Ycee terminates ‘turbulent’ distribution deal with Sony

Michael Ugwu, general manager, Sony Music West Africa, described Ycee as the “future of hip hop in Africa” during the signing of a distribution deal with the artiste in 2016.

Less than one year into the deal, things had gone awry. Ycee took to Twitter to rant about how Sony Music and other distribution platforms were “raping us [artistes] in silence”.

The artiste had also accused Ugwu of delaying the release of his EP ‘The First Wave’ “for months”.

Ugwu responded on Twitter, defending himself and urging Ycee to embrace “appropriate methods of contract dispute resolution” rather than rant on social media.

A few months down the line, the tumultous and seemingly fruitless partnership appears to be over. The record label of Ycee has announced the contract termination.

In a statement, the label said: “Tinny Entertainment signed a license and distribution deal with Sony Africa for the distribution of Ycee’s music globally, in the hope that Sony Africa would take their music to the next level.

“We would like to state officially that we terminated our contract with Sony through our lawyers, Olaniwun Ajayi LP, by a letter dated 5 December 2017.

“Henceforth, we are the sole owners of the copyright in any and all of our music and can exploit our music on any and every platform. We have realized that it is best to undertake the distribution of our records by ourselves, as a record label and that made in Nigeria across board, is the only way to be above board.

“As a label, we are pushing out great music this year, starting with ‘Say Bye Bye’, ‘I wish’ and our YCee and Bella collabo EP, ‘Late Night Vibrations’.”