KMA Records is a full-stack artist partnership operating under Kulture Media Africa. Distribution, global royalty infrastructure, radio & TV placement, curator pitching, and publishing administration — all in one annual partnership. Built for East Africa. Open to the world.
Distribution moves files. KMA Records moves infrastructure — royalty registration, global publishing administration, curator pitching, radio and TV placement, and institutional affiliation. Everything that separates a distributed artist from a signed one.
KMA Records is not for everyone. It is priced to filter for commitment. The $299 investment returns multiples when every royalty stream is properly registered and collected.
You've been distributing independently. You're getting streams. But you know money is being left on the table — radio royalties, international mechanical royalties, digital radio. KMA Records closes those gaps.
Your music is in Luganda, Swahili, or any East African language and you want global reach with cultural integrity intact. KMA understands your sound and advocates for it correctly.
You want your music on NTV Uganda, KTN Kenya, ITV Tanzania, or regional radio stations. KMA Records has the relationships and the process to pitch properly.
You're based outside East Africa but you know Boomplay, regional radio, and African streaming is where your next audience lives. KMA is your local operator with global infrastructure.
KMA Records is not for hobbyists, artists releasing their first track with no prior streaming presence, or anyone looking for a quick upload service. KMA Distribution handles that. KMA Records is for artists building a career — which means you take both the music and the business seriously. If you apply and we don't think it's the right fit, we'll tell you honestly and point you to KMA Distribution instead.
We are not publishing fake rosters. We are not inventing success stories. KMA Records is open for founding artist applications as of 2026.
The first 20 artists who are accepted into KMA Records receive founding status: permanent recognition, priority support, and first access to every new service we build — radio partnerships, sync licensing, institutional archival — as the label grows.
This is not hype. It is a genuine invitation to build something together from the ground up.
$299/year. Renewable annually. Cancel at any time with 30 days notice. Every layer of royalty infrastructure included — no hidden fees, no piecemeal add-ons.
The music industry runs on a network of royalty collection bodies that most artists have never heard of. Money is being generated by your music right now and going uncollected because you're not registered. KMA Records fixes this on day one.
The largest PRO in the US. Collects performance royalties when your compositions are played publicly — radio, TV, streaming, live, retail.
The only US government-designated body for collecting digital radio royalties on master recordings. 3,200+ digital platforms — Pandora, SiriusXM, iHeartRadio — pay SoundExchange by law.
The world's largest publishing administration platform. Collects mechanical royalties, international performance royalties, and micro-sync from 240 countries — money that ASCAP alone cannot reach.
The most established pay-to-pitch platform in independent music. Connects artists with playlist curators, music blogs, YouTube channels, radio stations, and independent labels through a credit-based, guaranteed-feedback system.
Local performing rights organisations in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda. These collect royalties from domestic radio, TV, live performance, and public performance within each country.
YouTube's fingerprinting system that identifies your master recording in any video on the platform — official or user-generated — and routes ad revenue from those videos to the rights holder.
"Every major music distribution infrastructure in the world was built in the West. The pipes that carry East African music to Spotify were designed for Western artists. The royalty collection bodies that exist are optimised for Western markets. The playlist curators who decide what gets heard are overwhelmingly not from this continent.
KMA Records is not trying to game that system. We are building a node within it that is owned by East Africa, operated with East African cultural fluency, and oriented toward long-term sovereignty over what we create.
$299 is not a fee. It is the cost of building infrastructure that should have existed here decades ago."
The music industry runs on institutional knowledge. Which PROs collect in which territories. How to register compositions with 65 collection societies simultaneously. Which curators actually respond to Taarab versus Singeli versus Kadongo Kamu. What a correct SubmitHub pitch looks like for a genre that most curators have never encountered.
This knowledge is not freely distributed. It accumulates slowly through expensive trial and error, or it's bought through a label deal that trades artist ownership for access. KMA Records makes it available without the ownership trade.
You retain 100% of your masters. You retain 100% of your publishing. You retain 100% of your creative decisions. KMA Records provides the infrastructure, the institutional knowledge, and the pipeline connections. You bring the music.
