Deal sheet
- Status
- Lapsed or unrenewed, with no announcement by any party. The existence and character of both licences is confirmed by phonogram credits read directly from Apple's catalogue metadata across two storefronts, and the international leg is independently corroborated by Deezer's label field and by MusicBrainz barcodes. The Ultra relationship's start is fixed by dated trade reporting of 25 April 2016. What is not confirmed: the commencement date of the Universal arrangement, the term, territory wording, consideration or royalty rate of either licence, and the date and mechanism by which each ended. Neither Soulistic Music, Universal Music (Pty) Ltd (ZA), Ultra Records, LLC nor Sony Music Entertainment has published a statement describing the end of either relationship.
- Type
- Licensing
- Parties
- Soulistic Music, Ultra Records, LLC, Universal Music (Pty) Ltd (ZA), Sony Music Entertainment
- Amount
- Not disclosed Not disclosed
- Rights covered
- Exclusive licence of master recordings, not a transfer of ownership, on both legs. Apple's phonographic credit for Pieces of Me on the South African storefront (collection 1442987534, 4 September 2015) reads "℗ 2015 Soulistic Music, under exclusive license to Universal Music (Pty) Ltd (ZA)". Apple's credit for the same album on the United States storefront (collection 1730800792, 26 August 2016) reads "℗ 2016 Soulistic Music under exclusive license to Ultra Records, LLC". In both formulations Soulistic Music is named as the phonogram owner and the major-label entity is named as licensee. From Drive (24 August 2018) the United States credit line stops naming Soulistic Music and reads a bare "℗ Ultra Records, LLC", while the South African credit continues to name Soulistic Music as owner through Subconsciously. This record treats that as a change in credit wording only: no source states that ownership of the masters moved to Ultra Records, LLC or to any Universal entity at any point. Publishing rights are outside this record entirely and were not established; no PRO repertory search was completed, because the ASCAP repertory endpoint returned HTTP 403 to this desk.
- Territory
- Split, and the split is the finding. Universal Music (Pty) Ltd (ZA), also credited as Universal Music South Africa, appears on the South African storefront listings. Ultra Records, LLC appears on the United States and international listings, and the 25 April 2016 trade announcement describes the Ultra edition of Pieces of Me as distributed globally where the original had been "only available in South Africa". The exact contractual territory grant on either agreement has not been published and is not established here: whether the Universal licence was South Africa only, Southern Africa, or Africa-wide, and whether the Ultra licence was worldwide including or excluding South Africa, cannot be read off a credit line.
- Announced
- 2016-04-25
- Primary document
- Rights registry
- Sources
- Apple's own catalogue metadata, read directly via the iTunes Lookup API. Collection 1730800792 is the United States edition of Pieces Of Me, released 26 August 2016, and its phonographic credit reads "℗ 2016 Soulistic Music under exclusive license to Ultra Records, LLC". This is the single release in the catalogue that names the owner and the international licensee in the same line. Its counterpart, collection 1442987534 on the South African storefront, names the owner and a different licensee: "℗ 2015 Soulistic Music, under exclusive license to Universal Music (Pty) Ltd (ZA)". · Apple catalogue metadata, Pieces of Me, South African storefront, 4 September 2015, credit "℗ 2015 Soulistic Music, under exclusive license to Universal Music (Pty) Ltd (ZA)" · Apple catalogue metadata, full album list for Black Coffee (artist ID 306140760), South African storefront, showing the Soulistic Music / Universal credit from a ℗ 2002 album through Subconsciously · Apple catalogue metadata, full album list for the same artist ID, United States storefront, showing the parallel Ultra Records, LLC credit line and the point at which Soulistic Music drops out of it · Apple catalogue metadata, Your Eyes, 26 September 2016, second release naming "Soulistic Music under exclusive license to Ultra Records, LLC" · Apple catalogue metadata, Drive, United States edition, 24 August 2018, first release carrying a bare "℗ 2018 Ultra Records, LLC" with no owner named · Apple catalogue metadata, Drive, South African edition, same 24 August 2018 release date, still crediting "Soulistic Music, under exclusive license to Universal Music (Pty) Ltd (ZA)" · Apple catalogue metadata, Subconsciously, United States edition, crediting "℗ 2020 Ultra Records, LLC" · Apple catalogue metadata, Subconsciously, South African edition, crediting "℗ 2020 Soulistic Music, under exclusive license to Universal Music South Africa (Pty) Ltd" · Deezer album API, Subconsciously, label "Ultra Records, LLC", UPC 617465024153, release date 2021-02-05, independent DSP corroboration of the international leg · MusicBrainz release entry for Subconsciously, barcode 617465024153, label Ultra Records · MusicBrainz release entry for Drive, barcode 617465980053, labels Ultra Records and Ultra Records, LLC · MusicBrainz label registry entry for Soulistic Music, country ZA, type Original Production, life-span begin 2005 · Trade report, 25 April 2016, announcing the Ultra Music signing, quoting David Waxman, and describing the global release of an album previously available only in South Africa on Soulistic Music · Trade report, 20 January 2022, that Sony Music owns 100 per cent of Ultra Records, that Patrick Moxey exited, that Sony's initial stake dated from January 2013, and that no price was disclosed · Companies House UK, persons with significant control for SONDELA RECORDINGS LTD, naming Louie John Dunmore, establishing that the company is not Black Coffee's · Companies House UK search for "Soulistic", returning no music company
Read this before citing: This record establishes what three registries state about one artist's catalogue, and no more than that. It does not reproduce either contract, neither of which has been published.
