The JOOX music streaming service is abruptly done in South Africa without any explanation.

by Thinus Ferreira

The JOOX music streaming service - including JOOX VIP, Telkom Music run by JOOX, and JOOX through MultiChoice's DStv - are all done in South Africa and will shut down on 31 March 2022.

JOOX has given no reason for the abrupt termination of its services and a few months ago said that South Africans have been so receptive in the take-up of JOOX that it plans to expand to other African countries as well and would announce expansion plans soon.

The Tencent-owned app made its debut in South Africa in 2017 as the first non-Asian market, after which Telkom launched Telkom Music as a new music streaming service in partnership with the Tencent-owned JOOX for R60 per month in July 2021, with the app that is was available on the Google Play Store and Huawei AppGallery.

MultiChoice added JOOX VIP in October 2018 as a free value-added service for certain DStv subscribers but is now losing JOOX although it will still offer Netflix and Amazon Prime Video as third-party streaming services.

"Telkom Music powered by JOOX will come to a close as of 31 March 2022. The music service run by JOOX, will come to an end," Telkom confirms in a statement.

"Users will no longer be able to access the Telkom Music app and continue enjoying its music services. Telkom Music VIP services will be stopped as of 31 December 2021."

"As passionate lovers of music and entertainment, the Telkom Music powered by JOOX team has been honoured to provide you with music that moves you."

JOOX says in a statement that "as of 31 March 2022 the JOOX Music service will come to an end in South Africa".

MultiChoice opening JOOX VIP music streaming to lower-tiered DStv subscribers for 3 months until 10 September 2020.

by Thinus Ferreira

MultiChoice is opening up the JOOX VIP music streaming service for free to all DStv subscribers for three months.

MultiChoice added JOOX VIP in October 2018 as a free value added service for all DStv Premium, DStv Compact Plus and DStv Compact subscribers and will now open up JOOX VIP to the rest of the lower-tiered DStv packages until 10 September 2020.

JOOX, owned by Tencent, competes with services like Spotify, Apple and Google for listeners' ears.

MultiChoice's announcement of the widening of the JOOX VIP accessibility through its DStv platform comes a week after MultiChoice revealed that it will soon be adding and rolling out Netflix and Amazon Prime Video as video streamers to sit as over-the-top (OTT) services alongside its traditional pay-TV offering.

The JOOX VIP access includes local and international music selections as well as "Big LIVE" concerts.

Mark Rayner, MultiChoice South Africa CEO, says opening up JOOX VIP to further DStv subscribers "is just another way in which MultiChoice is working to ensure that our loyal and valued customers continue to enjoy the best entertainment during these difficult times, being in lockdown has given us the perfect opportunity to demonstrate our support as we continue to find innovative ways to entertain our customers".

Gerjo Hoffman, Tencent Africa’s chief sales and marketing officer, says "We're excited by the prospect of having more DStv subscribers using JOOX".

"The response we've had from the DStv community so far has been outstanding. We cater to a big range of music tastes and we're excited to see what a wider audience takes from JOOX, its karaoke mode, its LIVE appearances, as well as a few exciting new features we have in the pipeline."