Qanawat Music
MENA music distributor, acquired by Warner Music Group in 2022 and now operating as ADA x Qanawat Music; relevant here for its Cairo and Casablanca offices.
- Based in
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Founded
- Qanawat FZ founded 2001 in Dubai; music distribution grew into a core business line over the following two decades
- Founder
- Adnan Al-Obthani
Qanawat Music was a Dubai-based music distributor founded by Adnan Al-Obthani as a division of Qanawat FZ LLC, a regional digital mobile solutions provider established in 2001. Over roughly two decades it built a distribution network across the Middle East and North Africa, with offices in Dubai, Cairo and Casablanca and services reaching artists in more than 20 countries, including Riyadh, Tunisia and Algeria.
Warner Music Group agreed to acquire the company in March 2022, confirming the deal that May. Qanawat initially continued operating under its own name inside WMG before being folded, in July 2026, into ADA, Warner’s independent distribution and label-services brand, as “ADA x Qanawat Music” alongside the parallel rebrand of its African distributor Africori. Warner subsequently named Ahmed Nureni Managing Director of Warner Music MENA, with Ahmad Alghawanmeh, hired from Sony Music, as General Manager.
Its relevance to an African music directory sits specifically in its Cairo and Casablanca offices rather than in its Dubai headquarters: those were named, standing operations in Egypt and Morocco through which the company served North African markets, both before and after the Warner acquisition.