No consideration is stated anywhere. No advance, royalty rate, term, option structure or minimum commitment for either the Universal arrangement or the Ultra agreement appears in any source checked, and this record does not state one. No purchase price was disclosed for either tranche of Sony's acquisition of Ultra Records either.
The start date of the Universal relationship is not established. The earliest Apple credit naming it carries a ℗ 2002 year on a self-titled album dated 1 October 2002, but MusicBrainz's label registry gives Soulistic Music a start date of 2005, and trade accounts describe Black Coffee founding the label for a 2005 debut album. Whether the 2002 date reflects genuinely earlier recordings, a later re-registration of older material, or platform metadata error could not be resolved. This record therefore does not assert a start year for the Universal licence.
"Universal Music South Africa" and "Universal Music (Pty) Ltd (ZA)" appear as two renderings across the credit line and are treated here as the same entity, on the basis that this site's existing company record for Universal Music (Pty) Ltd lists "Universal Music South Africa" among its aliases. No registry document was obtained to confirm that directly. South Africa's Companies and Intellectual Property Commission has no public API or free public search available to this desk, so no company-registry check of Soulistic Music, or of the "Soulistic Music PTY Limited" rendering that appears on a 2013 Apple credit, was possible.
A UK company named SONDELA RECORDINGS LTD (company number 14081058, incorporated 3 May 2022, registered at 55 Kentish Town Road, London NW1 8NX) was checked as a possible post-2021 vehicle, because the word Sondela appears in DJ-mix titles in Black Coffee's Apple catalogue. It is not his. Companies House records a single director and single person with significant control, Louie John Dunmore, British, born April 1999, holding 75 per cent or more of shares and voting rights, and trade coverage identifies Sondela Recordings as Dunmore's own label. This record states explicitly that no connection between that company and Black Coffee was established, and no post-2021 corporate vehicle for his masters was identified at all.
Companies House UK holds no music company under the name Soulistic. SEC EDGAR full-text search returned zero hits for "Soulistic". Neither absence is evidence of anything beyond the fact that these are not UK-registered or SEC-registered businesses, which is expected for a South African label.
Ultra Records, LLC must not be confused with Ultra International Music Publishing, the separately owned publishing company founded by the same person, which this site covers in its own record and which was renamed Payday Music Publishing in April 2025 after losing a trademark case to Sony. Patrick Moxey retained the publishing company when he sold Ultra Records to Sony. They are different legal entities with different owners, and nothing in this record concerns the publishing company or Black Coffee's publishing.
Deezer and MusicBrainz name Ultra Records and do not name Universal or Soulistic Music as label on the international releases. That is treated here as consistent with a territory split rather than as a contradiction of Apple's South African credit, because both services index the international product. A reader should note that this is an interpretation, and the alternative reading, that the South African credit is stale metadata Apple never updated, cannot be excluded from registry data alone.
This desk found no statement from Black Coffee, Soulistic Music, Universal Music (Pty) Ltd (ZA), Ultra Records, LLC or Sony Music Entertainment announcing the commencement, renewal, expiry or termination of either licence.
Black Coffee’s masters are owned by his own company, Soulistic Music. Two different major-label entities held exclusive licences to those masters at the same time, split by territory, and Apple’s own catalogue metadata proves it by running two separate product listings for the same album with two different licensees named on them.
The resolving document
The album Pieces of Me exists twice in Apple’s catalogue. On the South African storefront it is collection 1442987534, dated 4 September 2015, and its phonographic credit reads “℗ 2015 Soulistic Music, under exclusive license to Universal Music (Pty) Ltd (ZA)”. On the United States storefront it is collection 1730800792, dated 26 August 2016, and its phonographic credit reads “℗ 2016 Soulistic Music under exclusive license to Ultra Records, LLC”. Same album, same artist, two Apple product IDs, two named exclusive licensees, and in both cases the same named owner: Soulistic Music.
