Universal Music Group Signed Tiwa Savage in 2019. By Late 2022, Her Own Everything Savage Copyright Line Showed She Was Gone.

Universal Music Group signed Tiwa Savage to an exclusive global recording agreement on 2 May 2019, ending her seven-year run at Mavin Records and making her, by UMG’s own account, the first African artist to sign a global deal with the company. The two albums that followed carry a precise phonogram credit: “Universal Music (Pty) Ltd South Africa.” By November 2022, that credit was gone. Her single “Loaded,” with Asake, carries a different line: “222 Ent. / Everything Savage,” her own imprint. Every Tiwa Savage release since, including her 2025 album This One Is Personal, is credited to “Everything Savage / EMPIRE,” the independent distributor. No party has announced when or why the UMG relationship ended.

The UMG deal, and what it actually covered

The May 2019 announcement was a straightforward exclusive recording agreement, not a joint venture or a label acquisition. UMG said Savage’s future music would be released “in more than 60 countries worldwide,” and named the executives behind it: Sir Lucian Grainge, UMG’s chairman and chief executive; Adam Granite, the label’s EVP of market development; and Sipho Diamini, managing director of UMG South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. Savage’s projects were to be executive-produced by Efe Ogbeni of Regime Music Societe and Vannessa Amadi-Ogbonna of Stealth Management, both credited by name in the announcement.

Savage herself framed it as a graduation moment: “My biggest goal is to make Africa proud. I’m so excited for this moment and I’m thankful to Sir Lucian Grainge and my new UMG family for their belief in my dreams.” Granite’s statement described her as one of Africa’s “most successful, influential and dynamic singer-songwriters,” with “truly global ambitions.”

The deal ended a seven-year run at Mavin Records, the label Don Jazzy founded in Lagos. Don Jazzy posted his own statement at the time, on Instagram: “It’s been an epic journey with you and we are very proud of what we have achieved together. As you start this new chapter in your life we want you to know that we are solidly behind you.” No source discloses financial terms, an advance, a royalty rate or a contract length for the UMG agreement, and none has ever been published.

What the copyright line shows next

The output of the UMG deal is where the trail becomes precise. Savage’s third studio album, Celia, released 27 August 2020, carries the phonogram credit “Universal Music (Pty) Ltd South Africa,” alongside display credits to Motown and Island Records. Her second EP, Water & Garri, released 20 August 2021, carries the identical phonogram line, “Universal Music (Pty) Ltd South Africa,” alongside Motown Records and Capitol Records. Both credits were read directly from Apple’s own catalogue pages for this record, not from secondary description.

The next dated release is where the credit changes. “Loaded,” her November 2022 single with Asake, carries the phonogram line “℗ 2022 222 Ent. / Everything Savage.” There is no Universal Music, Motown or UMG name anywhere on it. By the time of her 2025 album, This One Is Personal, released 29 August 2025, the credit reads “℗ 2025 Everything Savage / EMPIRE,” EMPIRE being the independent American distributor that also carries Nigerian releases from Olamide’s YBNL Nation, Burna Boy and Fireboy DML. That is a two-and-a-half-year window, bounded by two dated recordings, in which the rights-holding name on Tiwa Savage’s music changed from a Universal Music operating company to her own imprint.

No press release, interview or trade report found for this record states that the UMG deal ended, when it ended, or on what terms. Unlike CKay, who told a Nigerian outlet directly that his Warner deal concluded by mutual agreement, or Adekunle Gold, whose Def Jam signing was announced with equal fanfare to his eventual departure, Savage’s transition away from UMG has no equivalent on-record moment that this desk could locate. The copyright line is the only document that dates it.

Owns, distributes: not the same claim

“Everything Savage” is not a registered company name this desk could confirm in any public registry. UK Companies House requires an API key Afrobeats Wire does not yet hold, and Nigeria’s Corporate Affairs Commission has no public search interface. What the phonogram credit confirms is narrower but still meaningful: it names Everything Savage, not EMPIRE, as the rights-holding entity, with EMPIRE appearing alongside it in the same way EMPIRE appears on YBNL Nation’s releases, as distributor rather than owner. EMPIRE’s own public business model, built on non-exclusive distribution deals that let artists keep their masters, is consistent with that reading, though this desk has not seen Savage’s specific contract with EMPIRE and no source states its terms.

That structure, an artist’s own imprint holding the copyright with EMPIRE distributing it, mirrors what Afrobeats Wire has already documented for YBNL Nation, Fireboy DML and other EMPIRE-distributed Nigerian catalogues. It is a distribution relationship, not a licence in the sense AWAL holds for CKay’s masters, and not an acquisition. The available evidence does not support any claim that EMPIRE owns, administers or has purchased rights to Tiwa Savage’s recordings.

What this means for artists

A signing announcement and a departure are not always symmetrical events. UMG’s 2019 signing of Tiwa Savage came with named executives, on-record quotes from both sides, and international trade coverage. Whatever ended that arrangement generated none of that. For an artist, the lesson cuts against assuming a major-label deal’s end will be marked the way its start was: nobody but the rights holder is obliged to announce a contract’s expiry, and readers, journalists and other artists are left to read the copyright line on the next release to find out what happened.

For anyone assessing whether an artist is still under a given deal, the phonogram credit on the artist’s most recent release is a firmer signal than any biography, press kit or “signed to” label repeated in older coverage. Savage’s own Apple Music catalogue page, read start to finish, tells the ownership story more precisely than any single article about her career has stated it.

Limits of this record. The 2019 UMG signing is confirmed by a Music Business Worldwide report carrying on-record quotes from UMG chairman Sir Lucian Grainge, EVP Adam Granite, Savage’s executive producers, and Savage herself; her exit from Mavin Records is confirmed by Don Jazzy’s own quoted Instagram statement, reported by OkayAfrica. The phonogram credits for Celia, the Water & Garri EP, the single “Loaded” and the album This One Is Personal were read directly from Apple Music’s own catalogue pages for each release, not from secondary description. No source found by this desk states when, why or under what terms the UMG recording agreement ended; that gap is reported as a gap, not filled with an inference. No public company registry record for “Everything Savage” was located; UK Companies House was not queried because an API key has not yet been obtained by this desk, and Nigeria’s CAC has no public search tool. This record covers master recordings only; no source addresses Tiwa Savage’s publishing rights or administration at any point in this timeline.