Dubai
Aruplus is planning to disrupt the regional music industry by launching the Middle East’s first online distribution portal — muzicup.com — in a bid to help small artists and music companies.
“Any person can register and make an account and start uploading his own music for online streaming. Small artists who doesn’t have access to YouTube, Spotify, telecom operators and marketing, it is good for small artists,” said Medhat Karam, CEO of Arpuplus.
There are 250 to 300 pieces of music are produced daily in the Middle East region but only 10 per cent of these have production houses while the rest 90 per cent do not know who to monetise it, he added.
“Our platform is in effect jump-starting their careers in the music industry. For some aspiring artists, our portal could become their ticket to stardom,” he said.
The company has been building the technology for the last 18 months and launched recently.
The physical music industry is suffering globally but regionally, he said the ringback tone is very popular and it is growing fast. It is a paid service and provides a good revenue for the music industry.
According to Karam, the value of the global digital musical industry is now valued at around $30 billion, with the Middle East market accounting for $500 million.
ArpuPlus said it will continue to invest substantial amount in the digital music industry via MuzicUp in a bid to gain a dominant market footprint here and build a strong presence regionally.
