A new music "streaming" platform has been launched by a Malawian entrepreneur who studied in Scotland.

Dumisani Kapanga, who lived in Scotland from 2003 and is now based in London, is behind the creation of the new music platform Mvelani, which means Listen in the country's national language of Chichewa.

He hopes the new system will allow people from across the world to listen to music from southern Africa.

Kapanga, 29, who has studied at Glasgow Caledonian and Strathclyde University, created the site for the music, which is often not available through mainstream music channels, as many of the acts involved do not have record labels or publishing deals.

Mvelani launched on 23 January and provides music for desktop and mobile devices.

The founder is now working with the Malawian government to see if featured artists can receive royalty payments for their music, similar to larger music sharing platforms like Spotify.

Kapanga said: "This project is extremely personal to me as the idea for the site originated through my own frustration at being unable to find music from home online.

"I hated having to constantly rely on asking my family to send it on to me and keep me up to date."

He added: "I knew I couldn't be the only person in this situation and so I came up with a way I could help make it easier for others.

"I also realised there was great potential for introducing the talented artists of my home country to a new international audience."

The website already contains more than 700 tracks from over 71 artists.

Within its first four days of operation the site recorded over 50,000 minutes of listening time.

Mr Kapanga added: "I am surprised the idea hasn't been tried already but I am delighted with its success so far.

"The site already hosts the biggest concentration of Malawi music in the same place online and interest from artists wishing to add their tracks in growing.

"It's my dream to cultivate the site into the largest music catalogue of its type and to have every song recorded or produced from southern African artists available for download or streaming online and on mobile."