East Africa has a royalty crisis that very few people are talking about. Artists whose music is played on Pandora have never registered with SoundExchange. Artists whose compositions are streamed in Germany have never registered with a German mechanical collection society. Artists whose songs play on Ugandan radio have never joined UPRS.
This is not ignorance — it is a structural failure of the industry to make these systems accessible. KMA Records is the access point.
We are launching with 20 founding artist spots. When those are filled, we will grow carefully — maintaining the quality of service that justifies a label relationship. We are not building volume. We are building something that lasts.
Every application is reviewed by a human. We respond within 5 business days. If accepted, onboarding begins within the same week.
KMA Records is currently accepting Founding Artist applications — 20 spots available. Founding artists receive permanent recognition, priority support, and first access to every new service as the label grows. The $299/year fee is only collected after your application is accepted.
Your application is in our hands. A human at KMA will review it within 5 business days. Watch your inbox — no automated responses.
KMA Records, operating under Kulture Media Africa, provides a full-stack artist partnership service. This is not a traditional record label deal. KMA Records acts as a distribution operator, royalty registration facilitator, promotion manager, and institutional connector — not as a rights owner, creative controller, or financial backer.
You retain 100% ownership of all master recordings and all composition copyrights. The "KMA Records" label credit on DSP metadata is an affiliation designation, not a rights claim. This agreement is non-exclusive. You may release music through other services simultaneously. KMA Records makes no claim on your future work, synchronisation rights, merchandise, live performance income, or any revenue stream not explicitly covered in this agreement.
Artists receive 75% of net streaming royalties collected through KMA Records' distribution pipeline. KMA retains 25% to cover distribution infrastructure, promotion costs including SubmitHub credit spend, and operational services. This split does not apply to royalties collected directly through ASCAP, SoundExchange, Songtrust, or your home country PRO — those are collected directly to your registered accounts at their prevailing rates.
The KMA Records annual partnership fee is USD $299. This fee is collected only after your application is accepted and covers all services described in the package for a 12-month period. The fee is non-refundable after onboarding is initiated. Renewal is at the artist's discretion at the beginning of each annual period.
KMA Records guarantees formal submission of each release to: 20 SubmitHub curators, Spotify for Artists editorial pitch (when submitted 7+ days before release), and regional East African radio and TV contacts. KMA Records does not guarantee playlist placements, editorial features, radio spins, or specific streaming volumes. These outcomes are determined by third parties and are not within KMA's control.
Royalty registration through ASCAP, SoundExchange, Songtrust, and home country PROs is facilitated by KMA Records as part of onboarding. These registrations create direct accounts in the artist's name. KMA Records has no access to or control over funds held by these organisations. The artist is responsible for maintaining their accounts with these organisations after registration.
The artist may cancel with 30 days written notice to records@kulturemedia.africa. KMA will initiate takedown from all DSPs within the notice period. Outstanding royalties from the distribution pipeline are paid in the next payout cycle. PRO registrations, SoundExchange registrations, and Songtrust accounts remain the artist's property after termination.
This agreement is governed by the laws of the Republic of Uganda.
We collect your artist name, legal name, email, country, genre, streaming links, and application answers submitted through our application form. We also collect streaming analytics data as reported by DSPs for signed artists.
Application data is used exclusively to review and process your application and, if accepted, to manage your artist partnership. Analytics data is used to generate reports and facilitate royalty payouts. We do not sell, rent, or share your personal data with third-party marketers.
As part of onboarding, KMA Records will share necessary information (name, email, registered address, music catalogue data) with ASCAP, SoundExchange, Songtrust, and your home country PRO for the purpose of royalty registration. This sharing is required to complete registration and is disclosed here as part of your informed consent to the process.
You may request access, correction, or deletion of your personal data at any time by emailing records@kulturemedia.africa. We respond within 7 business days.
Access to application data is restricted to KMA Records operations staff. We use standard industry encryption practices for data in transit and storage.