Deal sheet
- Status
- Unsettled. The rights position is evidenced by phonogram credit lines supplied by the rights holders to the platforms and cross-checked across two of them, but no contract, corporate filing, registry entry or press release from any named party was obtained. No party has publicly announced the arrangement. Six documented contradictions remain open, including the artist's own account of the counterparty names.
- Type
- Distribution, Licensing
- Parties
- Black Boy Joy, Encore Recordings, Lynx Entertainment, EMPIRE, Waka Music Limited
- Amount
- Not disclosed
- Rights covered
- Master recording rights (phonogram). Black Boy Joy is named as the phonogram rights holder on KiDi's 2026 releases and therefore owns those masters as a matter of the credit line. Encore Recordings holds an exclusive worldwide licence to exploit them, which is a licence and not an assignment: on this wording Encore does not own the masters. Deezer returns Encore Recordings as the label of record for the 2026 album, consistent with Encore operating as the commercial label under that licence. Publishing rights are not covered by this record and could not be established. Separately, ten KiDi releases originally issued under a Lynx Entertainment phonogram credit between 2017 and 2020 now carry a Waka Music Limited credit, which indicates a transfer or administration of those earlier masters by a party the sources do not identify.
- Territory
- Worldwide. The credit wording reads "under exclusive global license", and no territory carve-out is stated in any source checked.
- Announced
- 2026-02-26
- Primary document
- Rights registry
- Sources
- Apple catalogue metadata for artist 1158209017 (KiDi), read directly through the iTunes Lookup API on 22 September 2026. Returns 86 collections, 36 of them with KiDi as primary credited artist. The phonogram credit "℗ 2026 Black Boy Joy, under exclusive global license to Encore Recordings" appears on all three 2026 releases: "Babylon" (1876913405, 26 February 2026), "Signature" (1895301290, 30 April 2026) and the 15-track album "Where Do We Go From Here" (6801367460, 27 August 2026). The same dataset shows 20 releases carrying a Lynx Entertainment credit between April 2017 and July 2025, and 10 carrying a Waka Music Limited credit with phonogram years 2017 to 2020. · Apple release page, "Babylon", 26 February 2026, first release carrying the Black Boy Joy and Encore Recordings credit. HTTP 200 on check. · Apple release page, "Signature", 30 April 2026. HTTP 200 on check. · Apple release page, 15-track album, 27 August 2026. HTTP 200 on check. · Deezer album endpoint for the 2026 album. Independent cross-check: label "Encore Recordings", UPC 885288293890, release date 2026-08-27, 15 tracks. · Deezer endpoint for "Sugar" (13 tracks, 31 May 2019), returns label "Waka Music Limited", UPC 602577932779, contradicting MusicBrainz. · Deezer endpoint for the "Blue" EP, returns label "Waka Music Limited", UPC 602507153717. · MusicBrainz barcode query for the 2026 album. Returns zero results: no registry cross-check available. · Trade report, June 2024, Sony Music Publishing deal with Lynx Entertainment, KiDi named on the Lynx roster at that date. Whether it covers his compositions is not stated. · Statement from Lynx Entertainment carried by Ghanaian trade press, 3 November 2022: "Since 2021, Lynx Entertainment has been working closely with EMPIRE in maximizing opportunities and value for its artistes." Matches the appearance of EMPIRE on the KiDi credit line from 2021. · Trade report, 20 August 2025, naming 14 Ghanaian artists connected to Waka Music Limited. Names neither KiDi nor Lynx Entertainment. · Trade report, 6 May 2026, KiDi's own account of leaving Lynx Entertainment: "no, I am no longer with Lynx", and that his exit took shape around the release of "Gymnastic". · Trade report, 29 August 2026. KiDi says the split was not a money issue, that he has launched a label he calls BB Joy after his mother, and that he is working alongside Anchor Records. Neither name matches the phonogram credit line. · UK Companies House public search. Negative check: no company registered under this name.
Read this before citing: No contract, regulatory filing, rights-registry entry or press release from Black Boy Joy, Encore Recordings, Lynx Entertainment, EMPIRE or Waka Music Limited was obtained. The evidence is phonogram credit metadata plus dated Ghanaian trade reporting.
