Eddy Kenzo Says He Turned Down USD 1 Million From Warner Music. Eighty-Nine Releases Across Eleven Years Credit His Own Big Talent Entertainment, and the Grammy-Nominated Master Belongs to a Chicago Label.

On 13 November 2025 Eddy Kenzo, born Edrisah Musuuza, told the Ugandan television programme NBS After 5 that Warner Music had approached him with an offer of USD 1 million, and that Sony Music, Disney and Universal Music Group had each sent him signing agreements by email. He said he turned all of them down and still holds the paperwork. No major record company has commented on the account. No contract has been produced by any party, and this record does not assert that any of those offers was made.

What is checkable is the catalogue, and it corroborates the outcome he describes. Apple Music’s catalogue lookup for Eddy Kenzo, read on 28 September 2026, returned 150 releases spanning August 2010 to September 2026. Not one carries a phonogram credit naming Sony, Universal, Warner or any imprint of theirs. Eighty-nine carry a credit naming Big Talent Entertainment, the Kampala label Kenzo runs, the earliest dated 6 March 2015 and the most recent 21 September 2026. Deezer’s label field and MusicBrainz label-info agree on every release cross-checked.

The one recording that made him Uganda’s first Grammy nominee is not among the 89. “Gimme Love (feat. Eddy Kenzo)”, released 4 March 2022, reads ℗ 2022 Vitae Records on Apple Music and carries the label “Vitae Records” on Deezer. Vitae Records is a Chicago independent founded in 2014 by the recording artist Matt B and Angela V. Benson, who is its chief executive. Kenzo appears on that record as a featured artist. Big Talent Entertainment appears nowhere on it.

The statement, verbatim

The Ugandan trade report of the broadcast, dated 14 November 2025 and verified HTTP 200 on 28 September 2026, quotes Kenzo directly:

“When you take a look at artists signed under record labels, some seem like they are prisoners. Personally, Warner Music reached out to me with an offer of USD1M. Sony Music, Disney, and Universal all shared their signing agreements with me via email.”

“If I signed with them, they would give me their money, and I would sell my catalog to them for 10 years or whatever the contract would say, which would look like a loan. Because they have to milk you until their money and interest returns. Because even when the contract expires for them, it stays valid until they meet their goal.”

The same report embeds a post from the broadcaster’s own account dated 13 November 2025 carrying a shorter version of the same remarks: “Most of the artists signed to those major labels are like prisoners. Labels like Sony Music, Universal, and others reached out to me, but I turned them down.”

A second regional report dated 21 November 2025 is understood to carry a wider range of figures for the same interview. Its publisher’s edge network returned HTTP 403 to this desk’s requests on 28 September 2026 and the document could not be read. No figure from it is carried here. The only amount this record reports is the USD 1 million attributed to Warner Music in the document that was read, and it is an offer said to have been refused, not consideration that passed.

What the credit lines show

All Apple lines read on 28 September 2026 from Apple’s catalogue lookup for artist 866230283, United States storefront, which returned 150 collection rows. All Deezer label fields read the same day from Deezer’s album endpoints under artist 5818703. MusicBrainz returned 10 Eddy Kenzo releases on the same date and files every one of them under the label “Big Talent Entertainment”.

The Grammy master sits with Vitae Records

“Gimme Love” was nominated for Best Global Music Performance at the 65th Grammy Awards. The Recording Academy’s own category page for 2023 lists the nomination as “Gimme Love” by “Matt B, Eddy Kenzo” and records the winner in that category as “Bayethe”. The nomination made Kenzo the first Ugandan artist nominated for a Grammy.

The recording copyright in that track is claimed by Vitae Records on both registries checked. Vitae’s own site describes the label as “Founded in 2014 in Chicago by GRAMMY-Award winning husband-and-wife duo Matt B & Angela V. Benson”, names Angela V. Benson as CEO and co-founder and Matt B as president and founder, and lists exactly one artist: Matt B. MusicBrainz files the imprint under Chicago with a life span beginning 17 October 2014. Benson has described the founding in her own words to a United States independent-label trade body: “In an effort to help Matt maintain his power of creativity over his music and brand, we founded Vitae Records together and signed him to our own label.”

Vitae Records’ website does not mention Eddy Kenzo anywhere. It describes “Gimme Love” as “the lead single from ALKEBULAN” and states that it “earned Matt his first GRAMMY nomination”.

