Msaki Is the Named Phonogram Holder on Her Own Albums. On Both Synthetic Hearts Records the Holder Is Nø Førmat!, and the Sleeve Credits the Publishing to the Label Too

Deal sheet

Status

Confirmed

Parties

Nø Førmat!

Amount

Not disclosed Not disclosed

Rights covered

Phonographic copyright in two albums by Msaki x Tubatsi Mpho Moloi: Synthetic Hearts, nine tracks, catalogue NOF57, released 10 March 2023, UPC 3663729229595; and Synthetic Hearts Part II, nine tracks, catalogue NOF61, released 24 May 2024, UPC 3663729297082. On both, the named holder of the phonographic copyright is Nø Førmat!, and the label is also the named holder of the album copyright notice. The phonogram notice carries no licence wording: it reads "℗ 2023 Nø Førmat!" and "℗ 2024 NO FORMAT!" with no "under exclusive license to" clause and no artist-side entity named. The sleeve credit list for the NØF.57 vinyl additionally places No Format in the Published By role, with no artist-side publisher credited. This desk records that as a publishing credit on the sleeve and not as a legal characterisation, because a Published By credit does not distinguish ownership of the compositions from administration of them, and no collecting society register could be reached to resolve which it is. The compositions are credited to three writers on both albums: Msaki, Tubatsi Mpho Moloi and Clément Petit.

Territory

Not stated. The phonogram notices on the South African, French, United States and British Apple storefronts are identical and carry no territorial limit, and no document read by this desk sets out the territory, the term, the splits or any reversion in the arrangement between the artists and the label.

Announced

2023-03-10

Primary document

Official newsroom

Sources

Nø Førmat!'s own product catalogue feed on the label domain. Returned HTTP 200 and 107 products. Lists Synthetic Hearts under the handle albums-msaki-tubatsi-synthetic-hearts with SKUs NOF57, NOF57LP and NOF57D, Synthetic Hearts Part II under albums-msaki-tubatsi-synthetic-hearts-part-ii with SKUs NOF61D and NOF61LP, and a Msaki x Tubatsi and Urban Village box set under SKU COF-MSAKI-LP. This establishes both albums as the label's own catalogue releases from the label's own domain. Cited in place of the human-readable product page, which returns HTTP 429 to automated requests. · Apple South Africa storefront metadata for Synthetic Hearts. Copyright field reads "℗ 2023 Nø Førmat!". Nine tracks, release date 2023-03-10. The identical string is returned on the French, United States and British storefronts. · Apple France storefront metadata for Synthetic Hearts Part II. Copyright field reads "℗ 2024 NO FORMAT!". Release date 2024-05-24. · Apple Music release page for Synthetic Hearts. Carries the copyright line "℗ 2023 Nø Førmat!" and a RECORD LABEL field reading No Format. · Discogs release data for the NØF.57 vinyl of Synthetic Hearts, barcode 3700551785148. Company roles list No Format under Phonographic Copyright (p), Copyright (c) and Published By. Recorded at Jazzworx Studios, mixed at Méchant Studio, mastered at Globe Audio. Credits name Msaki, Tubatsi Mpho Moloi and Clément Petit as composers and writers, and Laurent Bizot as executive producer and A&R. · Discogs release data for the NØF.61 vinyl of Synthetic Hearts Part II. Company roles list No Format under Phonographic Copyright (p) and Copyright (c), pressed by Optimal Media GmbH. Release note transcribes the sleeve as "℗ & © 2024 NØ FØRMAT!". Same three writers. · Deezer album record for Synthetic Hearts. Label field "No Format!", UPC 3663729229595, release date 2023-03-10, nine tracks. · Deezer album record for Synthetic Hearts Part II. Label field "No Format!", UPC 3663729297082, release date 2024-05-24, nine tracks. · MusicBrainz release for Synthetic Hearts Part II. Label Nø Førmat!, catalogue number NØF.61, date 2024-05-24. · French company register entry for NO FORMAT, SIREN 454030560. SARL incorporated 20 May 2004, registered active, activity code 59.20Z for sound recording and music publishing, registered office 1 rue Andre Messager 75018 Paris, gerant BIZOT LAURENT. · Apple storefront metadata for Msaki's Platinumb Heart Beating. Copyright field reads "℗ 2021 Msaki", release date 2021-11-19. Establishes the contrasting position on her own album. · Apple Music release page for Platinumb Heart Beating. Carries the copyright line "℗ 2021 Msaki" alongside a RECORD LABEL field reading Platoon, which is the distinction between the owner of the recording and the named label. · Deezer album record for Platinumb Heart Beating. Label field "Platoon", UPC 5059449051482, release date 2021-11-19. · Deezer album record for Platinumb Heart Open, the companion half of the same double album. Label field "Oneshushuday", UPC 5059449051512, same release date 2021-11-19. The two halves carry different label metadata. · Apple storefront metadata for Zaneliza: How the Water Moves. Copyright field reads "℗ 2019 One Shushu Day Publishing". · Apple storefront metadata for Blood Guns and Revolutions. Copyright field reads "℗ 2020 ALTBLK (Oneshushuday)", release date 2020-08-14. · Apple storefront metadata for Prince Kaybee's Fetch Your Life featuring Msaki. Copyright field reads "℗ 2019 Universal Music (Pty) Ltd South Africa", which is the pattern on her featured appearances. · Apple storefront metadata for Sun-El Musician and Msaki's Ubomi Abumanga. Copyright field reads "℗ 2020 El World Music". · Apple storefront metadata for Sun-El Musician and Msaki's Amandla. Copyright field reads "℗ 2023 Under Da Sun", release date 2023-11-03. · Apple storefront metadata for TRESOR's SONDELA featuring Msaki. Release date field reads 2019-01-25 but the copyright field reads "℗ 2026 Jacquel Entertainment Group". Identical on the United States storefront. Recorded as an observation only: the storefront does not establish whether this is a transfer, a re-release or a metadata correction. · Nø Førmat!'s human-readable product page for Synthetic Hearts. Returned HTTP 429 to automated requests on every attempt across more than forty five seconds of backoff and two user agents. The same behaviour on the same domain is recorded in this desk's deal 7508 correction note of 22 October 2026, so it is read as site policy rather than a transient fault. Listed here for the record; the label's catalogue feed on the same domain is cited as the primary source instead.

