Deal sheet
- Status
- ENDED, ON A DATE NEITHER PARTY HAS FIXED, AND THE RECORD IS INTERNALLY INCONSISTENT. Alikiba said in a January 2021 interview, reported on 20 January 2021, "To be honest sifanyi kazi na Rockstar na Sony", that he was no longer working with Rockstar and Sony, adding that he did not want to discuss it "hadi vile itakua official kabisa", until it was completely official. The credit line does not match that timing in either direction. The last new Alikiba release located carrying a Sony credit is Kadogo, 28 December 2018, and by Mshumaa on 8 November 2019 the credit had already reverted to Kings Music Records Label, more than a year before the statement. In the other direction, a 7 September 2019 release by Aslay featuring Alikiba carries a 2023 phonogram year and reads "℗ 2023 South Africa – Sony Music Entertainment Africa (Pty) Ltd, under exclusive licence from Rockstar Africa Label & Management", naming a different licensor and a year two years after Alikiba said the relationship was over. Neither Sony nor Alikiba has published a termination date. Sony Music Entertainment Africa has issued no statement located for this record on the end of the arrangement.
- Type
- Distribution, Licensing
- Parties
- KingKiba Music, Sony Music Entertainment Africa (Pty) Ltd, Kings Music Records, Ziiki Media, ROCKSTAR4000 Music Entertainment
- Amount
- Not disclosed Not disclosed
- Rights covered
- MASTER RECORDING RIGHTS, BY EXCLUSIVE LICENCE, NOT BY ASSIGNMENT. Every Sony-credited Alikiba release located names a licensor. Aje (released 24 June 2016) reads "℗ 2016 SME Africa (Pty) Ltd exclusively licensed from KingKiba Music". Seduce Me (25 August 2017) reads "℗ 2017 South Africa – Sony Music Entertainment Africa (Pty) Ltd, under Exclusive License From KingKiba Music". Kadogo (28 December 2018) reads "℗ 2018 Sony Music Entertainment Africa (Pty) Ltd – RCA, under Exclusive License From KingKiba Music". On the phonogram convention the party named after "exclusively licensed from" is the owner of the sound recording and the party named before it is not. One exception was found: Nisamehe, a 30 September 2016 collaboration credited to Barakah The Prince and Alikiba, reads "℗ 2016 SME Africa (Pty) Ltd" with no licensor named. PUBLISHING IS NOT ADDRESSED. No composition or publishing right is named in any document located for this record, and no publishing claim is made here.
- Territory
- Announced as a "global deal" in contemporaneous trade coverage of the 19 May 2016 signing, with no territorial carve-out stated by either party. The contracting Sony entity named on the credit line is the South African subsidiary, Sony Music Entertainment Africa (Pty) Ltd, rendered on the 2016 releases under its abbreviated form "SME Africa (Pty) Ltd" and on the 2017 release with the prefix "South Africa". The artist and his label are Tanzanian. Ziiki Media, which occupies the phonogram position from 2021, is South African. No source located states the territory of the Ziiki Media arrangement.
