Deal sheet
- Status
- THE COLUMBIA CREDIT HAS NOT APPEARED ON A RELEASE SINCE 17 MARCH 2023. NEITHER PARTY HAS ANNOUNCED THAT ANY AGREEMENT ENDED.
THE RE-DELIVERY, DATED TO A NINETEEN-DAY WINDOW. The Elements EP exists as two distinct Apple Music products with the same stated release date of 29 September 2019 and the same track count of seven. The first, collection 1481660085, is archived by the Internet Archive as HTTP 200 on 27 April 2020, 29 April 2020, 2 August 2020 and 2 October 2020; the 27 April 2020 capture carries the phonogram notice "℗ 2019 Elaine Music". That collection ID now returns resultCount 0 from the iTunes Lookup API and is archived as HTTP 404 from 15 September 2024 onwards. The second, collection 1527326321, is first archived as HTTP 200 on 21 October 2020, and that first capture already carries the notice "℗ 2020 ELAINE MUSIC, PTY LTD., UNDER EXCLUSIVE LICENSE TO COLUMBIA RECORDS, A DIVISION OF SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT". The replacement therefore carried the Columbia licence from its first archived appearance rather than acquiring it in a later metadata edit. The original was still live on 2 October 2020 and the replacement was live by 21 October 2020, placing the substitution inside a nineteen-day window, roughly two months after the signing date given in trade press.
THE PHONOGRAM YEAR MOVED, THE RELEASE DATE DID NOT. The storefront still presents Elements as a 2019 release while its phonogram notice reads 2020. The re-delivered product also carries barcode 886448555438, per Deezer album 166528832, a prefix block consistent with Sony-administered delivery; her two independent 2019 singles carry 194156715151 and 194694795882.
A SELF-PUBLISHED RELEASE IN THE RIGHTS REGISTRY. MusicBrainz release cd2be0c9-5511-47cd-82b6-ce882c3385c3, Elements, dated 29 September 2019, country ZA, records no barcode and assigns the release to the special-purpose label "[no label]", which that registry defines as covering "white labels, self-published releases and other u201cno labelu201d releases". The rights registry therefore records the EP affirmatively as self-published and has not been updated to reflect the Columbia delivery.
- Type
- Licensing
- Parties
- Columbia Records, Sony Music Entertainment, Elaine Music (Pty) Ltd
- Amount
- Not disclosed
- Rights covered
- WHAT CHANGED HANDS: an exclusive licence over master recordings (phonogram rights), not an assignment. The artist's own company is named as owner throughout. No publishing right is named in any credit located, and nothing obtained establishes who publishes or administers Elaine's songwriting.
THE GRANT. From the Elements EP as re-delivered, and on every release to 17 March 2023, the Apple Music phonogram notice reads verbatim "℗ 2020 Elaine Music, Pty Ltd., under exclusive license to Columbia Records, a Division of Sony Music Entertainment" (and the same string with the year advanced for later releases). Elaine Music, Pty Ltd. is named as owner of the recording. Columbia Records, described as a division of Sony Music Entertainment, is named as exclusive licensee. Columbia is at no point named as owner of any recording in this catalogue.
THE RELEASES CARRYING THE STRUCTURE, ALL RE-VERIFIED LIVE ON 14 NOVEMBER 2026 (Apple collection ID, stated release date, phonogram year):
1527326321, Elements, stated release date 29 September 2019, phonogram year 2020, 7 tracks.
1564179088, Right Now, 10 May 2021, 2021.
1564178629, Right Now, 17 May 2021, 2021.
1571343496, Apple Music Home Session: Elaine, 18 June 2021, 2021.
1612138392, Shine, 18 March 2022, 2022.
1644194842, Deja Vu, 23 September 2022, 2022.
1647600718, Fading Away, 7 October 2022, 2022.
1675179426, Loving You, 17 March 2023, 2023.WHAT CAME BEFORE. Her first release, Slip Away (collection 1459176232, 8 April 2019), reads "℗ 2019 1230320 Records DK", a distributor-generated owner string of the form used by DistroKid. Her second, I Just Wanna Know (1477481109, 23 August 2019), reads "℗ 2019 Elaine", naming the artist with no company and no licensee. The Elements EP as originally delivered (Apple collection 1481660085) read "℗ 2019 Elaine Music": no company suffix, no Columbia, no licensee.
