Anghami Music Streaming Service Starts Accepting Bitcoin

BEIRUT, March 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Anghami, the leading mobile music application in the Middle East and North Africa region, announced that it would accept Bitcoin for its subscription fees, therefore becoming the first music service in the world to accept the digital currency and also one of the first online businesses in the region to do so.

Anghami, like other streaming music services, adopted the freemium model where users can stream and listen free to its growing music catalogue for several hours per month. Users can subscribe to listen and download unlimited music.  Anghami's service is available on all smartphones such as iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry 6,7 and 10, Nokia Symbian as well as Nokia Asha.

Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer payment system and digital currency introduced as open source software in 2009. It uses cryptography to control the creation and transfer of money.

"Bitcoin is still in its early days - especially in the Middle East. But just like everyone was skeptical that streaming is the future of music, we believe that Bitcoin is the future of payments. Moreover, Anghami being a mobile service, paying via your digital Bitcoin wallet is a no brainer", co-founder Elie Habib said.

Anghami is committed to providing users easier alternative payment methods, including prepaid cards, telco billing, Paypal, and now digital currencies. Bitcoin itself offers the lowest transaction fee among all methods. The Bitcoin purchases will be processed through BitPay, the world's largest payment processor for virtual currencies.

Co-founder Eddy Maroun added "Bitcoin is getting major backing from the entrepreneurial ecosystem and from technologists worldwide. By accepting it, we're sending a message that we also believe in it. We want our digital enthusiasts user base to be proud of Anghami and rally to spread our vision."

It just might take a while for the world and the MENA region to catch on, but Anghami is delighted to be part of the Bitcoin early adopters.  

About Anghami:

Anghami is the leading music service in the Middle East, launched in December 2012 with over 4 million users to date, allowing you to listen and download music, on any mobile or tablet. Anghami is the largest legal digital music project in MENA, providing over 10 million tracks licensed from the likes of Rotana (Exclusive in KSA, UAE, Lebanon), Platinum Records, Mazzika, Melody and leading regional and global aggregators. Anghami also offers access to the international labels such as Universal, Sony and Warner, Beggars, Armada and many others.

Contact:

To learn more about Anghami, please contact Jad Jamous at press@anghami.com or follow the latest info on http://www.anghami.com, http://www.twitter.com/anghami and http://www.facebook.com/anghami