African instant messaging service 2go and Afrobeats music streaming offering iROKING have partnered to bring free Nigerian music downloads to more than 9 million people across Nigeria.

iROKING is a West African music distribution platform, with over 35,0000 tracks from 400 plus artists. The company says it also manages the YouTube channels of over 80 artists, "delivering 15 million video views on average a month, with over 130,000,000 views across its pages."

Meanwhile, South African headquartered 2go says it has over 10 million active users who send more than 6 billion messages per month, mostly on lower-end feature phones in Nigeria and SA. The SA startup's instant messaging service, which runs on feature phones as well as smartphones, enables users to meet new people and message each other for free.

And the two companies have teamed up to create a mobi-stie called iroking.2go.im, which includes features such as searching and sharing music downloads as well as offering music industry news.

The organisations say the site also comes with a round of optimisations to cater to feature phone users, as 2go predominantly targets users on these low-end devices.

“We are bringing Nigerian music to the millions with this partnership and we’re thrilled to be working with 2go to connect with new, young and music-obsessed audiences across continental Africa,” said Adi Nduka-Agwu, head of business development for iROKO Partners.

Peter Lockhart of 2go says: “Our users love music, so we’re excited to give them access to the latest Nigerian music and music news for free on their mobile phones”.

The move for the Nigerian and South African startups to partner comes after iROKO Partners announced the opening of their Johannesburg office this year.