Deal sheet
- Status
- Partially confirmed. The existence, the parties, the date and the "worldwide joint venture" characterisation are confirmed by a dated press release published on Warner Music Group's own newsroom and carrying attributed quotes from two named Warner Records executives and from the counterparty's founder. The joint phonogram credit is independently corroborated on two commercially released records. NOT confirmed and not disclosed by any party: the consideration, the ownership split, the term, the rights scope and the state in which Protect The Culture LLC is registered. Whether the venture is still operative could not be established: no release carrying its phonogram credit has been identified after 4 August 2023, and neither party has announced a termination.
- Type
- Joint Venture
- Parties
- Warner Records Inc., Protect The Culture LLC
- Amount
- Not disclosed Not disclosed
- Rights covered
- NOT established beyond the label of the transaction itself. Warner Music Group's press release of 7 July 2023 states only that Protect the Culture "has entered into a worldwide joint venture with Warner Records". It does not say what rights the venture holds, whether masters are assigned to it, licensed to it or merely distributed by Warner, nor whether the venture touches publishing at all. No publishing party is named in the release and no songwriter administration arrangement is mentioned. What IS established is the phonogram credit the venture produced: both of its identified releases carry the line "℗ 2023 Protect The Culture LLC/Warner Records Inc.", a joint phonogram declaration naming both parties, which is consistent with shared control of the master and distinguishable from the single-owner-plus-licensee form Warner uses elsewhere. The press release separately records a second and legally distinct arrangement: Byers "will also serve as an A&R consultant for Warner Records, focusing on the vibrant African music scene". That is a personal services engagement, not a rights transfer, and the two should not be conflated.
- Territory
- Worldwide, on the strength of the single word "worldwide" in Warner Music Group's press release of 7 July 2023: "has entered into a worldwide joint venture with Warner Records". No territory schedule, carve-out or reserved-territory list has been published by either party. Whether "worldwide" describes the rights grant, the distribution footprint or only the venture's commercial ambit is not specified in the release.
- Announced
- 2023-07-07
- Primary document
- Official newsroom
- Sources
- Warner Music Group's own newsroom, press release dated 7 July 2023, headlined "WARNER RECORDS SETS JOINT VENTURE WITH MARC BYERS' PROTECT THE CULTURE", stating that Protect the Culture "has entered into a worldwide joint venture with Warner Records" and carrying attributed quotes from Warner Records A&R president Steven "Steve-O" Carless, EVP/Head of A&R Karen Kwak, and founder Marc Byers · Apple iTunes Lookup API, Lord Afrixana's full discography, artist ID 1473487234. Fetched HTTP 200 on 12 November 2026, 14 collections. Exactly two carry "℗ 2023 Protect The Culture LLC/Warner Records Inc.": "No Dey Tire – Single", release date 2023-07-07, and "GHANA MUST GO – EP", release date 2023-08-04. The 2023-07-07 date independently corroborates Warner's announcement date. Later releases carry different phonogram owners: "Jingili Bells – Single" 2023-12-13 reads "℗ 2023 Googo recordz"; "Kelewele – Single" 2025-11-14 reads "℗ 2025 NEVERTOOMUCH". Earlier releases show no Warner relationship: "No Favors" 2021-05-14 and "Bad Guy" 2023-02-03 both read "Epic Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment"; "SPLASH GOD" 2020-05-22 reads "Mad Fatti Inc / Create Music Group Inc." · Apple iTunes Search API, fetched HTTP 200 on 12 November 2026. CONTROL CHECK on the Pheelz credit named in the Warner press release. Fifteen Warner-era Pheelz collections returned. FOURTEEN of them read "DC Talent Agency LLC, under exclusive license to Warner Records Inc.", with release dates spanning 2022-03-03 to 2024-10-31 (distinct dates: 2022-03-03, 2022-04-15, 2022-05-06, 2022-06-03, 2022-06-10, 2022-06-24 x2, 2022-07-08, 2022-08-05, 2022-11-28 x2, 2023-06-01, 2024-03-14, 2024-10-31). The ONE remaining entry, "Help (feat. Pheelz)" dated 2022-11-18, reads "℗ 2022 Warner Records Inc." alone. NONE of the fifteen names Protect The Culture LLC. Establishes that the Pheelz relationship sits outside the joint venture's rights. · Warner Music Group Corp. Exhibit 21.1, Subsidiaries of the Registrant, filed with the SEC 20 November 2025, accession 0001319161-25-000034. Fetched and keyword-scanned 12 November 2026. NEGATIVE CHECK: contains no row for "Protect the Culture" or "Protect The Culture" in any casing. Does