Paul Azumah-Ayitey: Ghanaian Music Executive to lead Boomplay’s Comms and PR Operations in Africa

Africa’s premier music streaming and download platform, Boomplay, has promoted Ghanaian music executive, Paul Azumah-Ayitey, to the role of Communications and Public Relations Manager for Africa.

Though the music executive assumed the role from July 2023, the news was first made public last week and shared online by Music Business Academy for Africa, where Paul Azumah-Ayitey is a 2021 and 2022 alumnus. The new role will see him steer the corporate communications, partnerships PR and media & stakeholder relations affairs of Boomplay on the continent.

Paul Azumah-Ayitey, also called “The Industry”,will work with the media across Africa and manage strategic partnerships and PR campaigns with relevant stakeholders within the African music ecosystem while consolidating existing gains made by Boomplay over the years – in line with the African streaming giant’s vision of empowering and projecting African music, artists, and the music ecosystem.

Commenting on his promotion, Azumah-Ayitey, who has been at the company for more than two years, said he welcomed the new role, adding that he is “looking forward to Boomplay further impacting the African music circuit to realise its potential while amplifying and sustaining the gains already made within Africa’s digital music landscape.”

Prior to this new position, Paul “The Industry” Azumah-Ayitey was in charge of Boomplay’s public relations efforts for Ghana. His experience within the music industry dates back to the 2000s as a young journalist where he mainly covered the Ghanaian arts and culture scene for newspapers and online news portals including ghanamusic.com before pivoting to music PR, publicity, artist management and music business strategy and consulting.

Paul Azumah-Ayitey, always choosing to be behind the scenes, is particularly known for his valuable contributions which aided the phenomenal emergence of Contemporary Ghanaian Gospel Music to mainstream acclaim and influence in Ghana. This feat got him the name, “Da Scribe” (via the late, Minister Danny Nettey), having worked with and consulted for the music ministries of Danny Nettey, Nii Okai, Kofi Dua Anto (KODA), Joyful Way Inc., and Cwesi Oteng.

At Boomplay Ghana, Paul Azumah-Ayitey managed PR campaigns, media relations and key music partnerships that increased the company’s brand awareness, visibility and corporate image. These included Boomplay’s deals and partnerships with Universal Music, Billboard, Merlin, MTN Ghana, AirtelTigo and CAPASSO, among others.

He is also credited with helping to position Boomplay as a repository for music business and digital music economy education for music industry stakeholders. Furthermore, he brokered a major partnership with Ghana’s leading media group, Media General, and curated the 2022 Showbiz Conference in Ghana which brought together stakeholders from the tech, media, music, telco and banking industries.

In July 2023, Azumah-Ayitey was key to Boomplay joining forces with global short-form video hosting service, TikTok, for cross-promotion of trending content on both platforms via mutual playlists and content discovery.

Founded in 2015, Boomplay currently boasts over 90 million monthly active users (MAUs), with a catalogue of more than 110 million songs from around the world. In Africa, the company boasts presence across Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Cameroon, among other regions.

(Source: Boomplay Ghana)