Nigerian singer, David Adeleke also known as Davido has joined the upper echelon of music executives to launch his record label. Nine+ in a collaborative deal with UnitedMaster’s Steve Stoute.
According to Steve Stoute, who is an American record executive, in an interview with Bill Board “I believe the music Davido has created and shared with the world has been exceptional,” . “For me, his fusion of Nigerian and Atlanta influences, coupled with his personal experiences, resonates uniquely through his lyrics and production. I couldn’t quite pinpoint it at the time, but there was something distinct about his sound and song structure.”
The agreement was finalized on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, with UnitedMasters, which recently expanded its operations to Nigeria, to establish the new label, Nine+ Records. Stoute and Davido are determined to explore beyond the confines of Afrobeats, venturing into diverse genres such as hip-hop, R&B, Latin, country, and more, in their quest to discover fresh talent.
Stoute concurrently served as Executive Vice President of Interscope Geffen A&M Records and President of Urban Music at Sony Music from 1999 to 2009.
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While Davido currently oversees DMW (Davido Music World), housing recording acts like Dremo, Yonda, and Peruzzi, among others, this new deal emphasizes the establishment of structured systems.
-  “In the interview with Billboard, Davido mentioned, ‘I have a studio and a headquarters, but it’s different from the way I’ve worked,”
Stoute noted. Nevertheless, he emphasized the importance of implementing structure for scalability. “If you wanna scale, you gotta bring structure,” Stout insisted. “He’s a super-talented guy. He’s gonna find talented people. There’s been a lot of people who are talented, but they didn’t have the business structure around them. They never got a chance to see the effects of their talents go all the way. It’s the guys who had structure with talent that could go all the way. My job is bringing that structure to him and hopefully to his team.”
Already, Davido has garnered significant traction both locally and internationally. For example, the music video for his hit single “Unavailable,” featuring South African sensation Musa Keys, has surpassed 100 million views on YouTube.
Released just a year ago on April 11, 2023, as one of the singles from Davido’s record-breaking album ‘Timeless,’ the video has achieved remarkable international success.