contain "Warner Records Inc" and "Africori". Establishes the venture is not a listed consolidated subsidiary. · NEGATIVE CHECK. United Kingdom Companies House public company search, fetched 12 November 2026. No matching company found, consistent with a United States limited liability company rather than a UK registration. · NEGATIVE CHECK. MusicBrainz web service queried 12 November 2026. No label entry exists for Protect The Culture. MusicBrainz credits "GHANA MUST GO" to Warner Records without a Protect The Culture label credit, which conflicts with Apple's phonogram line naming both parties. Reported as a conflict in the caveat field. · United Kingdom Companies House register entry for DC TALENT AGENCY LTD, company number 13783356. Fetched HTTP 200 on 12 November 2026. Company status Active, Private limited Company, incorporated on 6 December 2021, registered office First Floor Office, 3 Hornton Place, London, United Kingdom, W8 4LZ. Cited as the WORKED COUNTER-EXAMPLE establishing that an Apple phonogram line can render a UK "Ltd" company with a US-style "LLC" suffix: the Pheelz credits read "DC Talent Agency LLC" while the registered company is "DC TALENT AGENCY LTD". This is why the "LLC" in "Protect The Culture LLC" is not treated in this record as evidence of United States incorporation.
Read this before citing: Read this before citing. This record certifies THAT A WORLDWIDE JOINT VENTURE WAS ANNOUNCED between Warner Records and Protect The Culture LLC on 7 July 2023, and that two commercial releases carry both parties on the phonogram line. It does not certify who owns the masters in what proportion, because no party has said. No financial term of any kind has been disclosed: no advance, no royalty rate, no equity split, no valuation. Do not infer a split from the credit order; phonogram credit order is a convention, not a legal instrument.
Three specific limits are on the file. FIRST, the scale of the venture is two records. Only "No Dey Tire", released 7 July 2023, and the EP "GHANA MUST GO", released 4 August 2023, carry the joint credit. Lord Afrixana's releases after that do not: "Jingili Bells" of 13 December 2023 reads "℗ 2023 Googo recordz" and "Kelewele" of 14 November 2025 reads "℗ 2025 NEVERTOOMUCH". That is evidence about phonogram credits, NOT proof the venture has ended, and no termination has been announced.
SECOND, Pheelz is named in the launch quote but is not on the venture. Warner's own executives are quoted crediting Byers with "the signings of breakout Nigerian artist Pheelz and afro-fusion rising star Lord Afrixana". Fourteen Pheelz collections dated March 2022 to October 2024 read "DC Talent Agency LLC, under exclusive license to Warner Records Inc."; one further release reads "Warner Records Inc." alone. None of the fifteen names Protect The Culture LLC. The Pheelz relationship is therefore attributable to Byers' A&R consultancy, not to the joint venture's rights, and citing him as a Protect The Culture artist would be an error.
THIRD, the entity's corporate identity is thinly documented. "Protect The Culture LLC" is known only from the phonogram line, and that line is not proof of jurisdiction or legal form: Apple renders the UK company DC Talent Agency Ltd (number 13783356) as "DC Talent Agency LLC" on the Pheelz credits discussed below, so the "LLC" suffix here establishes a declared trading name only. The venture appears in no Warner Music Group SEC filing, and is absent from Warner Music Group Corp.'s Exhibit 21.1 subsidiary schedule filed 20 November 2025, which does separately list Africori Limited, Africori SA PTY LTD. and Warner Music West Africa Limited. That absence is consistent with a joint venture that is not a consolidated subsidiary; it is not evidence that the venture does not exist. No United States state registry could be queried from this server: the California Secretary of State search returned HTTP 429 "This request was blocked by our security service" and the New York Department of State returned "Request Rejected". United Kingdom Companies House returned no results. The entity has no MusicBrainz label entry.
Date conflict, reported not resolved: Warner Music Group's newsroom dates the announcement 7 July 2023. Secondary distribution of the same release carries 11 July 2023 and at least one trade outlet published 10 July 2023. Apple's release date for "No Dey Tire" is 2023-07-07, which corroborates Warner's own date; this record uses 7 July 2023.
Registry conflict, reported not resolved: MusicBrainz credits "GHANA MUST GO" to Warner Records without a Protect The Culture label credit, while Apple's phonogram line names both parties. This is treated as registry incompleteness rather than as an ownership change, because the phonogram line is the party-authored field.
