Independent label, distributor and publisher EMPIRE has launched EMPIRE Africa.
Spearheading EMPIRE’s growth in Africa is Ezegozie Eze Jr. as Vice President of Market Development, Kareem Mobalaji as Regional Manager for West Africa and Titilope Adesanya as Chief of project.
EMPIRE was founded by Ghazi Shami in 2010.
In their new roles, Eze, Mobolaji and Adesanya will negotiate new talent partnerships and promote artists in West Africa and across the continent.
Based in Lagos, Nigeria, they will support EMPIRE’s roster of artists in music markets such as Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and Ivory Coast.
The announcement comes after a series of recent releases in Africa from EMPIRE artists, including the hit single by Fireboy DML Peru with remixes by Ed Sheeran, 21 Savage and Blxst, Olamide’s Carpe DiemBurna Boy’s twice as big (Distributed by EMPIRE on the African continent), Wande Coal’s Kingdoms and Kizz Daniel’s king of love
EMPIRE reports that its releases “covered the top 35 songs” on Apple Music’s Nigeria Top Songs chart in 2021.
Concluding the year, EMPIRE declares that it has become the number one distributor in Nigeria according to TurnTable Charts.
Eze joins EMPIRE as Managing Director of Universal Music Nigeria, where he was instrumental in developing UMG’s growth strategies and key artists in West Africa.
In his role as Managing Director, Eze established the English-speaking West Africa regional office, developed the first Canal Olympia Venus in Abuja and Lagos, Nigeria, and led UMG to become the first major label to partner with local digital service providers, Boomplay and uduX.
Previously, Mobolaji worked as a marketing manager for mobile technology company MTech and founded his own digital marketing agency – Ingle Mind – where he developed and worked with Nigerian superstars Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage, WizKid, Olamide, Fireboy DML and many others.
Through his work with the aforementioned artists, Mobolaji is considered the best A&R and development manager in Nigeria. Adesanya joins EMPIRE with previous careers in journalism and marketing in the music industry.
Most recently, she worked for digital music distribution company Africori, in product management and communications.
Together, the trio’s expertise will bring a wealth of experience to EMPIRE’s global team, both in West Africa and overseas.
In February 2021, EMPIRE opened a division in the United States to focus on West Asia, North Africa and its Diaspora.
To lead the territory, EMPIRE has hired Suhel Nafar as Vice President of Strategy and Market Development.The music industry around the world
