Skepta’s Own Imprint Has Named Itself Owner of His Masters Since November 2023. It Has Filed Dormant-Company Accounts the Whole Time.

October 10, 2026 1 min read Updated November 5, 2026

Deal sheet

Status

Active and continuing as of the most recent release checked. Big Smoke Records Ltd, UK company 13281411, is Active on the Companies House register, read 10 October 2026, with Joseph Adenuga, who performs as Skepta, as its sole director and sole person with significant control since incorporation on 21 March 2021. Every Skepta solo release located from the "48 Hours" EP of 24 November 2023 through "The Fork and Knife" (2026) carries a phonogram credit naming the company in the owner position, under exclusive licence to Epic Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited. The company has filed accounts for a dormant company for every period reported, most recently to 31 March 2025, filed 15 September 2025.

Type

Licensing

Parties

Big Smoke Records Ltd, Epic Records, Boy Better Know Ltd

Amount

GBP Not disclosed. No consideration, advance or royalty rate appears in any document read for this record. Companies House does not publish licence or royalty terms, and Big Smoke Records Ltd has filed under the dormant-company regime for every year its name has carried the phonogram owner credit, so no licence income from Epic Records or Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited appears in any accounts filed by the company either.

The only figures the register carries for Big Smoke Records Ltd are the statement of capital at incorporation, one pound in a single ordinary share, unchanged since 21 March 2021, and zero charges registered across the company's life.

Rights covered

The phonogram credit on every Skepta solo release checked from 24 November 2023 reads "Big Smoke Records under exclusive licence to Epic Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited", which places Big Smoke Records Ltd in the copyright-owner position for the master recording and Epic Records as exclusive licensee. That is the recording side only. No publishing right, administrator or society registration for Skepta songwriting share was located for this record.

Two of the 123 releases read in the UK Apple catalogue invert that wording. "Back 2 Back" (22 August 2025) and the "Skepta .. Fred" EP (29 August 2025), both with Fred again.., read "Epic Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited under exclusive licence from Big Smoke Ltd/Fred Gibson / Warner Music UK Limited", placing Epic in the owner position and crediting a party named "Big Smoke Ltd", not the registered "Big Smoke Records Ltd". A Companies House name search read for this record found no separate company called Big Smoke Ltd. No source consulted explains either the inversion or the name variant. Two further 2025 releases, "Round 2" (17 July) and "JUNIOR\u2019S LAW" (29 July), carry a bare "Big Smoke" credit with no Epic or Sony reference at all.

The Afrobeats Wire angle is "Tony Montana" (1 March 2024), a Skepta single featuring Nigerian artist Portable, which carries the same Big Smoke/Epic credit as the rest of the catalogue. It is the only release in the 201-title Apple catalogue read for Portable own artist page that is not credited to his own imprint, Zeh Nation. No agreement naming Portable, Zeh Nation or any Nigerian party was found; the credit names only Big Smoke Records and Epic Records.

Territory

The corporate facts are United Kingdom: Big Smoke Records Ltd is on the register of England and Wales at 2nd Floor Northumberland House, 303-306 High Holborn, London WC1V 7JZ. Epic Records operates as a division of Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited, per the phonogram credit; Afrobeats Wire has not located a separate Companies House filing for an entity called Epic Records itself.

The rights territory of the licence is not established. No licence agreement has been published by either party. The phonogram credit was read in the United Kingdom Apple storefront and, for the Tony Montana / Portable release, the Nigerian storefront, and the credit text was identical in both, which shows the credit is delivered globally but does not establish the territorial scope of any grant between Big Smoke Records and Epic Records.

Announced

2023-11-24

Primary document

Regulatory filing

Sources

Read this before citing: WHAT IS ESTABLISHED, FROM THE REGISTER

1. Company 13281411, Big Smoke Records Ltd, was incorporated 21 March 2021 as a private company limited by shares, SIC 59200, sound recording and music publishing activities, registered office 2nd Floor Northumberland House, 303-306 High Holborn, London WC1V 7JZ.
2. Joseph Adenuga, date of birth September 1982, nationality British, country of residence England, was appointed sole director on incorporation and remains the only officer ever registered. No resignation is on file.
3. The persons-with-significant-control register carries one active entry and zero statements: Joseph Adenuga, notified 21 March 2021, with three natures of control, ownership of shares of 75 per cent or more, ownership of voting rights of 75 per cent or more, and the right to appoint or remove directors. His identity was verified by an authorised corporate service provider, Gelfand Rennert and Feldman UK Limited, with checks completed 9 January 2026.
4. The statement of capital at incorporation was one pound in a single ordinary share. No SH01 allotment filing or any other capital-change filing appears anywhere in the filing history, so that figure has never moved.
5. The charges register reads zero charges registered, zero outstanding, zero satisfied, zero part satisfied, for the company's entire life. No lender has ever taken security over anything the company holds.
6. The filing history records four consecutive annual accounts filings coded AA and each described by Companies House as "Accounts for a dormant company": made up to 31 March 2022 (filed 13 January 2023), to 31 March 2023 (filed 23 November 2023), to 31 March 2024 (filed 20 January 2025) and to 31 March 2025 (filed 15 September 2025). A company files as dormant under the Companies Act 2006 when it has not had any significant accounting transaction during the period covered, which Companies House defines narrowly: it excludes the filing fee paid to Companies House itself and the issue of subscriber shares at incorporation, but nothing else.
7. Five confirmation statements have been filed, most recently on 27 March 2026 confirming the position as at 21 March 2026. None records any change to the sole director, the sole PSC or the one-pound capital.

