Warner acquires majority stake in Africori

Africori, which also caters to music rights management and artist development, serves some 7 000 artists and 850 clients. The company recorded strong revenue growth across all major digital service providers last year. With a presence in Johannesburg, London and Lagos, Africori is home to leading African acts including Master KG, Ben Soul, Blxckie, Focalistic, Kamo Mphela, Kwesta, Jux, Makhadzi, Nviiri The Storyteller and Rexxie.

The deal will see Africori continue to operate as an independent company, with CEO Yoel Kenan remaining in his post.

Wednesday’s announcement arrives two years after the music rights giant invested in Africori for the first time. The original deal gave WMG access to Africa’s largest catalogue and A&R network, and enabled WMG to establish a presence in a number African markets. The decision to take a majority stake in Africori could see WMG become the leading distributor in Africa, allowing African artists more opportunities to tap into the global Warner Music network and enjoy international success.

“Since partnering with Africori, we have established a collaborative and strategic partnership that has resulted in some impressive results on a global level,” Warner Recorded Music president for emerging markets Alfonso Perez-Soto said. “Yoel Kenan and his team have done an incredible job building a company that is a real force of nature in Africa and, by bringing them into the Warner Music ecosystem, we believe we can give them deeper support as we aim to take African music even more global.”

Kenan said: “African music is booming all around the world and some of our artists are right at the heart of the explosion. Through our partnership, Warner Music has proven that it is the perfect home for Africori and our artists going forward. I’m looking forward to continuing to work with them as we break more artists on a global scale.”

Since their initial deal, the two companies have enjoyed a fruitful relationship. WMG was able to ‘upstream’ Master KG into Warner Music France, and in turn into the Warner Music global network, which led to his track ‘Jerusalema’ to become a major international hit. The single became the first South African-made song to hit 100 million YouTube views and topped the charts in seven countries while reaching the top 10 in many others.

This is Warner Music’s latest investment in Africa, following recent expansion efforts through partnerships with Chocolate City in Nigeria, Diamond Platnumz and his label WCB-Wasafi in Tanzania and East Africa as well as Coleske and Ziiki Media in South Africa.