Consideration is not disclosed. No advance, royalty rate, term length, option structure or reversion date is stated anywhere in the sources checked, and none should be inferred from this record.
The ownership and jurisdiction of Black Boy Joy could not be established. UK Companies House public search returns no company under that name; Ghana operates no public company search tool. KiDi has referred on Ghanaian broadcast to a label he calls "BB Joy", named for his mother, and in the same broadcast to working alongside "Anchor Records". Neither name is reconciled with the credit line, and no company called Anchor Records was located. The desk has not assumed KiDi owns Black Boy Joy.
How the Lynx relationship ended could not be established. KiDi has placed his departure at the single "Gymnastic" (9 July 2025), but that release itself carries a Lynx Entertainment and EMPIRE credit. Whether the deal expired, was terminated or was bought out is unknown.
The Waka Music Limited recredit is unexplained. The phonogram owner of record for the affected 2017 to 2020 releases was Lynx Entertainment, not KiDi, so Waka's counterparty may have been the label rather than the artist. An August 2025 Ghanaian report naming 14 artists connected to Waka names neither KiDi nor Lynx. Six titles exist in Apple's catalogue as two simultaneously live copies, one Lynx-credited and one Waka-credited, which is consistent with a partial catalogue migration that has not been completed or reconciled.
Registries disagree. Apple and Deezer place the album "Sugar" with Waka Music Limited; MusicBrainz places it with Lynx Ghana Limited. MusicBrainz returns no release at all under the 2026 album's barcode 885288293890.
Publishing is entirely unresolved. Sony Music Publishing was reported in June 2024 to have completed a deal with Lynx Entertainment while KiDi was on the Lynx roster, but no source states whether it covered his compositions or survived his exit. ASCAP's repertory API returned 403, BMI's repertoire search returned a bot challenge and GHAMRO's site timed out, so no writer or publisher registration was read directly.
encorerecordings.com returns "This site is private" and was not usable as a source.
Every KiDi release from 26 February 2026 onward carries the phonogram credit “℗ 2026 Black Boy Joy, under exclusive global license to Encore Recordings”. Every KiDi release from April 2017 to July 2025 carried a Lynx Entertainment credit. Separately, ten of those Lynx-era releases now sit in Apple’s catalogue under a Waka Music Limited credit instead, alongside Lynx-credited copies of six of the same titles.
What the credit line says
Read directly in Apple’s own catalogue metadata through the iTunes Lookup API, KiDi’s three 2026 releases all carry the same phonogram line:
- “Babylon” (single, 26 February 2026, collection 1876913405)
- “Signature” (single, 30 April 2026, collection 1895301290)
- “Where Do We Go From Here” (album, 15 tracks, 27 August 2026, collection 6801367460)
The wording matters. “Black Boy Joy, under exclusive global license to Encore Recordings” names Black Boy Joy as the owner of the sound recording copyright and Encore Recordings as an exclusive licensee for the world. It is not an assignment. On this wording Encore does not own these masters, it holds an exclusive worldwide licence to exploit them. Deezer’s album endpoint for the 2026 album returns label “Encore Recordings” and UPC 885288293890, which is consistent with Encore acting as the commercial label of record under that licence.
No term length, no advance, no royalty split and no reversion date is stated in any source the desk checked. The consideration is not disclosed.
The Lynx chain, read in order
Across 36 releases where KiDi is the primary credited artist, the phonogram line moves in four distinct phases:
- 2016: “℗ 2016 KiDi” on “Awurama”, his own credit, one release.
- April 2017 to January 2019: “℗ Lynx Entertainment”, seven releases.
- February 2021 to July 2024: “℗ Lynx Entertainment / MadeInENY / EMPIRE”, ten releases.
- October 2024 to July 2025: “℗ Lynx Entertainment / EMPIRE”, three releases, with MadeInENY dropping off the line.
The final Lynx-credited release is the single “Gymnastic” (9 July 2025). Twenty of the 36 primary-artist releases carry a Lynx credit in some form. The addition of EMPIRE from 2021 is consistent with EMPIRE taking on distribution of the Lynx catalogue. In a statement carried by Ghanaian trade press in November 2022, Lynx Entertainment said it had “been working closely with EMPIRE in maximizing opportunities and value for its artistes” since 2021. The desk could not obtain the contract or any document stating the terms of that arrangement.
