Oceanbeat (Pty) Ltd

Oceanbeat (Pty) Ltd is a South African recorded-music rights company that holds and licenses the Johnny Clegg catalogue. It is named as the phonographic copyright owner on Clegg’s final studio album, King of Time, released on 27 October 2017, and on the 2026 project Scatterlings (Johnny Clegg Reimagined), a 14-track album issued on 31 July 2026 together with a run of singles.

The company is independent and not owned by a major. It holds the phonogram in its own name and licenses it outward: the credit on King of Time reads “under exclusive license to Universal Music (Pty) Ltd (ZA)”, which is a licence granted by Oceanbeat rather than ownership of Oceanbeat by Universal. The shareholding itself is not on the public record, as no CIPC filing for the company was obtained. Music Business Worldwide reported in November 2021 that the Clegg family ultimately own the rights to the Clegg catalogue, in the context of a separate publishing administration deal with Sheer Publishing.

Oceanbeat matters in the South African market as the vehicle through which one of the country’s most widely known catalogues is being worked rather than left static. The Scatterlings project, curated by Jesse Clegg and Msaki, put Clegg songs in the hands of a later generation of South African artists, with Oceanbeat-owned singles crediting Jesse Clegg, Sminofu, Beatenberg, Sipho Mchunu, Jabulile Majola, Thatohatsi, Skye Wanda and the Zolani Youth Choir. The company keeps no website and reaches listeners entirely through its licensees and the streaming platforms. A separate company, Scatterlings Pty Ltd, holds the phonogram on other Clegg releases and should not be confused with it.