Warner Music Group completes full acquisition of Africori

Warner Music Group (WMG) has completed the full acquisition of Africori, a prominent Africa-focused music distribution, music rights management, and artist development company.

Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Johannesburg, Africori represents more than 7,000 artists, including music from Kelvin Momo, Master KG, Nkosazana Daughter, Oscar Mbo, and TitoM & Yuppe.

WMG first invested in Africori in 2020. Warner said that the deal gave it access to the distributor’s catalog and A&R network and enabled it to establish a presence in many African markets for the first time.

Warner acquired a majority stake in Africori in 2022 as part of a deal that led to its full acquisition this month.

WMG said that Africori will continue to operate as a standalone entity and Yoel Kenan will remain as CEO, reporting to Temi Adeniji, Managing Director of Warner Music Africa.

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According to a press release, the companies have aligned their systems to allow Africori artists and songs to be upstreamed into the global Warner Music network.

WMG said that the first global success from its partnership with Africori came from the upstreaming of Master KG’s 2020 hit Jerusalema, which has over 435 million streams on Spotify alone.

Other successes include five-time Platinum status in South Africa for TitoM & Yupee’s Tshwala Bam, and with Wanitwa Mos and Nkosazana Daughter’s debut album Makhelwane, which generated 100 million pre-release streams.

Temi Adeniji, Managing Director of Warner Music Africa, added: “Today is a landmark moment in our evolution in Africa.

“Over the past four years, we’ve shown that proper investment, synergies, and cooperation have created value for artists, but also that Warner Music has helped energize and nurture the entrepreneurial spirit of a local partner. We’ve upstreamed Africori artists and plugged them into our global network, delivering international remixes and trend-driven cross-collaborations that have helped elevate their careers.”