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Directory

African Music Companies

Labels, distributors, publishers, studios, promoters and platforms working across African music. Listings are editorial and free, and every one is checked against its sources before it appears.

  • 627 companies
  • 13 categories
  • 57 markets

Investor

Richmond Hill Investment Co., LP

New York registered investment adviser, founded 2010, whose managing partner sits on the board of Reservoir Media.

New York, United States

Collecting Society

RIKE

Trade association for Kenya's recorded-music producers, distinct from Kenya's royalty-collecting societies.

Nairobi, Kenya rike.or.ke

Label

Rita Dee Entertainment

Credited phonogram rights holder on Makhadzi's earliest releases (2017-2019); no company register entry or website found.

Thohoyandou, Limpopo, South Africa

Road Boys Association

Black Sherif's Ghana-based management company, which publicly claimed retained ownership of his masters after his 2022 EMPIRE signing.

Ghana

Music group

Roc Nation

New York entertainment company founded by Jay-Z, whose roster includes Nigerian artist Ayra Starr.

New York, United States rocnation.com

ROCKSTAR4000 Music Entertainment

South African pan-African music and events company founded by Jandre Louw, dormant since its 2014 festival collapsed.

Sandton, South Africa

Rogers All Stars

Nigerian highlife label and studio in Onitsha/Awka, catalogued as Bright Chimezie's early record company.

Onitsha / Awka, Nigeria

Publisher

Room 308

Publishing imprint and joint release vehicle for Kenyan artists Calvo Mistari and Naiboi, used for their collaborative singles ahead of a joint album.

Kenya

Technology

Roster

South African AI-driven music business platform founded by Thabiso Khati, covering booking, releases, royalties and rights registration for artists and managers.

South Africa rosterapp.ai

Collecting Society

Rwanda Society of Authors

Rwanda's first collective management organisation, dissolved in 2025 after 13 years of low payouts.

Kigali, Rwanda

Publisher

S94 Publishing

Music publishing arm of Dapper Group, handling copyright licensing and royalty collection for its signed writers.

Lagos, Nigeria dappermusicent.com

Collecting Society

SACERAU

Egypt's music collecting society, established in Cairo in 1944.

Cairo, Egypt sacerau.com

Safaricom PLC

Kenya's largest mobile network operator, whose Skiza ring back tune service is one of the country's largest paid channels for recorded music.

Nairobi, Kenya safaricom.co.ke

Sampa The Great Pty Ltd

Melbourne artist-owned rights holding company, named owner of the sound recording copyright on Sampa the Great's recordings.

Melbourne (VIC 3000), Australia

Collecting Society

SAMPRA

South Africa's collective management organisation for needletime (neighbouring) rights.

Johannesburg, South Africa sampra.org.za

Sarkcess Music

Accra record label of the Ghanaian rapper Sarkodie, founded in 2014.

Accra, Ghana

Label

Sawt Al-Qahera

Egyptian state-owned record label and media producer, custodian of Umm Kulthum's master recordings since a 1964 nationalisation.

Cairo, Egypt sonocairo.com

Sawt Al-Qahera (Cairo Voice Company)

Egyptian state-owned rights holder for classic recordings including Umm Kulthum's; in dispute with producer-owned Starz for Artistic Production.

Egypt

Distributor

Select Play

South African record label and imprint associated with artist Tellaman.

Johannesburg, South Africa

Label

Shake It Africa

Record label and live-events company launched by Ugandan artist Jon Muq and executive Kevin Wommack to connect African artists with global audiences.

Kampala, United States shakeitafrica.com

Shammah Records

Kenyan independent label holding a Maasai-music catalogue, Rekkod's distribution partner since April 2026; thin, deal-sourced profile.

Not established, Kenya (inferred from the Rekkod deal's description of its catalogue as Maasai music, a Kenyan and Tanzanian community; not confirmed via any registry)

Shatta Movement Records

Shatta Wale's own Accra-based recording imprint, current phonogram credit holder on his releases.

Accra, Ghana

Live & Events

Showtime Management

Cape Town live-events producer and musical theatre promoter, founded in 1970 by Hazel Feldman and independently owned.

Cape Town, South Africa showtime.co.za

Simfy Africa

MTN Group's music-streaming subsidiary, built from the 2012 Simfy Africa streaming service and now tied to MTN's Ayoba super-app.

Johannesburg, South Africa simfy.africa

Label

Sire Records

Warner-owned American label, founded in 1966, credited alongside Nigeria's KeyQaad on Omah Lay's recordings since 2020.

New York, United States sirerecords.com

Label

SkhandaWorld

South African record label and lifestyle brand co-founded by rapper K.O in 2014, distributed via Universal Music Africa.

South Africa skhandaworld.com

Small World Records

Independent Ghanaian label founded by SmallGod, in a 2023 worldwide distribution and publishing partnership with Warner's ADA and Warner Chappell.

Not established. The company's own website references Accra as a location for its events but does not state a registered head office, and no corporate registry entry was located., Ghana smallworldrecs.com

Collecting Society

Sociedade Guineense de Autores

Guinea-Bissau's first collective copyright management society, founded 1996.

Bissau, Guinea-Bissau

Collecting Society

SODAV

Senegal's collective management organisation for copyright and neighbouring rights, in Dakar.

Dakar, Senegal sodav.sn

Distributor

SOL Distro

South African music distribution and artist-services platform launched by Slikour OnLife in 2025.

Johannesburg, South Africa slikouronlife.co.za

Collecting Society

SOMA

One of two Tanzanian bodies registered to collect the country's blank-tape levy.

Tanzania

Somnyama Music Entertainment (Pty) Ltd

South African company named as the sound recording copyright claimant on Blxckie releases from October 2025, after the Def Jam Recordings copyright notices stopped.

South Africa

Somtin Different

Adekunle Gold's own independent record label and masters-holding entity, distributed worldwide through Believe UK.

Lagos, Nigeria adekunle.gold

Distributor

Songdis

Songdis — Lagos-founded self-serve music distribution and publishing platform, backed by CMU-Africa's NBA Africa accelerator.

Lagos, Nigeria songdis.com

Pick your tempo

Who owns what, who got paid, and who is about to. The business behind African music, told like it is actually interesting (because it is).

  • The deals and catalogue sales nobody put out a press release for
  • Chart moves and streaming numbers we actually fact-checked (wild, we know)
  • Fresh names added to the directory, vetted before you ever see them

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