Nigeria’s InterSpace Group formalises holding, launches ToneGrid

Nigeria-based music distribution technology company InterSpace has announced the formation of The InterSpace Group, a holding company that formalises its multi-entity structure, and the launch of ToneGrid, an enterprise white-label distribution platform that has onboarded 24 clients since its debut.

The announcement arrives as the independent music distribution sector faces consolidation. Downtown Music Holdings is restructuring CD Baby and reportedly exploring a sale. DistroKid reduced half of its unionised workforce. Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group have each cut hundreds of roles. InterSpace, by contrast, has grown without venture capital, a roll-up of multiple companies, or an executive team drawn from major labels.

Holding structure and operations

The InterSpace Group, based in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, sits over five entities:

• InterSpace Distribution, the direct-to-artist distribution platform serving over 15,000 artists and more than 100 labels;
• ToneGrid, the white-label distribution backend;
• InterSpace Sound System, an online radio and DJ curation platform;
• InterSpace Daily, a music business editorial arm;
• InterSpace SmartLinks, a smart-link product acquired in April 2026.

InterSpace Distribution has operated since 2021 and routes releases to DSPs (digital service providers) globally through a partner network. It runs its own content management system and recently upgraded its delivery pipeline to the DDEX (Digital Data Exchange) ERN (Electronic Release Notification) 4.3 standard, the same specification used by Spotify in its supply chain. The group reports catalogue growth in Asia and Latin America alongside its African base.

The company employs more than ten people across Nigeria, India, Singapore, South Africa, and the United States, with the majority of staff and board members based in Nigeria. Founder Eric Okechukwu, a self-taught developer, architected the technology stack and led its development over nearly two years with a small engineering team. The group owns its entire technical foundation and carries no outside capital.

ToneGrid white-label platform

ToneGrid is an enterprise SaaS (software-as-a-service) platform that allows labels, sub-distributors, and music-tech startups to operate a fully branded distribution operation on top of InterSpace’s delivery infrastructure. Clients receive their own logo, colours, and domain, along with standard features including DSP connections, ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) and UPC (Universal Product Code) handling, royalty split configuration at the release and artist level, and YouTube Content ID.

The platform targets organisations that want to offer distribution as an embedded feature rather than redirecting users to a third-party service. “We built ToneGrid because we kept seeing the same problem from different directions,” Okechukwu said. “Labels wanted their own branded distribution operation. Platforms wanted distribution as a feature, not a redirect. Nobody wanted to reinvent DSP delivery and rights infrastructure to get there.”

ToneGrid has signed 24 white-label clients since launch.

Partnerships extend platform capabilities

Alongside the group announcement, InterSpace disclosed two strategic partnerships. A deal with ACRCloud, an audio fingerprinting and content recognition company, adds content protection capabilities across the platform. A second partnership with Rotor Videos, the automated music video creation platform owned by LyricFind, gives artists and labels access to video and lyric video generation tools.

These integrations, together with the April acquisition of SmartLinks, signal a strategy of assembling a partnership layer around the core delivery infrastructure rather than building every feature internally. Content identification and anti-piracy tooling from ACRCloud address rights holder concerns, while Rotor Videos adds a visual content layer to what has been a primarily audio-focused pipeline. For ToneGrid’s white-label clients, video creation capabilities are bundled into the platform they offer their artists.

Competitive landscape

White-label distribution is an established segment. FUGA, owned by Downtown Music Holdings, powers distribution backends for companies across the independent sector. Revelator offers a similar enterprise-focused proposition. Both operate with deal structures tailored to larger clients.