The Creative Reality Entertainment Art and Music (CREAM), Nigerian-owned direct-to-fan platform founded by Afrobeat legend, D’banj has announced that selected recordings from the Cinq Music catalog are now live for Nigerian fans.
Leading the launch is T.I.’s “Live Your Life,” featuring Rihanna, available through a locally accessible purchase experience designed around Nigerian consumers.
The launch enables fans to purchase participating international music through USSD, including full-track downloads and caller ring-back tones at Nigerian price points.
“When the receipt is generated here, the asset gets value here,” said Dapo Oyebanjo, popularly known as D’banj.
“A stream is a data point. A sale is a receipt. CREAM is owned here, priced here and pays here.” “Our mission is to create direct access between artists and fans, with super fan engagement like never before.”
It brings internationally recognised recordings into CREAM’s broader ecosystem of talent discovery, content distribution and monetization, direct-to-fan engagement, super fan rewards and gaming.
International music, Nigerian transactions
The initial offering draws on recordings licensed through Cinq Music Group.
It describes the launch as a milestone in the sale of internationally recognised repertoire through an indigenously owned Nigerian platform, with fans purchasing directly through locally accessible channels.
The launch centers on a straightforward economic proposition: music can be purchased by Nigerian fans, priced for the local market and recorded through a Nigerian-owned platform.
Unlike a stream, which is typically reported as a consumption metric, a completed purchase generates a transaction receipt.
Those records can support clearer evidence of local demand and inform future commercial decisions by participating rights holders.
Direct-to-fan is the platform’s identity
CREAM is not simply a digital storefront. Its direct-to-fan model connects creatives and their audiences through discovery, distribution, monetization, fan participation, rewards and gaming.
The Cinq launch expands the international repertoire available within that established model while keeping the relationship with fans central to the experience.
The company sees the Nigeria launch as a foundation for further African market development, subject to rights, commercial arrangements and local infrastructure.
Details of additional participating recordings and territories will be announced as confirmed.
Josephine Okojie-Okeiyi is a journalist with over five years’ reporting experience. She writes on industry, agriculture, commodities, climate change, and environmental issues. She is fellow of Thomson Reuters Foundation and Bloomberg Media Initiative for Africa.