- Announced
- 2016-05-19
- Primary document
- Rights registry
- Sources
- Apple catalogue lookup for Aje (collection ID 1121630625), the first Alikiba single released after the 19 May 2016 Sony signing, read directly on 18 September 2026 (HTTP 200), returning the verbatim phonogram credit "℗ 2016 SME Africa (Pty) Ltd exclusively licensed from KingKiba Music". · Apple catalogue lookup for Seduce Me (collection ID 1270106187), read 18 September 2026 (HTTP 200), returning "℗ 2017 South Africa – Sony Music Entertainment Africa (Pty) Ltd, under Exclusive License From KingKiba Music". · Apple catalogue lookup for Kadogo (collection ID 1446855265), read 18 September 2026 (HTTP 200), returning "℗ 2018 Sony Music Entertainment Africa (Pty) Ltd – RCA, under Exclusive License From KingKiba Music". The last new Sony-credited Alikiba release located. · Apple catalogue lookup for Mshumaa (collection ID 1740848045), released 8 November 2019, read 18 September 2026 (HTTP 200), returning "℗ 2019 Kings Music Records Label", establishing the reversion to the artist's own label. · Apple catalogue lookup for the album ONLY ONE KING (collection ID 1588102978), released 7 October 2021, read 18 September 2026 (HTTP 200), returning "℗ 2021 Ziiki Media" with no licensor named. · Apple catalogue lookup for Hater (collection ID 6803933891), released 4 September 2026, read 18 September 2026 (HTTP 200), returning "℗ 2026 Ziiki Media". The most recent release checked for this record. · Apple catalogue lookup for Bembea by Aslay featuring Alikiba (collection ID 1619336507), release date 7 September 2019, read 18 September 2026 (HTTP 200), returning "℗ 2023 South Africa – Sony Music Entertainment Africa (Pty) Ltd, under exclusive licence from Rockstar Africa Label & Management", the contradicting licensor and phonogram year. · Apple catalogue lookup for Mwana (collection ID 948742756), release date 5 December 2014, read 18 September 2026 (HTTP 200), returning "℗ 2014 SME Africa (Pty) Ltd", the Sony credit that predates the announced signing. · Apple catalogue lookup for the parallel listing of Aje (collection ID 1563761345), read 18 September 2026 (HTTP 200), returning "℗ 2021 Ziiki Media" for the same recording that collection 1121630625 credits to SME Africa under licence from KingKiba Music. · MusicBrainz release search for Alikiba, read 18 September 2026 (HTTP 200), independently corroborating the Apple readings: Seduce Me (2017) carries label Sony Music; Bhuju (2026, barcode 8718521086756) and Utanionea (2026, barcode 5026854620671) both carry label Ziiki Media; CINDERELLA (2006, barcode 196164074053) carries label Kings Music Records. · Trade report of the signing, read 18 September 2026: dates the agreement to 19 May 2016, names Sony Music Entertainment Africa, describes it as a "global deal", names no Alikiba company, discloses no term and no financial terms, and does not state whether the deal is a recording, licensing or distribution agreement. · Trade report dated 20 January 2021 carrying Alikiba's own statement, "To be honest sifanyi kazi na Rockstar na Sony… nisingependa kuzungumuzia sasa hivi hadi vile itakua official kabisa", and describing him as the founder of Kings Music Record Label who signed with Sony Music on 19 May 2016. · Directory entry for Ziiki Media, read 18 September 2026, carrying the company's description of its own business as content aggregation and distribution across recorded music, music publishing, merchandising and audiovisual content, and placing it in South Africa.
Read this before citing: A PHONOGRAM LINE IS A CLAIM, NOT A DEED. The ℗ credit is the rights holder's own assertion delivered in release metadata. It is strong evidence of how the parties described their own relationship at the time of delivery, and it is the only such statement either party has made in public here. It is not a contract, and this record does not treat it as one.
ZIIKI MEDIA IS NAMED ALONE, AND THAT SHOULD NOT BE READ AS A SALE. From 2021 the credit reads simply "℗ 2021 Ziiki Media", and later "℗ 2026 Ziiki Media", with no licensor named after it. The obvious inference, that ownership moved from KingKiba Music to Ziiki Media, is not supported by any document located, and two things cut against it. Ziiki Media describes its own business as content aggregation and distribution across recorded music, publishing, merchandising and audiovisual content, which is a service role, not an ownership role. And this desk has previously established the identical bare-credit pattern on releases by WCB-Wasafi, a rival Tanzanian label, where no ownership transfer is claimed by anyone either. The pattern is more consistent with a distributor's delivery convention than with a catalogue sale. What the credit actually reflects could not be established.
