Empire Mates Entertainment
Lagos record label co-founded by Banky W and Tunde Demuren, best known as Wizkid's first label home; pivoted to a talent management and creative agency around 2017-2018.
- Based in
- Nigeria
- Founded
- 2008
- Founders
- Banky W (Olubankole Wellington), Tunde Demuren
Empire Mates Entertainment (EME) was a Lagos-based record label founded in New York by Banky W (Olubankole Wellington) and Tunde Demuren, formally operating as a label from around 2008. It became one of the most visible labels of Nigeria’s late-2000s pop boom, built around Banky W as flagship artist and a roster that included Wizkid, Skales, Shaydee, Niyola and in-house DJ, DJ Xclusive.
EME’s commercial peak tracked Wizkid’s rise; both he and Skales left the label in 2012 and 2014 respectively, after which EME’s output as a record label slowed. Around 2017-2018, Nigerian trade press reported that Banky W had wound down EME’s recording-artist business and repositioned the company as a talent management and creative/brand marketing agency, a shift Banky W himself described publicly as the company’s next chapter rather than a closure.
EME remains independent, with no outside corporate owner identified in available reporting. No verified current website or social presence could be confirmed; its historical domain, emeonline.com, currently shows only a placeholder page rather than live content.