WHAT CAME AFTER. Stone Cold Heart (1769471355, 11 October 2024, 14 tracks), her debut album, reads "℗ 2024 Elaine Music" with no licensee named. If It's Real (6831645771, stated release date 19 November 2026) reads "℗ 2026 Elaine Music", also with no licensee. One More Dance (6792038852, 6 August 2026) reads "℗ 2026 Soft Sounds", naming a company that appears nowhere else in her catalogue.
- Territory
- NOT STATED IN THE SOURCE. No contract was obtained, and the phonogram notice states no territory. The credit was read through the iTunes Lookup API on five Apple storefronts (South Africa, United States, United Kingdom, Nigeria, France) and is byte-identical on all five, which is consistent with a worldwide grant but does not evidence one. The MusicBrainz release document for the Elements EP records country ZA. The licensor is rendered with a South African "Pty Ltd" suffix; the licensee is Columbia Records, described in the credit as a division of Sony Music Entertainment, and the executive quoted in the August 2020 trade report was the managing director of Sony Music Entertainment Africa.
- Announced
- 2020-08-19
- Primary document
- Rights registry
- Sources
- Apple Music South Africa storefront page for the Elements EP by Elaine, collection 1527326321, carrying the phonogram notice "℗ 2020 Elaine Music, Pty Ltd., under exclusive license to Columbia Records, a Division of Sony Music Entertainment" against a stated release date of 29 September 2019. Re-verified byte-identical through the iTunes Lookup API on the South African, United States, United Kingdom, Nigerian and French storefronts. Retrieved 14 November 2026. · Apple Music ZA, Stone Cold Heart, collection 1769471355, 11 October 2024, 14 tracks, phonogram notice "℗ 2024 Elaine Music" with no licensee named · Internet Archive capture of the superseded Elements product, Apple collection 1481660085, captured 27 April 2020, carrying "℗ 2019 Elaine Music" · Internet Archive capture of the replacement Elements product, Apple collection 1527326321, first capture 21 October 2020, already carrying the Columbia exclusive-licence notice · Internet Archive CDX index for the superseded collection: HTTP 200 on 27 April, 29 April, 2 August and 2 October 2020; HTTP 404 from 15 September 2024 · MusicBrainz release web service, Elements, dated 29 September 2019, country ZA, no barcode, label "[no label]" (special-purpose label for self-published releases) · Deezer album 166528832, Elements, release_date 2019-09-29, label field "Columbia", barcode 886448555438 · Deezer album 1031726232, One More Dance, release_date 2026-08-06, label field "Elaine Music", barcode 766214702252, contradicting Apple's "Soft Sounds" phonogram notice on the same recording · Deezer album 92964572, Slip Away, 8 April 2019, label field "1230320 Records DK", barcode 194156715151 · Trade press, 20 August 2020, by Ano Shumba: states Elaine "signed a recording deal with US record label Columbia Records on 19 August", quotes Sean Watson as managing director of Sony Music Entertainment Africa, describes Elements as her platinum-certified seven-track debut EP · Trade press, 31 August 2026, by Tseliso Monaheng: direct artist statements on leaving the label, including "We made some amazing music together, but I was like, you know what, you guys have a lot to learn, I have a lot to learn" and "I also wasn't willing to wait for them to figure me out" and "There are very few people, very few women in the industry with their own labels." · UK Companies House advanced search, read 14 November 2026: exactly one match, SC615537 · UK Companies House, ELAINE WILLIAMSON MUSIC SERVICES LTD, SC615537, Glasgow, incorporated 6 December 2018, SIC 90020, checked and ruled out as an unrelated name collision
Read this before citing: No contract was obtained. The term, territory, royalty rate, scope and expiry of the licence from Elaine Music, Pty Ltd. to Columbia Records are not established. No consideration figure exists in any source located: "Not disclosed" reflects the absence of any published figure, not a known-and-withheld amount. No official newsroom release or press statement from Columbia Records, Sony Music Entertainment or Sony Music Entertainment Africa announcing or ending the arrangement was located.