WHAT IS ESTABLISHED, FROM THE PHONOGRAM CREDITS

Read directly from the Apple catalogue endpoint on 10 October 2026, United Kingdom storefront, for artist 167376669 (123 releases), and Nigerian storefront for artist 1590206164 (Portable, 201 releases).

Credits naming Boy Better Know, Skepta's prior imprint, before the switch: Konnichiwa (2016), Ignorance Is Bliss (2019), All In EP (2021), No Stress (2020), and, after the switch, Family Tree (11 July 2025), which still carries the Boy Better Know credit alongside collaborators.

Credits naming Big Smoke Records in the owner position, "under exclusive licence to Epic Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited", beginning with "#skeptacore pt.3" (8 November 2023) and the "48 Hours" EP (24 November 2023), and continuing through Jangrova (19 January 2024), Gas Me Up (26 January 2024), Tony Montana (1 March 2024, featuring Portable), Miss Independent (28 June 2024), Why Lie? (11 October 2024), Alpha Omega (5 December 2024), Friendly Fire (11 July 2025), Sirens (From Ireland) (10 October 2025), Innocent Smile (18 September 2026) and The Fork and Knife album (6 November 2026, credited "2025 & 2026 Big Smoke Records").

Two releases with Fred again.. invert the credit and vary the company name: "Back 2 Back" (22 August 2025) and the "Skepta .. Fred" EP (29 August 2025) read "Epic Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited under exclusive licence from Big Smoke Ltd/Fred Gibson / Warner Music UK Limited." A Companies House name search for "Big Smoke" read for this record returns Big Smoke Records Ltd (13281411), Big Smoke Corporation Limited (14127572) and Big Smoke Publishing Ltd (14555340); no company called "Big Smoke Ltd" exists on the register. Two further 2025 releases, Round 2 (17 July) and JUNIOR'S LAW (29 July), carry a bare "Big Smoke" credit naming neither Epic nor Sony.

Portable's own catalogue, 201 releases, is credited "Zeh Nation" throughout with three exceptions: Tony Montana, which carries the Big Smoke/Epic credit described above; ZaZoo Zehh featuring Olamide (14 December 2021), credited "MyAirplay/YBNL"; and Nack Am (22 April 2026), credited "Chocolate City Music". No agreement naming Portable or Zeh Nation was found in any Companies House filing read for this record.

WHAT IS ESTABLISHED, FROM A DIRECT STATEMENT

Skepta posted on X on 25 November 2023: "Big Smoke Records 1st release #48Hours". That post dates the label's first commercial release to the day after the EP's 24 November 2023 release date shown in the Apple catalogue, and is treated here as a direct statement from the named party under this site's source hierarchy, distinct from and corroborating the phonogram credit.

A press announcement reported around 1 November 2022 described the launch of Big Smoke, a brand and cultural platform fronted by Skepta, and quoted him on brands profiting from culture without paying into it; coverage at the time said a recordings arm, Big Smoke Records, would follow "in the coming months." That announcement named Big Smoke Corporation, not Big Smoke Records Ltd, and the recordings label's first credited release followed a year later, not months later.

WHAT IS NOT ESTABLISHED

1. What Epic Records or Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited pays Big Smoke Records Ltd, or any other term of the licence. No document read for this record discloses consideration, an advance, a royalty rate or a term.
2. Why Big Smoke Records Ltd's own accounts show no significant accounting transaction in any period that overlaps with a credited, commercially released catalogue. A dormant filing is a legal characterisation of the company's bookkeeping, not proof that no money moved anywhere in connection with the recordings; see the next section.
3. What explains the inverted credit and the "Big Smoke Ltd" name variant on the two Fred again.. releases. No party has commented and no second company by that name exists on the UK register.
4. Whether Portable, or his company Zeh Nation, is a party to any written agreement with Big Smoke Records Ltd or Epic Records. Zeh Nation is a Nigerian entity; the Corporate Affairs Commission register that would confirm its ownership and status is not available to this desk by automated search, and no document naming Portable was found in any UK filing.
5. The relationship, if any, between Big Smoke Records Ltd and Big Smoke Corporation Limited beyond a shared "Big Smoke" name and, in Joseph Adenuga's case, shared control of Records and Publishing but not of Corporation, whose SIC codes (46900 non-specialised wholesale trade; 74909 other professional, scientific and technical activities) are not music codes and whose registered office, 57 Poland Street, differs from the High Holborn address shared by Records and Publishing.
6. What became of any publishing right in these recordings. No publisher, administrator or society registration for Skepta's songwriting share was located for this record.

