Africori Founder, Yoel Kenan, will continue as CEO
Warner Music Group (WMG) has today announced that it has completed its full acquisition of Africori, the leading independent African distributor that represents more than 7,000 artists.
Africori will continue to operate as a standalone entity and Yoel Kenan will remain as CEO, reporting to Temi Adeniji, Managing Director of Warner Music Africa. Warner Music and Africori have aligned their systems to allow Africori artists and songs to be upstreamed into the global Warner Music network.
Founded in 2009, Africori boasts one of the biggest independent songbooks in Africa, including music from the likes of Kelvin Momo, Master KG, Nkosazana Daughter, Oscar Mbo, and TitoM & Yuppe.
WMG first invested in Africori in 2020, in a deal that gave it access to the distributor’s large catalog and A&R network, as well as enabling it to establish a presence in many African markets for the first time. WMG acquired a majority stake in Africori in 2022 as part of a deal that led to its full acquisition this month.
The partnership’s first global success came from the upstreaming of Master KG’s “Jerusalema” in 2020. The single was an international phenomenon, generating billions of views and hundreds of millions of streams.
Such success has continued, most recently with the achievement of five-time Platinum status in South Africa for TitoM & Yupee’s “Tshwala Bam”, and with Wanitwa Mos and Nkosazana Daughter’s debut album Makhelwane, which generated 100 million pre-release streams.
Yoel Kenan, CEO, Africori, says: “We’ve had an incredibly successful few years partnering with Temi Adenijii and Warner Music. From the beginning of the venture, our shared vision of connecting African music with fans from across the world was evident. The Africori team looks forward to working with the entire Warner Music family as we discover, develop, and upstream the next generation of talent from across the continent.”
Temi Adeniji, Managing Director of Warner Music Africa, adds: “Today is a landmark moment in our evolution in Africa. Over the past four years, we’ve shown that proper investment, synergies and cooperation have created value for artists, but also that Warner Music has helped energize and nurture the entrepreneurial spirit of a local partner. We’ve upstreamed Africori artists and plugged them into our global network, delivering international remixes and trend-driven cross-collaborations that have helped elevate their careers.”
Africori has launched into 2025 with great momentum, solidifying its influence across Africa’s musical landscape. Africori artists have held the #1 spot on the South African Radiomonitor charts for 11 consecutive weeks, thanks to hit tracks like ‘Sdakiwe Sbali’, ‘Ndsize’, and ‘Vuka’. Africori-distributed tracks also make up 50% of the BMAT Top 10 rankings, and over the past weekend claimed the top six spots on the Apple Music South Africa charts.
