Nigeria’s Nooks Recordings partners with BMG UK

The arrangement will see Nooks – co-founded by Favour Ogbolu, Morrin Oluwatobi and Laolu Aranmolate – work with BMG to “discover hidden talent, invest in their development and provide them with a pathway to a global network,” the companies said. Nooks is known for supporting African creatives in alternative music.

Among them, Nook’s founders have managed artists like CKay, who shot to global fame with his chart-topping single ‘Love Nwantiti’ in 2019, Blaqbonez, who was named in Rolling Stone’s list of 50 innovators shaping hop hop’s next 50 years, and producer Yinka Bernie.

BMG claims to be the largest independent global music company operating with the goal of empowering artists to reach their fullest potential and optimise their earnings from their music. Nooks’ first signing following the new deal is Nigerian producer Bolatito Obisanya popularly known as BMH, who is behind CKay’s hit ‘Emiliana’.

“We are incredibly excited about this partnership with BMG UK,” Aranmolate said. “Nooks Recordings was founded with a mission to uncover hidden musical gems, and through this collaboration we aim to empower these talents with the resources and expertise they need to shine on a global stage.”

Oluwatobi added: “This partnership underscores the incredible talent that Africa has to offer.”

BMG UK creative – publishing vice-president Lisa Cullington said: “We are delighted to be teaming up with Nooks. Favour, Morrin and Laolu are a fantastic creative force – finding and developing local songwriting talent on an international scale, and we are excited to be working with them. We welcome BMH as our first joint signing and look forward to what we can achieve together.”

Last month, BMG started implementing a strategic plan that includes a focus on music publishing and recordings, a strengthened US presence, a recalibrated structure in Europe, substantial investments in technology, and a refined organisational approach to enhance services and accountability for artists and songwriters worldwide.

“Fifteen years after the emergence of streaming, music is going through another tectonic change. It is vital we now re-engineer our business to make the most of that opportunity,” BMG CEO Thomas Coesfeld said. “BMG has challenged the conventions of the music industry ever since we began, bringing music publishing and recordings under one roof with a distinctive service-orientated and transparent approach. Now new ways of creating and consuming music and looming changes in streaming economics are challenging us to do even better for our clients.”