ON DORMANCY, AND WHY A CREDITED CATALOGUE SITTING INSIDE IT IS THE FINDING, NOT A CONTRADICTION TO EXPLAIN AWAY

A dormant-company filing under the Companies Act 2006 means the company recorded no significant accounting transaction in that financial period. It is a statement about that company's own bookkeeping, not about whether recordings credited to it exist, sell, or stream. A licensor can hold the contractual right to receive royalties and simply not have invoiced or received anything bookable in a given filing year, or can route payment through a different entity altogether. Dormancy does not establish that the Epic/Sony arrangement generates no money; it establishes only that none passed through Big Smoke Records Ltd's own accounts in the four periods filed since the credit began.

What dormancy does rule out is any visible trace, in this company's own books, of a purchased catalogue, a capitalised advance, or a loan secured against the masters: there is no intangible assets line because there are no accounts with a balance sheet at all beyond the one-pound capital statement, and no charge has ever been registered. If a lender or distributor advanced money against these recordings, it left no mark on this register.

THE RELATED COMPANIES

Boy Better Know Ltd (06775928), Skepta's label before the switch, is controlled by his brother Jamie Adenuga (who performs as JME), not by Joseph Adenuga, and files micro-entity accounts, the category for a small company that has traded, for every year since 2020. The contrast is direct: the predecessor company reports trading; the current one reports dormancy, for the same years its name sits on a commercially released, Epic-distributed catalogue.

Big Smoke Publishing Ltd (14555340), incorporated 22 December 2022 at the same High Holborn address, has the same sole PSC and director, Joseph Adenuga, verified by the same corporate service provider on the same date. It is also dormant throughout its filed history and was issued a first Gazette notice (GAZ1) for compulsory strike-off on 19 November 2024, before that action was discontinued (DISS40) on 21 January 2025. No phonogram or publishing credit naming Big Smoke Publishing Ltd was found on any release read for this record.

Big Smoke Corporation Limited (14127572), the company named in the November 2022 launch coverage, carries non-music SIC codes and a separate registered office at 57 Poland Street. It is treated here as a different legal entity from the two High Holborn companies, not as their parent; no filing links the three beyond the shared "Big Smoke" branding and, for two of the three, shared control by Joseph Adenuga.

CONTRADICTIONS WITH THIS SITE'S OWN EARLIER RECORDS

None. No prior Afrobeats Wire post, deal record or company-directory entry was found naming Skepta, Big Smoke Records, Big Smoke Corporation, Big Smoke Publishing or Boy Better Know before this record, confirmed by a site-wide search across every post type on 10 October 2026.

SOURCES ATTEMPTED AND NOT USABLE

sonymusic.com and epicrecords.com were not queried for this specific record; the Epic Records company-directory entry already on this site (ID 2397) notes that sonymusic.com returns HTTP 403 to requests from this server. No Sony or Epic newsroom statement naming this specific licence was therefore sought or read. Nigeria's Corporate Affairs Commission register, which would confirm Zeh Nation's ownership and could show whether it is a party to anything with Big Smoke Records, has no public search interface reachable by this desk and was not queried for this record.

Every Skepta release since the “48 Hours” EP of 24 November 2023, including “Tony Montana” featuring Nigerian artist Portable, carries a phonogram credit naming Big Smoke Records Ltd as owner, under exclusive licence to Epic Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited. Big Smoke Records Ltd, UK company 13281411, was incorporated on 21 March 2021, twenty months before that credit first appeared, with Skepta, legally Joseph Adenuga, as its sole director and sole person with significant control throughout.

Companies House shows the company filing “accounts for a dormant company”, the filing category for a company that recorded no significant accounting transaction in the period, for every financial year it has reported: to 31 March 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. It has never registered a charge and its statement of capital has never moved from the one pound ordinary share recorded at incorporation.

That sits against Skepta\u2019s older label. Boy Better Know Ltd, controlled by his brother Jamie Adenuga rather than Joseph, carries the Boy Better Know credit on Skepta releases from 2007 to 2021 and files micro-entity accounts, the small-trading-company category, for the same years Big Smoke Records has filed dormant. A third Adenuga-controlled company, Big Smoke Publishing Ltd, is also dormant and was issued a first Gazette notice for compulsory strike-off in November 2024 before that action was discontinued two months later.

No source read for this record discloses what Epic Records or Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited pays for the licence, or what triggered the November 2023 start date beyond Skepta\u2019s own announcement of it. The full evidence, and what it does not establish, is set out below.

Deal sheet

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