Deal sheet
- Status
- Announced 30 June 2023, confirmed by Epic Records and corroborated the same day by a second trade publication, alongside the release of Spinall's Epic debut single 'Loju' featuring Wizkid. Still in effect as at 2 October 2026: Spinall's most recent album, EKO GROOVE (29 August 2025), carries the identical exclusive-license credit two years into the arrangement.
- Type
- Licensing
- Parties
- TheCAPMusic, Inc., Epic Records
- Amount
- Not disclosed Not disclosed
- Rights covered
- AN EXCLUSIVE LICENSE OF RECORDED MASTERS, NOT A SALE OR LABEL ACQUISITION. Every phonographic (recording copyright) credit checked on a Spinall release from 30 June 2023 onward reads, verbatim, '(P) [year] TheCAPMusic, Inc. under exclusive license to Epic Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment.' That wording was verified directly on two releases two years apart: the Loju single (30 June 2023) and the EKO GROOVE album (29 August 2025). TheCAPMusic is Spinall's own Lagos-founded label. Epic Records, a Sony Music Entertainment division, holds an exclusive license to distribute and market those masters; it is not named as owner on any release checked. By contrast, Spinall's sixth album Top Boy, released 17 February 2023, four months before the Epic deal, carries only '(P) 2023 TheCAPMusic', with no Epic or Sony credit at all, confirming TheCAPMusic held the masters outright before the Epic arrangement began. No publishing-rights transfer is disclosed in any source checked; Spinall's earlier, separately reported 2018 publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music UK is not addressed by any 2023 source and was not checked against current publishing registrations for this record.
- Territory
- Worldwide. No source checked, including the phonographic credit line, states a territorial limit; Epic Records is a US-based Sony Music Entertainment division distributing globally.
- Announced
- 2023-06-30
- Primary document
- Trade press
- Sources
- Billboard trade report, 30 June 2023, in which Epic Records confirmed the signing directly to Billboard; read in full by this desk on 2 October 2026 (HTTP 200) · OkayAfrica, 30 June 2023, trade coverage of the same announcement, read in full by this desk on 2 October 2026 (HTTP 200). Carries the same quotes from Epic president Ezekiel 'Zeke' Lewis ('one of the continent's best musical exports') and Spinall ('Sylvia and Zeke convinced me in the first meeting that I'm home') · Apple Music, Top Boy, released 17 February 2023, four months before the Epic deal, read directly 2 October 2026 (HTTP 200). Phonogram credit: (P) 2023 TheCAPMusic. No Epic or Sony credit of any kind · Apple Music, Loju (feat. Wizkid), released 30 June 2023, Spinall's Epic debut single, read directly 2 October 2026 (HTTP 200). Phonogram credit verified verbatim: (P) 2023 TheCAPMusic, Inc. under exclusive license to Epic Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment · Apple Music, EKO GROOVE, released 29 August 2025, read directly 2 October 2026 (HTTP 200). Phonogram credit verified verbatim, identical structure two years later: (P) 2025 TheCAPMusic, Inc. under exclusive license to Epic Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment · Apple Music, Nowo (feat. Wizkid), released 26 February 2018, read directly 2 October 2026 (HTTP 200). Phonogram credit: (P) 2018 TheCAPMusic. Predates the reported September 2018 Atlantic Records UK signing and carries no Atlantic or Warner credit · TheCAPMusic's own website, read directly 2 October 2026 (HTTP 200). States the label 'was founded in 2019' and names Spinall as its lead artist; gives no Epic or Sony mention anywhere on the page
Read this before citing: THIS IS A LICENSING DEAL, NOT A LABEL ACQUISITION OR MASTERS SALE. The announcement's headline language, "Spinall Signs With Epic Records," reads like a conventional label signing in which the label would end up owning the masters. The phonographic credit line on every release checked says otherwise, consistently, across more than two years: TheCAPMusic, Spinall's own Lagos label, remains the named rights holder, and Epic Records holds an exclusive license to distribute those masters, not ownership of them. Readers citing this record should say "signed an exclusive license deal with Epic Records," not "sold his masters to Epic" or "was acquired by Sony Music." Separately, Spinall's reported September 2018 international deal with Atlantic Records UK and a publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music UK were checked against three releases spanning that period (Nowo, February 2018, and others referenced in secondary sources); none carries an Atlantic or Warner Chappell credit, a pattern this desk has documented elsewhere (Eddy Kenzo, Khaligraph Jones) where a reported major-label deal never surfaces in the metadata. This record does not assert the Atlantic deal did not happen, only that it is not reflected in any phonographic credit this desk could check. CONSIDERATION: no fee, advance, royalty rate or revenue split was disclosed by either party in any source read for this record. TheCAPMusic's own legal registration could not be confirmed against a public company register; Nigeria's CAC publishes no public search tool, and the shift in the credit line's wording from "TheCAPMusic" (pre-2023) to "TheCAPMusic, Inc." (from the Epic deal onward) is noted but not explained by any source checked.
Spinall signed with Epic Records on 30 June 2023. The phonographic credit on every release checked since, across more than two years, names his own imprint, TheCAPMusic, as the rights holder, and Epic Records as exclusive licensee only. No source reviewed for this record discloses a sale of masters, an equity stake, or any acquisition of TheCAPMusic by Epic Records or its parent, Sony Music Entertainment.
