Hafrikplay Lets MTN Nigeria Users Subscribe to Music with Airtime

Hafrikplay, the Pan-African music streaming platform, has launched an airtime-based subscription service through MTN Nigeria, allowing customers to pay for music directly from their phone balance instead of using a bank card.

The idea grew out of a simple observation: millions of Nigerians already trust and use mobile airtime for everyday transactions, yet many paid streaming services still assume access to a bank card or a more complex payment setup. Hafrikplay argues that this gap has kept plenty of engaged listeners on the sidelines of the paid music economy, not for lack of interest, but because the payment systems didn’t reflect how people actually live and spend. For years, affordability and convenience, more than desire for the music itself, have been the real obstacles.

So the company built a bridge to close this gap. The service gives customers greater flexibility through three subscription options:

Hafrikplay Pro Daily, ₦100: *480*1063#

Hafrikplay Pro Weekly, ₦250: *480*1068#

Hafrikplay Pro Monthly, ₦500: *480*1069#

MTN Nigeria customers can now dial a short USSD code, confirm the prompt on screen, and have the subscription fee deducted directly from their airtime balance, making the process simple, convenient, and locally relevant.

Customers just need to make sure they have enough airtime before dialling in. No bank card or extra registration is required, only an active MTN Nigeria line. The app is also available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store for those who prefer that route, giving listeners a choice in how they engage with the platform.

Hafrikplay’s leadership frames the launch as part of a bigger story about African music’s growth. The genre has gone global, filling arenas abroad and shaping pop culture far beyond the continent, but co-founder and CEO Omobosola Karimat Alaka points out that success can’t rest on international listenership alone. Local audiences need an easy way in too, she says, because the fans who feel closest to the culture are often the ones locked out of paying for it digitally.

Co-founder and COO Abolaji Talib Alaka adds that for most Africans, the mobile phone is the main gateway to entertainment and opportunity, so removing friction at that level matters more than any other single fix. Board member Olisa Adibua frames it as an infrastructure question: the culture has already proven its commercial and cultural value on the world stage, and now the systems supporting it at home need to catch up if artists are to build lasting, sustainable careers.

Today, Hafrikplay counts more than 150,000 users and over 50,000 creators on its platform, milestones the company points to as evidence of demand for African-built alternatives to global streaming services. Hafrikplay says its building toward something larger than streaming alone, a connected ecosystem spanning music distribution, audience discovery, creator monetisation, digital commerce, and locally relevant payment channels. The airtime launch is one piece of that, aimed at turning more casual listeners into paying ones, which in turn gives artists, songwriters, producers, labels, and rights holders a bigger, more sustainable market to earn from at home rather than relying purely on international consumption.

The company also frames the moment as a shared one, crediting the creators who have uploaded their music, the listeners who have discovered new sounds through the platform, and the staff and partners who helped build the infrastructure behind it. As African music’s global rise continues, Hafrikplay says its focus remains on making sure the systems underneath that rise, from payments to distribution, are shaped around the realities of the artists and audiences living on the continent.