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Business News Deals Labels & Publishers
Warner takes majority stake in Africori
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 13 January 2022
Warner Music has acquired a majority stake in African music company Africori, which offers digital distribution, music rights management and artist development services to independent artists.
The two companies have an existing relationship, Warner having originally invested in Africori in 2020. That deal also saw Warner’s ADA division provide global distribution for Africori’s catalogue, while also establishing the major label in a number of African markets for the first time.
Later the same year, Africori also aligned with Warner Chappell on the publishing side in order to “offer new opportunities for African artists to collaborate with top creative songwriting talent” from across the globe.
Despite the Warner takeover, Africori will continue to operate as an independent company, with CEO Yoel Kenan remaining in his post.
Warner Recorded Music’s President Of Emerging Markets, Alfonso Perez-Soto, says: “Since partnering with Africori, we have established a collaborative and strategic partnership that has resulted in some impressive results on a global level. 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 adds: “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”.
Warner has grown its presence in Africa via a number of partnerships in recent years, including with Diamond Platnumz’s WCB-Wasafi label and indie label Coleske.