That pair is the resolving document for this record. It establishes three things at once. Soulistic Music is the phonogram owner. Universal Music (Pty) Ltd (ZA) is an exclusive licensee, not an owner. Ultra Records, LLC is a separate exclusive licensee, not an owner. None of these is a distribution credit and none of them describes a sale.
How the credit line changes over time
On the South African storefront the formula is stable for roughly two decades. Apple’s catalogue for artist ID 306140760 carries “Soulistic Music, under exclusive license to Universal Music South Africa” or the near-identical “under exclusive license to Universal Music (Pty) Ltd (ZA)” on a self-titled album credited ℗ 2002, on Have Another One (2007), Home Brewed (2009), Never Saw You Coming (2009), Crazy (2010), We Are One (2011), Rock My World (2012), Pieces of Me (2015), Drive (2018), Music Is King (2018), the Wish You Were Here and Drive remix sets (2019), LaLaLa (2019), SBCNCSLY (2020), Ready For You (2020) and the album Subconsciously (credited ℗ 2020, released 5 February 2021). Soulistic Music is named as owner on every one of them.
On the United States storefront the same recordings tell a different story, and the wording degrades. The 2016 releases still name both parties: Pieces Of Me and Your Eyes (collection 1716120763) both read “Soulistic Music under exclusive license to Ultra Records, LLC”. From Drive (collection 1425338276, 24 August 2018) onward, the owner drops out of the line entirely. Drive, the Drive remixes (1440922253), Wish You Were Here (1445814299), the Wish You Were Here remixes (1450463251), LaLaLa (1478981959), SBCNCSLY (1711710700), Ready For You (1711705141) and Subconsciously itself (1712551507) all carry a bare “℗ Ultra Records, LLC” with no mention of Soulistic Music at all.
This desk treats that as a change in credit wording, not as evidence of a change in ownership. The South African listing for the identical recordings continued to name Soulistic Music as owner across exactly the same period, including on Subconsciously. Nothing found states that Soulistic Music transferred the masters to Ultra Records at any point.
Independent registry corroboration
Two further registries were checked and agree with Apple’s United States listing on the international side. Deezer’s album API returns the label as “Ultra Records, LLC” with UPC 617465024153 for Subconsciously, 617465980053 for Drive, 617465745157 for Pieces Of Me, 617465008207 for LaLaLa, 617465016233 for SBCNCSLY and 617465021589 for Ready For You. MusicBrainz independently records the barcode 617465024153 against Subconsciously (release a6d326d7-a03e-481b-b697-0c255edc0a59) and names the label as Ultra Records, and records barcode 617465980053 against Drive (release 57ad6c25-aac4-4948-b934-2b67487dc3dc) naming both Ultra Records and Ultra Records, LLC. The shared 617465 UPC prefix across every international release is consistent with a single issuing label.
Neither Deezer nor MusicBrainz names Universal on these releases, and neither names Soulistic Music as label. This desk does not read that as contradicting the South African credit. Both services index the international product, which is the Ultra edition. The territory split is the explanation that fits all three registries at once.
Where the announcement sits
The Ultra relationship was announced publicly on 25 April 2016. Trade reporting that day quoted David Waxman, then Ultra Music’s General Manager and Vice President of A&R, and described the deal in terms that match the credit line exactly: Ultra would issue a new version of Pieces of Me, an album “initially released by Maphumulo’s label Soulistic Music”, where “the original is only available in South Africa” and “the new LP will be distributed globally”. Worldwide scope for Ultra, with the pre-existing South African arrangement already in place, is what the credits then show for the next five years.
Ultra Records, LLC has been wholly owned by Sony Music Entertainment since a transaction reported on 20 January 2022, under which Sony acquired the remainder of the label and founder Patrick Moxey exited. Sony’s initial stake dated from a global strategic relationship announced in January 2013. No price was disclosed for either tranche. That means the Grammy-winning album was licensed to a company Sony part-owned at the time of release and wholly owned within a year of the ceremony.
Both licences leave the catalogue
After Subconsciously, neither Universal nor Ultra appears on any Black Coffee lead credit checked. There’s Music in the Air (9 September 2022) reads “℗ 2022 Gallo Record Company”. DO 4 LOVE (Black Coffee Remix) (19 April 2023) reads “℗ 2023 Artium Recordings LLC, under exclusive license to Roc Nation Records, LLC”, which is a credit for someone else’s recording that he remixed, not for his own master. The Rapture Pt. III (9 June 2023) reads “℗ 2023 Keinemusik”. Trippy Yeah (27 June 2025) reads “℗ 2025 Innervisions”. The Deep In The Bottom (Of Africa) remix packages of November 2025 and August 2026 read “℗ BIGGASOUNDS under exclusive licence to KLTR”.
No party has announced the end of either licence. Whether they expired by their own terms, were terminated, or simply were not renewed could not be established from any source checked.
