Beam Group
Short-lived South African entertainment holding company owned by the rapper AKA, wound down in 2018.
- Based in
- Bryanston, Johannesburg, South Africa
- Founders
- Kiernan Forbes (AKA), Prince Nyembe
Beam Group was a South African entertainment holding company built around the rapper AKA (Kiernan Forbes), formed with business partner Prince Nyembe in the aftermath of AKA’s 2016 split from Vth Season. AKA held a 70 percent stake to Nyembe’s 30 percent. Coverage at the time described three subsidiaries operating under the group: Supa Mega Merchandise, The AKA Foundation and IIIRDWRLD.
The company was independent of the major labels. For roughly two years it held AKA’s phonogram rights during the interlude between his two spells with Vth Season, releasing under exclusive licence to Universal Music (Pty) Ltd in South Africa rather than through Sony Music Entertainment Africa. Its name appears in the copyright line on his 2017 and 2018 releases.
AKA announced the wind-down in October 2018 on re-signing with Sony Music Entertainment Africa and Vth Season. TimesLIVE reported the company had gone into arrears of more than R2 million with SARS despite first-year revenue reported above R11 million. No live website has been located for Beam Group; the only channel still identifiable is an Instagram account, and the entry is retained here for historical reference.