Ghanaian music executive heads Boomplay comms and PR for Africa

Africa’s leading 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.

The news was made public a few days ago by Music Business Academy for Africa, where Paul Azumah-Ayitey is a 2021 and 2022 alumni, though the music executive took over the position in July 2023. The new role will see him helm the corporate communications, partnerships, and media & stakeholder relations affairs of Boomplay on the continent.

Paul Azumah-Ayitey, also called “The Industry” within the showbiz circles because of his passion for the music 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 to empower and project African music, artists, and the African music ecosystem.

Speaking on his promotion, Azumah-Ayitey, who has been at Boomplay since 2021, said he welcomed the new role, adding that he is “looking forward to Boomplay further impacting the African music circuit to realize its potential while amplifying and sustaining the gains already made within Africa’s digital music landscape.”

Prior to his new position, Paul “The Industry” Azumah-Ayitey was in charge of public relations at Boomplay 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 before pivoting to music PR, publicity, artist management and music business strategy and consulting.

He also has work experience in corporate communications, brand management, and marketing within the financial, creative, and tech industries propped by his engineering background.

Paul Azumah-Ayitey, always choosing to work 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 nickname, “Da Scribe” (via the late, Minister Danny Nettey), having written extensively about then unpopular music sub-genre, and worked with and consulted for the music ministries of the likes of Danny Nettey, Nii Okai, Kofi Dua Anto (KODA), Joyful Way Inc., and Cwesi Oteng.

At Boomplay Ghana, Paul Azumah-Ayitey managed partnerships and PR campaigns 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 catalog of more than 110 million songs from around the world. In Africa, the company boasts a presence across Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, and Cameroon, among other regions.