DEAL TYPE: THE DOCUMENTS DISAGREE ON THE LEGAL RELATIONSHIP. Trade press reporting dated 20 August 2020 states that Elaine "signed a recording deal with US record label Columbia Records on 19 August" and quotes Sean Watson, identified as managing director of Sony Music Entertainment Africa. A recording deal and an exclusive licence from an artist-owned company are different legal relationships. Every phonogram credit located describes the second: the artist's company owns, Columbia licenses. The announced date recorded here, 19 August 2020, is the signing date given in that trade report and is not independently confirmed by any document this desk read; the earliest date the structure is independently evidenced is 21 October 2020, the first archived capture of the re-delivered product.
ONE SINGLE, THREE DATES, TWO REGISTRIES. Right Now exists as two live Apple collections with identical phonogram notices and different stated release dates: 1564179088 dated 10 May 2021 and 1564178629 dated 17 May 2021. Deezer holds two albums for the same single with two different barcodes and two further dates: 886449233151 dated 10 May 2021 and 886449203529 dated 12 May 2021. These are left unreconciled.
A LIVE SAME-RECORDING OWNERSHIP CONTRADICTION. For the single One More Dance, released 6 August 2026, Apple's phonogram notice names "Soft Sounds" as owner while Deezer's label field for the same product, album 1031726232, barcode 766214702252, names "Elaine Music". Two registries name two different companies as the rights holder of the same recording. What Soft Sounds is, and whether it is connected to either the artist or her featured collaborators, could not be established: no company record was located in any reachable register, and the name appears on no other release in the catalogues checked.
DEEZER COLLAPSES THE LICENCE INTO A LABEL NAME. Deezer's label field for Elements (album 166528832) reads simply "Columbia", naming the licensee and omitting the owner entirely. Deezer carries the same single-field treatment across the Columbia period. Where a platform exposes only one label field, an exclusive licence is indistinguishable from an assignment. This is a known limitation of that field and not evidence that ownership moved.
NOT ESTABLISHED: WHETHER THE LICENSOR IS A REGISTERED COMPANY. South Africa's Companies and Intellectual Property Commission publishes no free public company search reachable from this desk; bizportal.gov.za did not respond and eservices.cipc.co.za is behind a login. A UK Companies House advanced search for company names including "Elaine Music", read 14 November 2026, returns exactly one company, ELAINE WILLIAMSON MUSIC SERVICES LTD (SC615537), a Glasgow company incorporated 6 December 2018 under SIC 90020, which is unrelated and ruled out as a name collision. The same query surface returns twelve companies for "Sony Music", so the nil result is a genuine absence and not a broken query. Elaine Music, Pty Ltd. therefore cannot be tied to an incorporation document in any jurisdiction.
NOT ESTABLISHED: PUBLISHING. Who publishes or administers Elaine's songwriting is not established. BMI's repertoire search returned a bot-protection interstitial rather than data; SAMRO's repertoire subdomain did not resolve; ASCAP's ACE endpoint and the MLC API are both known to be unreachable from this server. No publishing claim is made in this record either way.
NOT ESTABLISHED: ANY CURRENT MAJOR-LABEL RELATIONSHIP. Reporting dated 31 August 2026 records that a press event at which the artist spoke was hosted by Warner Music Africa. Hosting a press event is not a deal. No agreement between the artist, Elaine Music or Warner Music Group could be established, no Warner entity appears on any phonogram credit in this catalogue, and none is alleged or implied here.
ONE RELEASE IS NOT YET OUT. If It's Real (6831645771) carries a stated release date of 19 November 2026, five days after this record was compiled. Its credit is read from the pre-release storefront listing and may change on release.
RENDERING. The owner name itself is inconsistent across the catalogue: "Elaine Music" in 2019, "Elaine Music, Pty Ltd." through the Columbia period, and "Elaine Music" again from 2024. Nothing located explains the change, and no inference is drawn from it about a change of entity.
