Staff Reporter

In an effort to better support musicians in Namibia and across Africa, DONLU now offers subscription packages to their fans. DONLU Africa is a platform where one can stream, download and buy Namibian music. Started by Llewelyn Adams in 2015, the platform has seen rapid growth over the years.It now allows fans to not only have access to the free music (singles/songs loaded in the past), but also albums and podcasts under premium subscription packages:

• Weekly – N$ 10

• Monthly – N$ 60 

• Annual – N$ 600

Adams said they partnered with a Namibian payments processing company to provide secure payments via PayPal, as well as offer offline payments such as BlueWallet and E-Wallet. “This, we believe, will draw a much larger international audience,” he added. Adams noted that the podcast listenership has also grown substantially over the past decade and their goal at DONLU is clear – help creators monetise their podcasts.

“We do have plans to get more African artists and podcasts onto the platform, thus increasing the exposure that Namibian musicians and podcasters will get as a direct result of the new subscribers from different countries. In this move, we hope to have one central point for podcasts and music alike.” 

DONLU recently achieved one of its biggest milestones when it reached 10 million streams on the platform, and as such they believe the time is now to further expand their footprint and services.

“We don’t want to be simply another music streaming service; we want to provide Namibia with a true mix of international and indigenous music and content. The expansion will also make the landscape more competitive for local streaming services.” 

DONLU also introduced the payment-per-stream system for musicians and podcasters. Instead of their plays being pooled, income from each listener’s subscription is dispersed among the artists they listen to, supporting growing upcoming musicians with devoted followers.