Read this before citing: Six limits on this record.

First, no contract was read. Every rights claim here rests on copyright and licence notices published by the parties themselves, on sleeve credit transcriptions, and on one company register. Notices can be incomplete or wrong, and the absence of an artist-side entity from a phonogram notice is not evidence that no artist-side contractual interest exists. Nothing read by this desk speaks to reversion, participation or royalty share on either Synthetic Hearts album.

Second, the publishing position is a sleeve credit and not a legal characterisation. The Discogs entry for the NØF.57 vinyl places No Format in the Published By role, but that credit does not distinguish ownership of the compositions from administration of them. Attempts to resolve it against a collecting society register all failed: the SACEM repertoire endpoint redirected and then returned HTTP 403 from a CloudFront edge, the ASCAP repertoire endpoint returned HTTP 403, the Mechanical Licensing Collective public work search endpoint did not resolve at all and its portal returned a marketing page, and the SAMRO and BMI repertoire searches are unreachable from this server. The publishing position is therefore asserted on the parties' own sleeve credit only, and the equivalent credit is absent from the NØF.61 entry.

Third, the comparison with this desk's deal record 7508 is a comparison and not a finding about terms. That record established that Fatoumata Diawara's own company Nare Productions held the phonographic copyright in the 2026 album Massa and that Nø Førmat! held only an exclusive licence. The two arrangements are three years apart, involve different artists and different negotiating positions, and no document read sets out the commercial terms of either. The contrast is in the notices, not in anything either party has said about why.

Fourth, Msaki's own-catalogue side carries a metadata contradiction that this desk did not resolve. The two halves of the 2021 double album Platinumb Heart were released on the same date with adjacent UPCs, but the Deezer label field reads "Platoon" on Platinumb Heart Beating and "Oneshushuday" on Platinumb Heart Open, and the Apple release page for Open carries no RECORD LABEL field at all. The only three Platoon strings on the Open page were checked individually and are a playlist shelf item titled "Platoon Presents: Across Africa", not a label credit. Both halves carry the same phonogram notice, "℗ 2021 Msaki", so the ownership side is consistent even where the label side is not.

Fifth, none of the artist-side entities could be confirmed as a registered company. Four different phonogram holder names appear across Msaki's own body of work: "Msaki", "One Shushu Day Publishing", "One Shushu Day Artistry" and "ALTBLK (Oneshushuday)". South Africa's companies register has no public API reachable from this server, so the legal form of these names, their relationship to each other, and whether any of them is an incorporated entity rather than a trading name, could not be established.

Sixth, the distributor is not established on either side. No document read states a distribution agreement for Nø Førmat!. On the Msaki side, "Platoon" in a Deezer label field and in Apple's RECORD LABEL field indicates a label-services or distribution relationship, and the shared 5059449 UPC prefix across Blood Guns and Revolutions in 2020 and both 2021 albums is consistent with a single supply chain, but neither establishes the type or the term of that relationship. Platoon's ownership by Apple Inc. is established separately in this desk's deal record 3776 and is not re-asserted here.