Ten Lynx-era releases now read Waka Music Limited
Ten of the 36 primary-artist releases carry “℗ Waka Music Limited”, with release dates running from April 2017 to August 2020 and phonogram years to match. Every one of them falls inside KiDi’s Lynx years. Six of the ten exist in Apple’s catalogue as two simultaneously live copies carrying identical release dates, one Lynx-credited and one Waka-credited: “Say You Love Me”, “Odo”, “Odo (Remix)”, “Adiepena”, “Thunder” and “Mr Badman” featuring Kwesi Arthur. Across all 86 collections in which KiDi appears, including features, 14 carry a Waka credit.
The Waka set also explains a gap in the Lynx sequence. There is no Lynx-credited KiDi release at all between “Mr Badman” (30 January 2019) and “Spiritual” (5 February 2021), yet he was signed to Lynx throughout that period and released steadily. The four releases from that window, “Sugar”, “Enjoyment”, the “Blue” EP and “Say Cheese (Remix)”, are present in the catalogue only in Waka-credited form. For those releases the Lynx credit has not been duplicated, it has been replaced.
Deezer corroborates the recredit, returning label “Waka Music Limited” for “Sugar” (UPC 602577932779) and for “Blue” (UPC 602507153717). MusicBrainz, by contrast, still lists “Sugar” under the label “Lynx Ghana Limited”. Deezer continues to return “Lynx Entertainment / MadeInENY / EMPIRE” for “The Golden Boy” and “4Play”, so the recredit is selective rather than catalogue-wide.
Waka Music Limited has been described in Ghanaian trade reporting as paying upfront sums for rights in already-released recordings from Ghanaian artists. An August 2025 report naming 14 artists connected to the company names neither KiDi nor Lynx Entertainment. Who dealt with Waka here is therefore unresolved: the phonogram owner of record during 2017 to 2020 was Lynx, not KiDi, so the counterparty may have been the label rather than the artist. No source checked establishes which.
Contradictions on the record
- The credit line reads “Black Boy Joy”. KiDi has referred on Ghanaian broadcast to a label of his own he calls “BB Joy”, named for his mother. No source reconciles the two names, and the desk has not treated them as the same entity.
- The credit line names Encore Recordings. In the same broadcast KiDi described working alongside “Anchor Records”. No company of that name was located and the two statements are not reconciled.
- KiDi has placed his departure from Lynx at “Gymnastic”, yet that release itself carries a Lynx Entertainment and EMPIRE credit.
- The two live copies of “Thunder” share a release date of 30 August 2018 but state different phonogram years, 2019 on the Lynx copy and 2018 on the Waka copy.
- Apple and Deezer place “Sugar” with Waka Music Limited; MusicBrainz places it with Lynx Ghana Limited.
- A Ghanaian music download site described “Signature” in April 2026 as arising from a Lynx Entertainment and Encore Recordings partnership. No other source supports this, the credit line does not name Lynx, and the same page misdates the single.
What could not be established
The publishing side is unresolved. Sony Music Publishing was reported in June 2024 to have completed a deal with Lynx Entertainment, with KiDi named on the Lynx roster at the time. No source states whether that agreement covered KiDi’s compositions or whether it survived his departure. ASCAP’s repertory API returned 403, BMI’s repertoire search returned a bot challenge, and GHAMRO’s site timed out, so no writer or publisher registration was read directly.
Also unestablished: the ownership and jurisdiction of Black Boy Joy; the terms, term length and consideration of the Encore licence; whether the Lynx relationship ended by expiry, termination or buyout; and whether Lynx or KiDi was Waka Music Limited’s counterparty.
Limits of this record. The transaction here is evidenced by phonogram credit lines in platform catalogue metadata, read directly through Apple’s Lookup API and cross-checked against Deezer and MusicBrainz, plus dated Ghanaian trade reporting. No contract, filing, registry entry or press release from any named party was obtained. A credit line is strong evidence of a rights position and it is what the rights holders themselves supply to the platforms, but it is not the agreement. Corrections to desk@afrobeatswire.com.