A licence layer appears, then disappears

The 4 March 2022 single reads Vitae Records alone. The reimagined album version, track six of Matt B’s ALKEBULAN, released 18 August 2023, reads “℗ 2023 Vitae Records, under exclusive license to Hitskope”. The same wording appears on ALKEBULAN II (23 August 2024), which won Best Global Music Album at the 67th Grammy Awards, and on the four Matt B singles released between them. On ALKEBULAN III: The Water Remembers (21 August 2026) the Hitskope wording is gone and the line reads “℗ 2026 Vitae Records”.

Hitskope Music Group is a Los Angeles distribution and label services company founded by Danny Barros. Neither party announced the arrangement, neither announced its end, and no term, territory or consideration for it appears in anything located. “Under exclusive license to” is a distribution and exploitation licence wording. It is not a transfer of copyright, and the claimant on both albums remained Vitae Records throughout.

Anomalies in Eddy Kenzo’s own catalogue

Two rights claims on one song. “Inabana” appears twice. The delivery dated 28 August 2019 reads ℗ 2021 Ziiki Media on Apple and carries the label “Ziiki Media” on Deezer. The delivery dated 30 September 2019 reads ℗ 2019 Big Talent Entertainment on both. Ziiki Media is the Johannesburg distributor and aggregator this desk has recorded elsewhere. No announcement connecting it to Big Talent Entertainment was located, and this record does not resolve which claim is current.

Three releases claim the artist personally, not the company. Sitya Loss (8 May 2014), Blessings (20 August 2023) and “Omutto” (15 December 2023) read ℗ Eddy Kenzo, with Deezer agreeing. MusicBrainz disagrees on Sitya Loss and files it under Big Talent Entertainment. The registries are not consistent on that release.

Sterling Stone Publishing appears, and the order flips. Three releases carry a joint credit with Sterling Stone Publishing: 1 May 2024 and 10 June 2025 read “Big Talent Entertainment & Sterling Stone Publishing”, and 21 August 2026 reads “Sterling Stone Publishing & Big Talent”. The credit states no structure at all. Whether Sterling Stone Publishing is a co-owner, a licensee, a publisher administering the composition, or something else is not established, and the word “Publishing” in a phonogram line is not itself evidence that a publishing right is meant.

The registries disagree on “Motivation”. Apple’s phonogram line for the 21 August 2026 single reads “Sterling Stone Publishing & Big Talent”. Deezer files the same release under the label “Chase Bell”. This is the one release checked on which the two services do not agree, and it is recorded as found.

Near-miss names. “Born in Africa (Remake)” (24 February 2023) reads “Big Time Entertainment Ltd”, one letter different from the label on the rest of the catalogue. “Mumpowe” (22 September 2022) reads “Big Talent Entertainmet”. Both are recorded as found and treated as delivery variants rather than as different entities, and neither is counted in the 89.

What is not established

The company behind the credit. No company registration for Big Talent Entertainment was located. A search of the United Kingdom register on 28 September 2026 for “Big Talent Entertainment” returned no match. The nearest name, BIG TALENT LTD, company number 14376231, has one officer, Rebecca Foster, British, date of birth October 1987, appointed 26 September 2022 at a London formation-agent address, and was dissolved on 18 March 2025. Nothing connects it to Eddy Kenzo and this desk does not connect them. The Uganda Registration Services Bureau publishes no open company search interface and no Ugandan filing was read. The “Ltd” in the credit line is therefore unmatched to any register.

Who distributes Big Talent Entertainment. No distributor is named on any Big Talent phonogram line checked. That is unusual in this catalogue’s experience of Ugandan labels: Swangz Avenue, for example, names Kelele Digital in its own credit lines. Which aggregator or distributor delivers Big Talent’s catalogue to the services could not be established.

Publishing. Nothing located identifies the publisher or administrator of Eddy Kenzo’s compositions, including his share of “Gimme Love”. The ASCAP repertory interface returned HTTP 403 to this server on 28 September 2026 and the BMI repertory interface redirected to a not-found page. No PRO reading was obtained and no publishing claim is made here.

Whether the offers were made. Warner Music Group, Sony Music, Universal Music Group and The Walt Disney Company have not commented on Kenzo’s account in anything located. A full-text search of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission filing archive for “Eddy Kenzo” and for “Vitae Records” returned only unrelated fuzzy matches in pharmaceutical and fund filings. No filing, contract or correspondence evidencing any offer was read.

What Kenzo actually holds. A phonogram line is a copyright claim in a sound recording as delivered to a service. It establishes who claims the recording, not what the contract behind it says. That Big Talent Entertainment is named on 89 releases does not by itself prove Eddy Kenzo owns those masters outright, that no third party holds a security interest in them, or that no licence sits underneath. It proves that no major label is claiming them, which is the narrower point this record makes.