AFRICA (CelebrityAccess) – Universal Music Group (UMG) has launched Virgin Music Label and Artist Services in Africa. The division will focus on supporting emerging independent artists and labels from that side of the world.
UMG said the move would “further expand the reach of music culture from across the continent to the vast African diaspora and new fans and audiences worldwide,” via press release.
The division has approximately 15,000 titles in its catalog, with more than 50 label partners from 25 countries, including Kesi Publishing, Hiquest, and Yaye Boye. It includes releases from more than 100 of Africa’s leading musicians and artists, including Youssou Ndour, Touré Kunda, Lokua Kanza, Magic System, and more. Virgin will also make long out of print African music catalogs available digitally for the first time.
Virgin Music Africa will be headed up by Universal Music Africa’s current director of international development, Guylaine Clery, and head of A&R Felix Pea, who will serve as co-directors and report to Franck Kacou, managing director.
Franck Kacou said: “Our vision for Virgin Music in Africa is based on an observation that African cultural heritage has not yet entirely found its place in the digital world and on DSPs globally. Indeed, with some of these services rarely existing in certain territories, this heritage is unequally represented. Our ambition is to make African music a showcase of all that Africa, and its diaspora can offer the world!”
