Mdundo guarantees neither a fixed amount per download nor a minimum share: if there is no revenue, there are no payouts
source, checked 2026-07-28
an amount equal to 5% of the net revenue from the platform's music games is contributed to the general artists' royalty pool; it is distributed in the same proportion as advertising revenue
source, checked 2026-07-28
Pricing
prices of the DJ mix subscription through mobile operators: Tanzania, Vodacom — 199 Tanzanian shillings a day; Kenya, Safaricom — 5 Kenyan shillings a day; Ghana, MTN — 40 pesewas a day; South Africa, MTN — 2 rand a day, 15 rand a week, 30 rand a month
Ordinary songs are downloaded free, and the service is funded by advertising
source, checked 2026-07-28
Limits and restrictions
free downloading is capped by a daily limit: when you try to download beyond the quota the site reports that today's limit of free downloads has been reached
The limit itself is not named on the page
source, checked 2026-07-28
Restrictions
it is forbidden to use bots, botnets, automated scripts, applications and extensions to inflate the number of plays or downloads artificially, to add followers or otherwise distort the popularity of content, and also to offer such means to other users; scraping the platform's content is prohibited
source, checked 2026-07-28
more than two written warnings in any twelve months is grounds for immediate termination of access; termination on the author's initiative takes effect after 90 days, after which the account and all content are deleted; when an account is closed all data about distribution and consumption is deleted irrevocably, and Mdundo does not provide a file with that data
source, checked 2026-07-28
Legal
content remains the author's property («Mdundo claims no ownership rights in your content»); Mdundo receives a limited, Africa-wide, non-exclusive, royalty-free and fully paid-up licence to the extent needed to host and run the service; other users of the platform are granted a limited, worldwide, non-exclusive, fully paid-up licence. The licences to comments and to other messages on the site are perpetual and irrevocable and survive the closing of the account · the source is dated 2026-01-13
The key fact about rights. The terms for content providers have been in force since 1 November 2014 and were updated on 13 January 2026
source, checked 2026-07-28
the platform is entitled to: insert advertising material before and after a download or during playback; give a free 30-second preview before a download; use recordings and fragments in podcasts, DJ mixes and TV shows of its own production as promotional material (inclusion in a DJ mix is paid as a download); scan the internet for illegal copies and automatically file DMCA complaints with Google on the author's behalf; make the music free in the mobile app
Use of the name and image in marketing requires consent, but an objection must be made within one working day, otherwise Mdundo treats the silence as consent
source, checked 2026-07-28
Languages
the interface language of the home page: en
The language is taken from the markup attribute, the versions from hreflang
source, checked 2026-07-28
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