Kobalt Signs Publishing Deal With Mr Eazi’s emPawa Publishing

03 September 2020 - Press release

Kobalt today announced it has signed a worldwide agreement with emPawa Publishing. The partnership with the independent African music company includes publishing administration, creative services and sync for all of emPawa’s catalogue and future works.

Founded by Nigerian artist and entrepreneur, Mr Eazi, emPawa has enjoyed a string of successes with songs recorded by Beyoncé, J Balvin & Bad Bunny, and Major Lazer as well as hit singles by Mr Eazi and emPawa artists such as J.Derobie, Killertunes, GuiltyBeatz, Whoisakin, and Joeboy whose singles’s “Baby,” and “Beginning” have topped Apple Music’s charts across several African nations including Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya.

Mr Eazi also initiated the emPawa100 (2018/2019) and emPawa30 (2019/2020) talent incubator program, all with the aim to help emerging African artists with grants, mentorship, and education in the music industry.

Said Laurent Hubert, CEO, Kobalt Music, “Mr Eazi and his team have built up an impressive catalog in a short amount of time. The excitement from their music and mission should be represented worldwide and we look forward to supporting them through our global creative teams and administration.”

Mr Eazi said, “We felt we needed a partner that, together with us, can land a heavy knock on the door in the meaningful exposure and optimisation of African music and writers to the world. This partnership with Kobalt will build on what we have done over the past year, maximising our knowledge of African music, writers, culture and history, now with a global tech-driven partner. Not only will we have access to the global Kobalt creative team but, via Kobalt’s tech, we can account properly in real time to everyone we represent. It helps us in our mission of accountability to creatives.”

Alison Donald, Kobalt Head of Creative UK commented, “Eazi is a truly inspiring entrepreneur who seeks to empower other artists alongside his own fruitful career. We are very excited to be in business with emPawa and we look forward to helping take emPawa to a larger worldwide audience.”

Miller Williams, Kobalt SVP, Creative UK added, “I’m delighted that Mr Eazi and his team have chosen Kobalt as there’s so much great music emanating from Africa.  emPawa’s mission of supporting local artists through funding, education and mentoring initiatives is a great fit with the Kobalt philosophy.”