Spotify has announced that US rapper, Bas, will host a new podcast “The messenger” that focuses on Ugandan Politician, Activist and Musician, Bobi Wine. The documentary podcast is produced by Dreamville productions with Awfully Nice productions, as the record label ventures into the production of content other than music.
Spotify gives users free access to stream music and listen to podcasts. It is available in many countries with versions for both desktop and mobile phone. Android and iPhone users can access Spotify’s rich library of music with options to subscribe for ad-free and new-music-first accounts. Except if you are in Africa.
Spotify is available in only five African countries; South Africa, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt and Morocco. The company has not yet hinted at when they will roll out to the rest of the countries. Now here is the interesting part, people from Uganda, where Wine hails from, will not be able to listen to the podcast.
The series will follow through Wine’s life from growing up in the slums, his music career and putting up a spirited fight against Uganda’s President, Yoweri Museveni. The podcast debuts on January 5, just a few days before Uganda’s election which will be held on January 14.
Spotify is available on Google Playstore, but users in Kenya, Uganda and many other African countries where the app is unavailable cannot download it. The web version also gives the disclaimer “This content is not available in your country.”
The announcement has elicited mixed reactions, and one @Roomthinker on Twitter posed a question, seeing no need for Spotify’s unavailability when Africa has existing an payment infrastructure with reliable means for content delivery.
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What good reason is there for “this content is not available in your region” in 2021?@youtube @Spotify
Asking for folks in Africa.
There is payment infrastructure and there is content delivery infrastructure. pic.twitter.com/neWYtMsScI
— Ivar The Boneless (@roomthinker) January 6, 2021
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