Warner Music Group completes acquisition of Africori

[Image:Instagram]

Writer: Linda Mzapi

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Warner Music Group (WMG) has officially announced its completion of Africori  acquisition, the leading independent African distributor that represents more than 7,000 artists.

Africori will however continue to operate as a standalone entity. Warner Music and Africori have aligned their systems to allow Africori artists and songs to be upstreamed into the global Warner Music network.

Africori is the mother to one of the biggest impactful and timeless influential songs across the continent and beyond. From big household names like Master KG, Nkosazana Daughter to Oscar Mbo and Kelvin Momo, these artists have continued to dominate the music industry.

Founded in 2009, Africori received its first WMG investment support in 2020. The investment gave Africori access to WMG’s  wide catalog and A&R network as well as enabling it to establish a presence in many African markets for the first time. WMG acquired a majority stake in Africori in 2022 as part of a deal that led to its full acquisition this month.

The partnership’s first global success came from the upstreaming of Master KG’s “Jerusalema” in 2020. The single was an international phenomenon, generating billions of views and hundreds of millions of streams.

Such success has continued, most recently with the achievement of five-time Platinum status in South Africa for TitoM & Yupee’s “Tshwala Bam”, and with Wanitwa Mos and Nkosazana Daughter’s debut album Makhelwane, which generated 100 million pre-release streams.

Africori has launched into 2025 with great momentum, solidifying its influence across Africa’s musical landscape. Africori artists have held the #1 spot on the South African Radiomonitor charts for 11 consecutive weeks, thanks to hit tracks like ‘Sdakiwe Sbali’, ‘Ndsize’, and ‘Vuka’.