September of 2015, I shared a post titled ‘The Top 3 Entertainment Deals You Need to Know.’
Number two on that list was the Joint Venture deal with Efe Ogbeni. Here is what I had to say:
2. Efe Ogbeni signs a Joint Venture (JV) Deal with Sony/ATV: When it comes to being a respected A&R in Hollywood/America’s music industry, Nigerian-American Efe Ogbeni has definitely earned his stripes. He also wears many hats as an entrepreneur, record label owner and A &R for Enrique Iglesias, Quincy Jones and producer for Red One.
This is not the first time Efe is entering a JV deal. This deal, however, is a noticeable one since it involves one of the largest music publishing houses, Sony/ATV. So what does the deal mean? In English, it means Efe needs money/finance for his businesses and Sony/ATV needs his creative expertise, especially his A&R skills. Efe wants to use the finance he receives from investors to grow his publishing assets, among other things. However, he first needs to make himself attractive to investors. How so? By aligning himself with the brands that the kinds of investors he seeks, pay attention to. That is where Sony/ATV comes in. With this deal, Efe can now provide his A&R creative expertise to Sony/ATV, Sony/ATV in turn becomes the source of financing Efe seeks, among other things; and also receives a stake in the copyrights of the songs of the artists Efe will secure as part of that deal.
Fast forward to today and Efe gets to work by procuring his first major artist, Davido. Davido has signed a multi-million dollar record deal with Sony Music Global with a cash advance of $1million, thanks to Efe. The signing took place in New York and was witnessed by Davido’s brother Adewale Adeleke and his manager Kamal Ajiboye, Efe Ogbeni, Joel Katz, Esq., and Adam Granite (Vice President of Sony Music International). Davido also claims he is the first African act to sign such a deal.
All eyes on Davido, Sony, Africa, and of course Efe Ogbeni to see if this deal can in fact take Nigerian music to a global level. Folks, in the music business, you follow the money. And as I have said plenty times, Africa is where the next music frontier lies.
Congrats to Davido. Let’s see how it all shakes out.
Cheers,
Ms. Uduak
