Anghami’s newly launched artist platform, Anghami Elite, has already delivered a sharp increase in listening to its debut artist Angham, with streams of the Egyptian singer’s catalogue rising 108.75% in a single day following the Elite spotlight.
The streaming platform launched Anghami Elite with a special edition dedicated to Angham, aiming to give audiences a broader view of an artist’s career rather than focusing on a single release.
Salam Kmeid, Head of Music Marketing at Anghami, told Trends MENA that the initiative was created to address what the platform sees as a gap in how established artists are presented on streaming services.
“There is always an opportunity to go deeper in how we celebrate the artists behind the music,” Kmeid said. “Some artists transcend individual releases: they have shaped culture, influenced generations and built legacies that deserve to be experienced as a complete story, rather than simply presented as a catalogue.”
Beyond album promotion
Anghami Elite’s debut focuses on Angham’s more than three-decade career, bringing her older catalogue and defining moments into the same experience as her latest EP, De Rohy.
Kmeid said the choice of Angham was deliberate because of the depth of her relationship with listeners across generations.
“Her relationship with her listeners extends far beyond any single album or release,” he said. “Through Anghami Elite, we are inviting fans to revisit her wider musical journey and rediscover the different eras that have defined her career.”
The initiative includes curated listening experiences, personal stories and fan-focused activations. Anghami says it is also developing further interactive and real-time experiences around the artists featured in the programme.
Rather than following the conventional promotional cycle around an album launch, Kmeid said Elite is intended to become an ongoing platform.
“It is about creating a longer-term platform around artists whose influence extends across generations, giving fans new ways to engage with their music, their story and the different chapters of their career,” he said.
A new opportunity for brands
The platform could also eventually become a commercial proposition for brands, with Anghami exploring partnerships built around individual artists and cultural moments.
Kmeid said potential partnerships would need to go beyond conventional sponsorship.
“They could help create new experiences, unlock special fan moments, extend the conversation beyond the platform or add another dimension to the storytelling around the artist,” he said.
“We are already exploring opportunities that bring together artists, fans and partners in more interactive and culturally relevant ways, and audiences will start to see some of those extensions come to life soon.”
For Anghami, the opportunity lies in the combination of an artist’s identity, fanbase and cultural relevance.
“Ultimately, the ambition is for Elite to become more than an editorial platform, it can become a space where the right partners help create experiences that feel additive to the artist and genuinely valuable to fans,” Kmeid said.
Bridging generations
The platform is also intended to introduce established Arabic artists to younger listeners. Anghami says Gen Z and Millennials make up a significant part of its listener base, creating an opportunity to connect artists with audiences that may know their newer work without having explored their full catalogues.
“By giving Angham this level of visibility on a platform that younger audiences already use every day, we can create renewed conversation and discovery around her music while keeping her firmly connected to the next generation of listeners,” Kmeid said.
The approach places newer music alongside older work, allowing younger listeners to enter an artist’s catalogue through current releases while giving long-time fans an opportunity to revisit earlier eras.
Measuring deeper fandom
The early streaming uplift gives Anghami one immediate measure of the programme’s impact, but Kmeid said the platform will not judge Elite solely on streams.
“Streams and listening time will absolutely be part of how we measure success, and we are already seeing encouraging early signals,” he said.
Following the Elite spotlight, Angham’s catalogue recorded a 108.75% increase in streams in a single day, according to Anghami.
The company will also examine how listeners move through an artist’s catalogue, including whether they explore different periods of their career and engage with content and experiences surrounding the Elite programme.
“Over time, success will be about that combination: measurable growth in listening, deeper fan engagement, renewed cultural conversation around the artist, and the ability to build meaningful experiences and partnerships around them,” Kmeid said.
For Angham, the initiative offers another route to connect her extensive catalogue with existing and new audiences. For Anghami, it represents an attempt to turn artist discovery from a release-driven activity into a broader cultural and commercial platform.
