For decades, Saudi Arabian media company Rotana Music Group has been providing some of the region's biggest hits. With their star-studded roster and prolific output of Arabic music, the Riyadh-based corporation’s catalogue holds over 10,000 songs from over 100 legendary MENA artists across the region.
This week, we have seen Rotana Music Group extending its outreach by signing licensing deals with both TikTok and Spotify, making their vast catalogue available on both platforms. Having also struck a partnership with MENA-focused streaming service Anghami in April of 2022, suggests that the Rotana Music Group is paying close attention to the current listening habits of regional music fans.
Spotify and Anghami have become the leading streaming services in the MENA region, and TikTok has also become a popular platform for music discovery. On TikTok, users often use music as a central element in their content through choreographed dances, music-centric memes, or just as a background track for their videos.
In the MENA region specifically, TikTok has found a staggering deal of success, drawing in millions of users across the region. Countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt have even become two of the 20 countries with the most users worldwide, with a reported 23.6 million users in Saudi Arabia and 21.5 million users in Egypt.
Speaking on the TikTok licensing agreement, Rotana CEO Salem Al-Hendi says: “The creative culture in (the Middle East and North Africa) is so vibrant and diverse, and this agreement will enhance the exchange of music content while promoting and supporting local artists on a proven leading platform for short-form videos.”
Meanwhile, Spotify will be providing further on-platform support with the introduction of a new destination, “This is Rotana”, which will be home to some of the most popular songs by the label. In addition, Spotify’s very own “This Is” playlists for each major artist will be updated regularly with their songs from the Rotana catalogue.
Having produced some of the most popular music from the region, with hitmakers like Amr Diab, Elissa, Angham, George Wassouf, Tamer Hosny and more, Rotana Music Group now aims to expose TikTok and Spotify users to their once-exclusive catalogue of music.
The agreement with Spotify will make Rotana’s catalogue available to users in Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Chad, Comoros, Cyprus, Djibouti, Egypt, Georgia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Oman, Pakistan Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
