MENA: Warner Group buys Qanawat Music

The deal will see Warner Music grow its presence across MENA. However, the agreement has not been finalised yet.

Qanawat Music was a division of Qanawat FZ LLC, a leading regional digital mobile solutions provider, which was founded by Adnan Al-Obthani. Al-Obthani will retain his role as CEO of Qanawat Music after the deal in concluded, while the distributor will operate as a standalone company under WMG.

Qanwat Music has offices in Cairo, Dubai and Casablanca, and offers its services to more than 20 countries across the region. The company has several brand partnerships and music publishing administration in the region.

“Warner Music has a long-term vision for developing the market here in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as a commitment to connect Arabic artists with a global fanbase,” Al-Obthani said. “We’ve built this business up over 20 years and were determined that we would only partner with a company that we could confidently trust to look after our artists’ best interests. This will be a new chapter for Qanawat Music and we couldn’t be more excited.”

WMG president of emerging markets Alfonso Perez-Soto said: “With this new deal, we have a massive opportunity to export exciting talent from the Middle East and North Africa – there is an important and growing Arabic diaspora worldwide that we can tap into and which will help amplify the music.”

MENA boasts a population of some 430 million people, and the recorded music market in region is one of the fastest growing in the world, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

The move signals a growing trend of foreign investments and partnerships among Digital Streaming Platforms made in the region. This is Warner Music’s second major deal in the region following the conclusion of its investment in Rotana Music, the Arab's world independent record label. In February, Arab world-focused music streaming service Anghami debuted on the Nasdaq stock exchange in the US after scoring a merger with Vistas Media Acquisition Company.