Warner Music South Africa has acquired Coleske, a leading local independent label.
Run by Arnold Coleske and his business partners Brendon Hargroves and Paulo Azevedo, the label will continue as an independent business after the acquisition.
Coleske is the largest independent label focusing on the Afrikaans repertoire, which makes up a significant proportion of the South African music market. Other players include Select Musiek, owned by Sony Music Entertainment, and Inhoud Huis, which is associated with Universal Music Group.
Warner Music Group opened its South African subsidiary in 2013 and has been expanding in the region ever since. Warner struck a deal with Nigeria’s Chocolate City in 2019, followed by a partnership with Ziiki Media and investment in Africori in 2020.
Coleske specializes in Afrikaans pop music, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa. The label has an extensive roster of talents, including Appel, Bobby van Jaarsveld, Demi Lee Moore, Dewald Wasserfal, Elvis Blue, Jay, Karlien Van Jaarsveld, Riaan Benade, Riana Nel, and Ruhan du Toit.
Many of Coleske’s artists perform in English country music, which has a large following in South Africa. The Warner Music Group global network will help these artists collaborate with artists from other markets, including those on the Warner Music Nashville roster.
Coleske also has a successful live business, hosting the annual ‘Afrikaans is Froot’ concert in Johannesburg. It is the world’s largest Afrikaans live music concert, giving local and international Warner artists access to the platform.
Coleske also developed the successful South African television talent show Die Kontrakt. Several of its artists sit as judges and the label is in talks with broadcasters to create The Contract, an English version of the show. Warner Music plans to bring the format to other emerging markets in Africa and beyond.
“As an artist, I’ve seen the business from both sides,” says label founder Arnold Coleske. “We have built an incredible business here in South Africa and I know that partnering with Warner Music will take it to the next level. Our artists can benefit from their global firepower while still enjoying the exclusive support of the team they know and trust in Coleske.
Alfonso Perez-Soto, President of Emerging Markets for Warner Music Recorded Music, says: “This is an exciting partnership that will see us increase our presence in the South African music market, while supporting incredible Coleske artists throughout the world. world”.
“We are not only catching up with our main competitors, who have been active in this genre for many years, we are surpassing them. We will also leverage Coleske’s live infrastructure for the benefit of all of our local and global stars in South Africa, significantly expanding our value proposition for artists in the marketplace. ”
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