JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (CelebrityAccess) — Warner Music Group announced it has acquired a majority stake in Africori, one of Africa’s leading music distributor and rights management companies.
Africori is currently servicing 7,000 artists and 850 clients and in 2021, its artists accounted for hundreds of millions of audio streams, billions of YouTube views with revenue growth across all digital streaming platforms.
Warner first invested in Africori in early 2020, providing the label group with access to the company’s catalog and A&R network. As part of the deal, WMG will become the leading distributor in the region while giving Africori’s clients broader access to worldwide audiences.
Following the acquisition, Africori will continue to operate as an independent company, with current CEO, Yoel Kenan, remaining in a leadership role.
“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,” said Alfonso Perez-Soto, President, Emerging Markets, Warner Recorded Music.
“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,” added Yoel Kenan, CEO, Africori.
The Africori acquisition is the latest in a series of deals in Africa for Warner Music that also include investments in Chocolate City, Diamond Platnumz and his label WCB-Wasafi, Coleske and Ziiki Media.
