Sony/ATV Signed D-Black to a Global Publishing Deal in 2020. The Label Deal He Announced Alongside It Never Surfaced.

In June 2020, Sony/ATV Music Publishing signed Ghanaian rapper D-Black (Desmond Kwesi Blackmore) to a global publishing agreement covering his own songwriting catalogue. The signing was confirmed through two independent Ghanaian entertainment outlets carrying on-record quotes from the same Sony/ATV executives, not through a release this record could locate on Sony’s own site. Neither side disclosed a fee. D-Black said at the time the personal deal was “just the first step” and that he was “in the process of finalizing a label deal” covering his own label, Black Avenue Muzik, and its full roster of artists and producers. No source found in the six years since confirms that wider label agreement was ever completed.

What was actually signed

Two Ghanaian entertainment outlets, Ameyaw Debrah and DailyGuide Network, published matching accounts of the announcement within days of each other in early June 2020, both naming Sony/ATV Music Publishing as the signing party and both carrying the same two executive quotes. “D-Black’s skills and talents will be a great addition to the Sony/ATV family. We are excited to represent and partner with him in the next phase of his career,” said Rowlin Naicker, quoted in both pieces as MD of Sony/ATV Music Publishing. Naicker’s actual title, confirmed independently through his own public profile, is Managing Director of Sony/ATV Music Publishing South Africa, the regional office through which the company then ran its African publishing business; neither article specified the region, describing the deal only as “global.” Munya Chanetsa, named in both accounts as the company’s newly appointed A&R Manager for Africa, added: “I sincerely hope this signing showcases to Ghana our commitment to prioritize and work with Ghanaian songwriters and producers.”

D-Black’s own statement, also quoted identically in both pieces, drew a clear line between what had just been signed and what he hoped would follow. “I want to put Ghanaian music on the forefront of the Afrobeats global wave and this is just the first step with Sony/ATV,” he said. “This isn’t just for me, I’m in the process of finalizing a label deal with them for all my artists, producers and partners.” That second deal, covering Black Avenue Muzik’s roster rather than D-Black alone, is described here as an intention stated by one party at the time of the announcement. Nothing checked for this record shows it was ever signed.

Publisher, not distributor

Both articles headline the agreement a “publishing and distribution deal,” and neither defines what “distribution” means inside it. Sony/ATV Music Publishing, renamed Sony Music Publishing in 2021, is a publishing administrator: it represents songwriters, collects royalties and pursues synchronization licensing on their compositions. It is not a record label and does not distribute master recordings, a function that sits with an entirely different part of Sony’s business, Sony Music Entertainment, or with independent distributors. No source reviewed for this record specifies who distributes D-Black’s masters, and none states that Sony/ATV took on that role. Absent a source saying otherwise, this record treats the 2020 agreement as a publishing representation deal for D-Black’s compositions, worldwide, and makes no claim about his master recordings.

The distinction is not academic. The next time Sony’s music business struck a distribution partnership involving Ghana, in September 2024, it went through a different division and a different Ghanaian partner: Sony Music Entertainment, the recorded-music side, partnered with Crux Global, a six-year-old Ghanaian company, on a tiered structure running from independent distribution through The Orchard up to full production and marketing services. Neither the announcement of that deal nor any coverage of it reviewed for this record mentions Black Avenue Muzik or D-Black.

The label deal that did not surface

At the time of the 2020 signing, Black Avenue Muzik’s roster included Joey B, Freda Rhymz, DJ Breezy and others recorded in this site’s own company directory. If Sony/ATV had gone on to sign the label, or any of its other artists, on the back of the “first step” D-Black described, it would be the kind of deal a major publisher typically announces. No such announcement was found. Coverage of Black Avenue Muzik since 2020, including reporting on the label’s 15th anniversary in September 2024 and on producer Paul Noun’s signing in February 2025, discusses the label’s own roster moves without mentioning a publishing partner of any kind.

What could not be established

This record could not establish whether the 2020 agreement between D-Black and Sony/ATV Music Publishing remains active. Publishing deals are rarely announced when they lapse or expire, and no source published after June 2020 addresses the relationship’s status one way or the other. Ghana’s collecting society, the Ghana Music Rights Organisation (GHAMRO), has no public online repertory search that could independently confirm which publisher currently administers D-Black’s catalogue, so that route was checked and found unavailable rather than simply not tried. Whether any artist, producer or partner from Black Avenue Muzik’s roster was ever signed to Sony/ATV Music Publishing under the label deal D-Black described in 2020 also could not be established from any source reviewed.

What this means for artists

A deal announcement that names an individual artist and gestures at a future label deal is describing two different contracts, one signed and one not yet signed, and an artist reading coverage of their own signing should say so explicitly rather than let the two blur together in a single press quote. If you are the founder of a label as well as an artist on it, as D-Black is, get separate written confirmation of which entity, and which specific artists, a publisher or distributor is actually contracting with. A quote about intentions for the label is not evidence the label itself has a deal, no matter how it reads in a headline.

The same applies to the word “distribution” sitting next to “publishing” in an announcement. A publisher administers your songwriting royalties and chases sync placements; a distributor gets your recordings onto DSPs. These are different products, usually from different divisions of the same company where a major is involved, and a press release that uses both words in one sentence has not necessarily signed you to both services. Ask directly which specific rights and which specific company entity are named in your actual contract, not in the announcement written about it.

Limits of this record. This deal’s terms and executive quotes are drawn from two independently published Ghanaian trade accounts, both fetched and read directly for this piece; Sony/ATV Music Publishing’s original 2020 announcement could not be located on the company’s own site or newsroom, so no detail beyond what both trade accounts corroborate is stated here. No consideration, fee or contract length was disclosed by either party in any source reviewed. Rowlin Naicker’s title is stated here as Managing Director of Sony/ATV Music Publishing South Africa, based on his own independently verified public profile, rather than as reported in the two trade accounts, which described him only as MD of Sony/ATV Music Publishing without specifying a region. Whether the 2020 agreement remains active as of 2026, and whether any wider Black Avenue Muzik label deal was ever signed, could not be established from any source checked and are not asserted here. This record makes no claim about who distributes D-Black’s master recordings.