Transaction volume per cycle
Reached artists across 6 markets through a single integration
Settle and pay out to artists the same day.
For the past five years, Cellulant has been working with Mdundo in six markets to solve this headache and put money in the artists’ pockets where it belongs. By implementing Cellulant’s unified, real-time payments platform that turned unpredictable payout cycles into a seamless, same-day process, Mdundo has cemented its reputation as a reliable partner for artists across the continent. This foundational shift gave Mdundo the stability to scale, and its payout volume soared ten times over, from $100 000 to $1 million per cycle.
Mdundo, a leading African digital music service, faced a critical problem: the messy and expensive process of sending royalties to artists in multiple countries was breaking the trust between Mdundo and the creators it served.
Mdundo provides a direct connection between artists and their fans across the continent through downloads and streaming. Its core commitment is to provide a digital home where artists can upload and earn from users streaming and downloading their content.
It faced a major obstacle: Disbursing artist royalties via outdated payment infrastructure was a complex and expensive process, often swallowing an artist’s entire earnings and costing Mdundo more to move the money than the money was worth.
The situation was clearly untenable, both from Mdundo’s perspective and that of the artists on the platform. Paying thousands of artists in multiple countries in a mix of traditional banking and popular mobile money networks meant there was no single way to pay anyone. Local payments required Mdundo to open a legal entity and local bank account in every market, a slow, expensive, and bureaucratic nightmare that blocked growth. To add insult to injury, it was difficult to provide a predictable payment date to artists, leaving them in anxious limbo for weeks at a time as they waited for funds to clear.
It was clear that the existing system was stifling Mdundo’s growth and fracturing artists’ dreams.
Cellulant provided Tingg Payouts to integrate directly into Mdundo’s system, replacing fragmented manual processes with a single, automated payout engine. Tingg Payouts also equips Mdundo’s finance team with a dashboard with complete visibility and control over funds in real time, boosting security and eliminating guesswork.
Payments were transformed from a slow, multi-day ordeal to an instant, real-time transaction. Through a single point of integration, Cellulant guaranteed seamless reach, ensuring artists receive their royalties directly into their choice of mobile money or bank account.
Crucially, Cellulant’s real-time payout rails removed the need for Mdundo to build a huge, manual finance team just to manage payments. This meant that Mdundo could grow its artist base while its payment operations remained streamlined, a true win for scalability and efficiency.
Wallet-agnostic payment solution
By resolving the foundational friction, Mdundo transformed a financial liability into a strategic asset for building trust within the ecosystem.
Mdundo is now free to focus on finding new talent, enhancing its platform, and expanding its reach to support Africa’s dynamic creative economy.
