Boomplay for Artists: How to Upload, Get Verified and Get Paid

Boomplay for Artists is the part of Boomplay where musicians manage their artist profile, read their streams and listeners, and promote their music. You do not upload songs to it directly: Boomplay says distributors handle licensing, delivery and royalty payments, so an independent artist in Lagos, Accra, Nairobi or Dar es Salaam first releases through a distributor, then claims the artist profile in the Boomplay app and gets verified. This guide walks through each step from Boomplay's own help pages, then shows how to grow your streams.

When a release is live and needs its first plays, the Jeskie Panel services page lists Boomplay plays next to Audiomack and Spotify, priced in your own currency.

What Boomplay for Artists gives you

Boomplay describes itself as Africa's leading music streaming and download platform. Its About page lists more than 100 million licensed songs, 7.5 million artists and 75 million monthly active users, and says Boomplay streams count towards the Billboard charts. Boomplay for Artists is the free tool that sits on top of that audience.

Boomplay lists what a verified artist gets:

• Easy control of your profile information, photo and bio.
• Detailed data on your streams and followers, on your phone.
• A verified artist logo on your profile.
• Better chances of being promoted on Boomplay, and access to artist support campaigns.

Three parties are involved in every release, and knowing who does what saves weeks of emails.

Step 1: get your music on Boomplay

Boomplay's help page is direct: choose one of the Boomplay preferred distributors to put your music on Boomplay. It adds that each distributor may charge a service fee and has its own strengths, so compare a few before you sign. Many distributors deliver to Boomplay together with Spotify, Audiomack, Apple Music and YouTube Music in one release.

• Use one exact artist name. Boomplay does not let artists change their name themselves; it is done by email and Boomplay warns it may affect content delivery.
• Get the metadata right. Track titles, featured artists and spelling decide which profile a song lands on. If your songs end up on another artist's page, Boomplay asks you to email [email protected] with the song links and your correct profile, and replies within 5 working days.
• Give yourself lead time. Deliver the release well before your launch date so the song is live when you start promoting.

Step 2: sign up and claim your artist profile

Once a song is live, it sits on an artist page on Boomplay. Claiming that page is what turns it into your Boomplay for Artists account. Boomplay's steps in the app:

1. Install the Boomplay app from Google Play or the App Store and sign in, or sign up if you are new.
2. Tap your avatar in the top right corner.
3. Open Boomplay For Artists and tap Apply Now.
4. Fill in the form with valid details. Boomplay asks you to upload only social media screenshots in the upload section, or the application will not be approved.

You can also apply on the web through the Boomplay For Artists application page. Either way, your music and artist profile must already be on Boomplay before you claim. Some distributors also help activate your page and may ask for your BoomID, which you find under My Profile in the app.

Boomplay for Artists login

There is no separate artist password. You log in with your normal Boomplay account, then open Boomplay For Artists from your account page in the app, or from the artist center on the web. Login, verification or data problems go to [email protected], and Boomplay says it answers within 5 working days.

Step 3: set up a profile that gets recommended

Boomplay's own tip is that a complete biography increases the chance of being recommended to a bigger fan base by its algorithms. So treat the profile as a shop front.

• Photo: Boomplay recommends a real picture of you, head and shoulders visible, square (1:1), with no text, no album cover, no frame and nothing blurred or rotated. Groups should have every member in the shot.
• Bio: tap your name in the top left of Boomplay For Artists to edit it. Say where you are from, your genre, your latest release and where fans can follow you.
• Corrections: errors you cannot edit yourself are fixed by emailing Boomplay's artist team.

Read your Boomplay stats

Verified artists see their numbers in Boomplay For Artists, in three sections.

Play source is the most useful line for a new artist: it shows whether fans find you through search, playlists, your profile or shared links. To see every playlist a song is in, open the song's playback page and swipe up to More playlists.

How Boomplay pays artists

Boomplay's help page on stream royalties says it normally settles royalties with distributors only, so your money comes from your distributor, on your distributor's schedule, minimum and payment methods. For a specific royalty problem, Boomplay gives [email protected].

Boomplay does not publish a pay per stream rate. When TechPoint Africa asked, Boomplay said its cost per stream is confidential. Income comes from both free listening and paid subscriptions, and amounts differ by country, so your distributor's statement is the only reliable figure for your songs.

1. A fan streams your song in the Boomplay app.
2. Boomplay counts the stream and reports it to your distributor.
3. Boomplay settles the royalties with your distributor.
4. Your distributor pays you, minus any fee or share in your contract.

Comparing platforms? Our guide to Spotify pay per stream in Nigeria explains how Spotify counts and pays, and many artists release to both.

How to grow your streams on Boomplay

Get into Boomplay's playlists

Boomplay runs three kinds of playlist. Personalised playlists such as New Releases For You, Playlist For You, Your Artist Mixes and Daily Discovery are built by algorithm, and Boomplay says the more followers, shares and likes your profile and songs have, the more of them you can enter. Editorial playlists are picked by Boomplay's editors by genre (Afrobeats, Highlife, Bongo Flava, Singeli, Amapiano and more), by mood and by language (including Hausa, Igbo, Swahili and Pidgin), and are updated weekly. Listener playlists are the millions of lists fans make themselves.

Boomplay has stopped accepting individual pitches to its editorial playlists. Instead it sells advertising: banners, in-app push, the Trending page and editorial playlist slots, plus a Promotion Package inside Boomplay for Artists where you pick a release to promote. Boomplay says plays still depend on listeners' taste and the song itself.

Share every release

On any song, tap the menu, then Share: Boomplay offers ready templates for social media and a link to copy. Post them on your TikTok, Instagram, X and WhatsApp Status the day the song goes live, and ask fans to add it to their own playlists.

Give a new release its first plays

A release with a handful of streams is easy to skip; one that already shows plays gets a second listen. Boomplay plays from Jeskie Panel give a new song that first push while your sharing does the long work. Today 1,000 Boomplay plays cost a small amount, shown on the services page, and the smallest order is shown on the services page.

Be clear on what plays do: they raise the count on a song, they do not create fans, and bought engagement can break a platform's terms, so count on your distributor's statement, not on plays, for income. Open a free account (Google sign-up adds $0.078 (10 KES) to test with), paste the public song link, start with a small order, see how fast it delivers, then order more. You pay in your own currency:

Releasing on other platforms too? See our guides to Audiomack plays in Africa and Spotify plays in Africa, or the Audiomack SMM panel.