emPawa Publishing Achieves Milestone N1bn in Royalty Payouts

Iyke Bede

At a recent fireside chat hosted by emPawa Africa, its founder, Oluwatosin Ajibade, famed as Mr. Eazi, unveiled that the company’s publishing division has disbursed a substantial N1 billion in publishing royalties since its inception in 2020.

It accomplished this achievement by fostering partnerships with various publishers like Kobalt Music Group to guarantee global recognition and rewards for the creations of its in-house talent.

The event themed ‘Demystifying Music Publishing’ unveiled the strategic approaches adopted by emPawa to ensure the protection of intellectual property for creatives on its roster, including Tekno, Killertunes, Joeboy, Type A, and more.

Recognising the marketability of Nigerian music, particularly with the global growth of the afrobeats genre, Mr Eazi emphasized the role of education in closing gaps in the publishing ecosystem and promoting transparency. He believes emPawa is on track to bolster efforts in this regard.

“One thing that is very important to me is freedom,” he stated. “I wanted to be able to have a deal or a structure that was in place so that when we start to give our writers and producers a deal, we would be able to give them the freedom to choose.”

He continued: “I remember having a conversation with Killertunes when we wanted to start the business, he said, ‘I don’t want an advance, I just want to make sure all my works are properly registered, I want proper accounting, and I want an opportunity to be able to work.’ That was the basis of the deal.”

Alongside Mr Eazi, Willard Ahdritz, the founder and Chairman of Kobalt Music, which partnered with emPawa to provide key insights into earning and offer access to facilities, technology, and expertise, highlighted the ongoing need for infrastructure to ensure transparency and efficiency in the sector.

“If you are efficient and transparent, you have everything in order, then it is significantly easier for all of us in music publishing to negotiate and also make sure that the people, even posthumous ones, can monetise this music,” Ahdritz noted.

Well attended, some of the prominent figures who graced the event include Kenny Ogungbe, I.D Ogungbe, Olisa Adibua, Pretty Okafor and executives from the Musical Copyright Society (MCSN).