Reservoir Media and PopArabia expand MENA operations with Egypt deals

The partnerships include the catalogue acquisition of Cairo-based content production and distribution company RE Media as well as master and publishing rights for Egyptian rap duo El Sawareekh.

Founded in 2004 by Richard Elhaj, RE Media is an Arabic content production and distribution company based in Cairo, Egypt. The company owns 6 000 recordings, representing a diverse mix of Egyptian music spanning the past 30 years and featuring songs by legendary artists like Amr Diab, George Wassouf, Dalida, Mohamed Mounir, and more.

The deal with PopArabia and Reservoir includes the acquisition of Egyptian icon, Amr Diab’s classic debut album Ya Tareeq. Diab remains one of the most streamed Arab artists in the world. The addition of RE Media’s catalogue also includes sub-labels Moseeqa Records and Moseeqa TV, as well as the acquisition of several of RE Media’s owned and operated YouTube channels, which collectively boast one million subscribers. As part of the deal, PopArabia will convert these YouTube channels to its own YouTube hub.

“I am very proud to have struck an arrangement with PopArabia for the acquisition of some of our catalogue, and I foresee a long-term relationship with them and with Reservoir,” Elhaj said. “I am also excited about the governance PopArabia is bringing to the Middle East, maximising the economic potential of music assets and creating a lawful ecosystem to build on for the future.”

El Sawareekh has earned a following as forerunners for the development of the Mahraganat genre. Popular with youth across MENA, Mahraganat emerged in 2011 and mixes Arabic rap with electronic music and traditional Egyptian rhythms. El Sawareekh has grown a massive fan base since their debut album in 2014 and the release of their breakout hit ‘Laa’ in 2017. To date, the record has garnered over 100 million views on YouTube.

Reservoir and PopArabia initially acquired rights to ‘Laa’ through the 2022 acquisition of Egyptian label 100COPIES, and the companies’ share of the duo’s catalogue has grown with the addition of their latest works. Their catalogue includes other self-released hit tracks like “‘Eda Eda’, ‘Albk Bahr Maleh’ and ‘Ekhwaty’ with over 66 million, 180 million, and 414 million YouTube views, respectively. In 2021, El Sawareekh was named on the Forbes’ Middle East’s Arab Music Stars list.

El Sawareekh said: “We are excited to continue our relationship with Reservoir and PopArabia. We look forward to the companies’ support as we continue to show the world what we can do.”