Nigeria's Chocolate City inks distribution deal with Africori

The Nigerian record label Chocolate City Music & Entertainment Company has signed a deal with the pan-African music company Africori Music Group (AMG) to handle worldwide digital distribution. The new deal will see the music released under the label by such artists as MI Abaga, Koker and a number of others to be distributed via the network established by AMG.

Founded in 2005, Chocolate City is one of the most successful record labels in Africa and has taken Nigerian hip hop in West Africa and around the globe. The label has released music from acclaimed recording artists including M.I., Femi Kuti, Ice Prince, Jesse Jagz, DJ Lambo, DJ Calse, Victoria Kimani, Dice Alles, Koker & Pryse to name a few.

AMG is a digital music company with an increasing footprint on the continent, with offices in Johannesburg and London and representation in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Uganda and Rwanda.

The company provides digital music solutions and services to artists, producers, publishers and record labels in Africa.

Their key activities are digital distribution of African music, licensing of African catalogue music to advertising agencies, film and TV production companies, and worldwide revenue collection. Africori represents a range of prestigious African artists including Sauti Sol (Kenya), Vanessa Mdee (Tanzania) (Becca (Ghana) and Sean Tizzle (Nigeria), and a number of key record: Essiebons (Ghana), African Cream Music and Family Tree (South Africa).

”Chocolate City is undeniably one of the most influential labels in Africa,” says CEO Yoel Kenan of Africori. “We jointly aspire & share common visions & goals.

“The digital music business in Africa is evolving rapidly. Therefore, it is only a natural progression that key industry players join forces to improve & better leverage the best opportunities for the artists. We look forward to working with Jude ‘M.I.’ Abaga and his dynamic team in promoting and distributing the best music from Africa around the world.”

Speaking about the deal and what it means for the music scene on the continent, MI Abaga said: “African music is blowing up and in order to fairly compensate our artistes in terms of royalty payments etc. it is necessary to put appropriate structures in place. Africori’s proven track record is that structure”.

For more information about Africori visit their website here.