Digitality and Music Streaming in the Middle East: Anghami and the Burgeoning Startup Culture

Authors

  • Joe F. Khalil Northwestern University in Qatar
  • Mohamed Zayani Georgetown University in Qatar

Keywords:

digitality, streaming, music, Anghami, Middle East, ecosystem, startup, global, Global South, Spotify

Abstract

This article examines the digital turn in entertainment media industries, with particular attention to music streaming in the Middle East. It delineates the contours and workings of an emergent “ecosystem” that underpins the music industry in the region. While recognizing that regional platforms develop and adopt technological innovations that echo global trends, the article highlights the unique ways they respond to local market needs, navigate sociocultural factors, and capitalize on audience fragmentation. Using the case of Anghami, the article argues that this burgeoning startup culture—which is characterized by mobile, social, and direct-to-consumer services—is disrupting established radio and recording industry practices, redefining stakeholders, and creating more connected digital communities. The broader aim of the article is to unravel the nature of digital adaptations and transformations in the Middle East and better understand the complexities and disjunctures that characterize the emergence, adoption, and experience of digitality in the region.

Author Biographies

Joe F. Khalil, Northwestern University in Qatar

Joe F. Khalil, Ph.D., Joe F. Khalil is associate professor at Northwestern University in Qatar. He is the author and co-author of Arab Television Industries (Palgrave, 2009), Arab Satellite Entertainment Television and Public Diplomacy (Smith Richardson, 2009). He is also the co-editor of Culture, Time and Publics in the Arab World (I.B. Tauris, 2018) and the forthcoming Handbook of Media and Culture in the Middle East.

Mohamed Zayani, Georgetown University in Qatar

Mohamed Zayani is an award-wining author and professor of critical theory at Georgetown University. In addition to Networked Publics and Digital Contention (Oxford UP, 2015), his works include Digital Middle East (Oxford UP, 2018), Bullets and Bulletins (Oxford UP, 2016), The Culture of Al Jazeera (McFarland, 2007), The Al Jazeera Phenomenon (Pluto Press, 2005), and Reading the Symptom (1999).

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Published

2022-02-27

Issue

Vol. 16 (2022)

Section

Articles

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