Yala Music

Yala Music is a digital distribution company displaying Yala, an on-demand music streaming and download service in the Middle East and North Africa. Founded by French serial entrepreneur Patrick Chassany, it allows users to play, download and share unlimited music instantly for free across all devices, giving them a worldwide online and offline music experience. Its Arabic music catalogue currently includes 127,000 tracks, 5,000 videos and 12,000 artists, while the International catalogue comprising 10 million tracks, is expected by Q 2 2013. In its attempt to fight piracy and bring legal content to Arab countries where music is widely pirated, Yala Music signed licensing agreements with 450 independent artists, major Arabic labels (Rotana, Mazzika, Melody, Arabica, Fassiphone, Phonie), SACEM as well as International labels (EMI, Warner, The Orchard & Believe).Yala provides apps for mobile phones, tablets, desktop and TV. Yala mobile application bypassed 1 million downloads on all the app stores.
Features
History
In April 2010, Yala Music launched an unlimited, legal music streaming service available on the web (www.yala.fm) from any part of the world. Its aim was to offer the largest free music catalogue to the largest number of listeners in the Middle East and North Africa. In the following months, agreements were signed with Arabic record labels such as Rotana, Melody and Mazzika, as well as independent artists.
On October 6, 2010, Yala became available on mobile with its first Android application allowing music lovers to enjoy their favorite tunes on the go. In December 2010, Yala Music signed an agreement with the label, Fassiphone.
From January 19, 2011 to April 2012, Yala Music launched its free application on many platforms giving users access to the Yala catalogue: first on the App Store accessible on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad; and then respectively on Windows Phone Store; Samsung Bada platforms, and BlackBerry phones a year later. In that same period, Yala Music and Samsung signed an exclusive partnership in the MENA region, allowing Samsung tablet users to also have access to the Yala catalogue.
On May 25, 2012, Yala Music signed a licensing deal with the label Believe France allowing users to get free, legal and unlimited access to International pop and Afro-Caribbean music. This agreement marked the opening of Yala catalogue to International music.
On June 13, 2012, Yala Music displayed its new version for smartphones delivering a more integrated experience thanks to its new sharing features (interaction with friends, sharing music on Facebook and Twitter).
On July 1, 2012, a historical agreement with SACEM was signed, marking an important step in the protection of copyright works for an online use in the MENA region. Through this agreement, authors, composers and music publishers who are SACEM members, get paid by Yala Music for the use of their works.
On July 18, 2012, Yala became available through the operator Tunisiana, offering its subscribers access to unlimited and free music listening on the web, mobile and PC.
In July 2012, Yala application for iOS ranked n°1 in the free application section on the App Store in Egypt, Lebanon and many other countries, just a few weeks after the launch of its latest update.
In September 2012, Yala Music partnered with Facebook to bring real-time music streaming and discovery to the timeline.
On September 12, 2012, Yala won a Meffys Award for best mobile application in the “Discovery & Engagement” category at the annual Meffys Awards contest organized by the MEF (Mobile Entertainment Forum). For the record, Yala was the first application to ever be nominated for 3 different categories in this competition: “Music content”, “Discovery & Engagement” and “Social & Entertainment App”.
On October 1, 2012, Yala Music unveiled its new corporate website where it presented its partners, team, vision…
In October 2012, major updates came one after the other: first for the BlackBerry mobile, next Android application, and finally iPad. During that period, Yala Music also launched Yala Backstage, its direct-to-fan Marketing platform dedicated to artists, labels and songwriters. Its aim is to build, manage and monetize the artists’ online presence.
In November 2012, Yala presented its first version for Symbian 3 and Meego. After iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone and Bada, Yala application became available on Nokia devices. That same month, the company entered into partnership with YouTube, building the first and unique network of artist channels.
In December 2012, Yala Music announced a major upgrade of its web service, a significant change since its launch in May 2010. New social features were added to the service in which users and artists had a unique profile.
In January 2013, Yala Music displayed a unique model designed to fit the consumption habits in the MENA region: ad-sponsored downloads starting with a first partner, Pepsi. After watching a Pepsi video ad, users were offered DRM-free MP3 downloads.
In January and February 2013, new licensing agreements were signed with EMI, Warner, The Orchard and Harmonia Mundi, enriching Yala’s International catalogue.
Availability
To date (April 2013), the service is available in 5 countries. Yala’s ad-funded streaming and ad-sponsored download services are accessible on the web at Yala.fm and Yala app can be downloaded for free virtually everywhere for iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Symbian as well as Windows PC and Samsung connected TV.
Features
Yala offers a rich-features experience with the following:
Catalogue: on the Home, users can instantly discover music by checking what's featured or most popular. They can browse easily through Artists, Tracks, Albums, Videos by heading to the Explore section, using a special filter to search by genres and countries.
Radio: they can discover stations by theme and those of their friends created from their ‘liked’ tracks on their music profile.
Smart Radio: they can launch a station based on an artist’s name.
Playlists: they can create playlists that match their mood and sync them across all devices within seconds.
Music profile: they can build their Yala profile and know everything about their favorite artists by checking their tracks, albums, bio, videos, pics, lyrics, and new releases.
Social features: they can invite friends to discover their musical tastes, give and take new tunes via Facebook and Twitter.
Business model
Yala offers legal, free and unlimited download across all devices. Its worldwide unique business model, totally disruptive, is based on free and unlimited ad-funded streaming & ad-sponsored à-la-carte download. Yala Music’s revenue streams come from ad-sponsored download and freemium model where the company offers a full-featured free product along with a premium subscription through telco partnerships.
Notable artists
Yala Music distribute the following artists:
* Amr Diab
* Mr Sufian
* Cheb Mami
* Diana Haddad
* Elissa
* Faudel
* Haifa Wehbe
* Hoda Saad
* Najwa Karam
* Nancy Ajram
* Nawal Al Zoghbi
* Ragheb Alama
* Saber Rebaï
* Samira Said
* Sofia El Marikh
* Tamer Hosny
* Oum Kalthoum

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