THE SAME RECORDINGS ARE LIVE TWICE, UNDER DIFFERENT RIGHTS HOLDERS. At least six Alikiba recordings sit on the store in two parallel listings with two different stated rights holders. Aje appears as collection 1121630625, credited to SME Africa under licence from KingKiba Music, and as collection 1563761345, credited "℗ 2021 Ziiki Media". Seduce Me appears as 1270106187, credited to Sony under licence from KingKiba Music, and as 6802762628, credited to Ziiki Media. Kadogo, Mshumaa, Mwana and Hela show the same doubling. Both copies of each were returning HTTP 200 on 18 September 2026. No party has explained the duplication, and this record does not assert which listing is authoritative.
A SONY CREDIT PREDATES THE ANNOUNCED SIGNING BY SEVENTEEN MONTHS. Mwana, collection 948742756, carries a release date of 5 December 2014 and the credit "℗ 2014 SME Africa (Pty) Ltd", with no licensor named. The signing was announced on 19 May 2016. A phonogram year is not a delivery date and back catalogue is routinely re-delivered with the original year retained, so this is not evidence of an earlier contract. It is an unexplained inconsistency, and it is recorded as one.
SIX NAMES, AND NO REGISTRY TO RESOLVE THEM. The owner position across this catalogue is occupied at different points by Ally Salehe Kiba, Kings Music Records Label, Kings Music Africa Ltd, KingKiba Music, Rockstar4000 Tanzania Limited and Rockstar Africa Label & Management. Whether these are distinct legal persons, trading names, or the artist personally could not be established. Tanzania operates no public company search comparable to SEC EDGAR or the UK register, and the ASCAP repertory search returned HTTP 403 to this server.
WHAT COULD NOT BE ESTABLISHED. Who owns or owned KingKiba Music. The term, territory, royalty rate or advance of the 2016 Sony licence. The date the Sony licence ended. Whether any agreement exists between Alikiba and Ziiki Media, and if so whether it is a distribution, licence or assignment. Who administers or publishes the compositions: Apple's catalogue API exposes no composition credit, ASCAP's search was blocked, and COSOTA, Tanzania's copyright society, publishes no searchable repertory.
What changed hands on 19 May 2016 was a licence, not a catalogue. Sony Music Entertainment Africa announced the signing of the Tanzanian singer Alikiba as a “global deal” and disclosed no structure, no term and no money. The phonogram credit on the first single released under it supplies the structure the announcement withheld: “℗ 2016 SME Africa (Pty) Ltd exclusively licensed from KingKiba Music”. Sony was the licensee. KingKiba Music was named as the owner.
That licensor name survives on every Sony-credited Alikiba release located, through to December 2018. It then disappears from new releases, and his own label’s name returns. From 2021 onward the credit on both new releases and re-delivered back catalogue names Ziiki Media, a South African distributor and aggregator, with no licensor named after it at all.
The chain, as the credit line states it
- 2009 to 2016. Kings Music Records Label, Alikiba’s own label, or his legal name, Ally Salehe Kiba.
- June 2016 to December 2018. Sony Music Entertainment Africa (Pty) Ltd, “under Exclusive License From KingKiba Music”. The 2018 credit adds the RCA imprint.
- November 2019 onward. Kings Music Records Label again, with no Sony name present.
- 2021 to September 2026. Ziiki Media, named alone.
Three things this record separates
Owning is title in the sound recording. On the evidence located, that sat with KingKiba Music through the Sony period, and no document says it moved.
Licensing is a bounded right to exploit a copyright someone else owns. That is what Sony Music Entertainment Africa held, in its own words on its own credit line, and it is not what “global deal” conveys to a reader.
Distributing is a service contract for getting recordings to market. Ziiki Media describes its own business as content aggregation and distribution. Its name nonetheless occupies the phonogram position, which by convention names the owner of the recording. No document located reconciles those two facts.
Not disclosed
No advance, royalty rate, term, revenue share or territory carve-out has been disclosed by any party at any point, for the 2016 Sony licence or for the Ziiki Media arrangement that followed. This desk publishes no figure for either.
