Interview: Highvibes Distribution CEO Ogunade Gbolahan Mathias

Founded with the vision of empowering African artists and rights holders, Highvibes Distribution has steadily carved out a unique space in the industry. The company focuses on solving long-standing issues in royalty collection, rights management, and access to global platforms, offering tailored solutions that address both the creative and administrative needs of African music professionals. With an emphasis on transparency, education, and technological innovation, Highvibes Distribution isn’t just a service provider, it’s a strategic partner for artists seeking sustainable careers.

As the continent’s independent music ecosystem continues to expand, Highvibes Distribution is deepening its influence through strategic collaborations, including its newly announced partnership with ACCES 2025 in Tswane, South Africa. The move signals the company’s commitment to driving meaningful industry conversations and shaping the future of music publishing and distribution in Africa. We caught up with Ogunade Gbolahan Mathias, CEO of Highvibes Distribution, to learn more about the company’s vision, impact, and plans for the future.

MIA: Highvibes Distribution has carved out a unique space in Africa’s music ecosystem. What inspired the founding of the company, and what core problem is it solving for African artists and rights holders?

OGUNADE GBOLAHAN MATHIAS: Highvibes was founded out of a deep desire to empower African artists, labels, and rights holders by giving them the tools and infrastructure needed to thrive in the global music economy. The inspiration came from firsthand experiences within the African music scene, witnessing the immense talent and cultural richness, but also recognising the systemic gaps in royalty collection, rights management, and digital distribution.

With the rapid growth of digital platforms, how is Highvibes Distribution adapting its publishing, promotion and distribution services to remain competitive and relevant across the continent?

Highvibes Distribution is staying competitive by combining tech innovation with deep local insight. Our distribution network connects directly with global DSPs, ensuring fast delivery and optimised metadata, while our promo strategies use targeted ads and play-listing to boost visibility. In publishing, the gap has been massive—over 90% of African composers aren't affiliated with a PRO, and many still don’t understand how to collect their royalties. But through years of work and expert partnerships, we've built a system that properly administers publishing for all our clients—ensuring their works are registered, tracked, and paid for globally. We’re not just offering services—we’re building infrastructure that empowers African creators in the digital age.

Highvibes Distribution also sells music directly. How does this business model work alongside your publishing and distribution services, and what makes it appealing to African artists and audiences?

At the moment, Highvibes Distribution doesn’t sell music directly. Instead, we work closely with major DSPs and global publishing societies to deliver, monetise, and manage rights for our clients’ releases. Our model is built around maximising reach and revenue through established platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Boomplay, YouTube, and publishing channels such as BMI, ASCAP, SAMRO, CAPASSO and the MLC.

What makes this approach appealing to African artists is that we handle the complex backend—metadata delivery, rights registration, royalty tracking, and pay-outs—while they focus on creating. It’s an ecosystem where distribution, publishing, and artist support work together, ensuring our clients don’t just release music—they monetise it fully and fairly across multiple markets.

What role does Highvibes Distribution play in supporting emerging artists, and how do you ensure their music reaches the right audiences, both locally and globally?

Highvibes Distribution plays a hands-on role in supporting emerging artists by providing them with the infrastructure, knowledge, and strategic support they often lack at the early stages of their careers. From distribution to publishing administration, we make sure their music is not only released but also properly registered and monetised.

To ensure their music reaches the right audiences, we use a data-driven promotional approach—including playlist pitching, regional ad campaigns, smartlink tools, and audience targeting. We also guide artists on branding, release strategies, and platform optimisation.

By combining global reach with local relevance, we help emerging African artists grow sustainable careers and connect with fans around the world.

Music publishing in Africa often faces challenges around rights management and royalty collection. How does Highvibes Distribution navigate these issues, and what innovations have you implemented to address them?

Highvibes Distribution tackles music publishing challenges in Africa by ensuring accurate rights registration, transparent royalty tracking, and organised metadata management. We also guide composers on affiliating with the right PROs to collect their writer’s share of royalties and provide ongoing education to help artists, songwriters, and producers fully understand and manage their rights.

Highvibes Distribution is partnering with ACCES 2025 in November in Tswane. Can you tell us more about the nature of this partnership and why it is significant for the company?

Highvibes Distribution’s partnership with ACCES is more than a sponsorship, it’s a strategic alliance that:

(i) Elevates our visibility among Africa’s top music stakeholders,

(ii) Creates tangible opportunities for our artists and clients,

(iii) Amplifies our thought leadership, and

(iv) Strengthens our role in shaping the evolution of Africa’s music industry infrastructure.

(v) It’s a key milestone that marks our continued investment in the future of African music—and our position at the centre of its growth.

What specific opportunities will ACCES 2025 open up for Highvibes Distribution, whether in terms of business growth, industry visibility, or strategic collaborations?

ACCES 2025 will boost Highvibes Distribution’s business growth, visibility, and strategic partnerships. It offers the chance to connect with key industry players, showcase our services, participate in expert panels, and create opportunities for our artists. Overall, it strengthens our role in shaping Africa’s music industry and expanding our impact across the continent.

How do you see your presence at ACCES 2025 contributing to the broader conversation about the future of African music publishing and distribution?

Our presence at ACCES 2025 allows us to contribute meaningfully to the ongoing dialogue around the future of African music publishing and distribution. By sharing real-world insights from our work across the continent, we aim to spotlight the urgent need for stronger rights management, publishing education, and infrastructure. We’ll use this platform to advocate for fairer systems, increased transparency, and more collaborative efforts between African and global stakeholders. As a company actively solving these challenges, we’re not just part of the conversation, we’re helping shape the solutions.

Technology is rapidly transforming the music business. How is Highvibes Distribution leveraging data, AI, or other innovations to improve revenue tracking, audience insights, and artist reach?

Highvibes Distribution leverages technology to improve every stage of the music value chain being it distribution or publishing. We use data analytics to track streaming trends, optimise release strategies, and pitch effectively to DSPs. Our internal systems ensure accurate revenue tracking and metadata management, making royalty collection more transparent for rights holders. We’re also exploring AI-powered tools for audience targeting, smartlink automation, and performance forecasting, helping artists reach the right listeners and grow faster. By combining innovation with local insight, we’re building smarter, more scalable music careers for African talent.

Looking ahead, where do you see Highvibes Distribution in the next five years, both within the African music ecosystem and in terms of global partnerships?

In the next five years, we see Highvibes Distribution becoming a leading force in the global music ecosystem, with strong roots in Africa. Our goal is to scale our infrastructure across the continent—supporting artists, songwriters, and labels with seamless publishing, distribution, and monetisation solutions—while also expanding our presence in key international markets. We’re focused on building global partnerships with DSPs, publishers, rights societies, and tech platforms to ensure African music is better represented, fairly compensated, and easily accessible worldwide. Highvibes Distribution is positioning itself as the bridge between Africa’s creative talent and the global music economy—empowering creators at every level.

Find more about Highvibes Distribution here.