Downtown expands presence in Africa, as Sheer rebrands to Downtown Music Publishing Africa – Music Business Worldwide
Downtown Music Publishing has unveiled a division based in and dedicated to Africa.
The Johannesburg-headquartered unit, Downtown Music Publishing Africa, has launched following the rebrand of Sheer Publishing Africa.
Sheer was acquired by DMP parent Downtown Music Holdings in 2020, formally expanding the company’s geographic footprint to the African continent.
Effective today (May 27, 2025) DMP said that the rebrand signals “more than a visual refresh” and marks “a deeper alignment with the global vision” of Downtown Music Publishing.
Downtown Music Publishing Africa will continue to be led by Managing Director Thando Makhunga, having originally joined Sheer as MD in 2022.
As part of the rebrand, DMP said that Downtown Music Publishing Africa will roll out an expanded suite of services.
This includes the introduction of Neighbouring Rights Administration, which DMP noted, “will create new income streams for performers and rights holders across the continent”.
“This is a transformational moment, not only for us but for music rights management on the continent.”
Thando Makhunga, DMP Africa
DMP Africa will also be the first publisher in Africa to implement Curve, Downtown’s global royalty accounting system, which it acquired in 2023.
“This is a transformational moment, not only for us but for music rights management on the continent,” said Makhunga.
“The rebrand isn’t just cosmetic – it’s about redefining what it means to be a music publishing partner in Africa. African music is shaping the global sound, and we’re here to ensure that royalty flows across borders – giving creators the remuneration and respect they deserve.”
“Through DMP Africa, we are investing not just in infrastructure, but in long-term relationships that will shape the future of the music industry.”
Emily Stephenson, DMP
Commenting further on Sheer’s rebrand and the official launch of Downtown Music Publishing Africa, Makhunga told MBW that “on a very operational level [there will be] far closer alignment on systems and processes.”
Added Makhunga: “That includes our finance and people management systems, the royalty accounting and copyright administration software that we use – one of the things that we’re going to be rolling out this year is Curve – so we’re all going to be on the same platforms, have closer alignment on agreement templates and [a more aligned] approach from a business philosophy perspective”.
According to today’s announcement, DMP Africa will gain access to Downtown’s royalty administration and client services through Downtown’s worldwide infrastructure, enabling it to drive what DMP claims to be a “greater cultural impact and unlock new opportunities for creators across the continent, as well as for global publishers and rights holders operating in and beyond Africa.”
The company said that DMP Africa’s expanded focus is “already reflected in a growing roster of international partnerships”.
DMP Africa noted that it works with global clients such as Warner Chappell, Concord, as well as other independent publishers on the continent, including Sintonia (Angola), Vuga Music (Nigeria/U.S.), Murmure Publishing (France), Bucks Music Group (UK), and Saregama (India).
Founded in 1996, Sheer Publishing Africa has built what DMP calls “an esteemed catalog of South African compositions and international titles”.
The 30-year-old company has worked with creators across genres from Amapiano to Afro-Jazz, Kwaito to Hip-Hop.
“Africa is one of the most dynamic creative regions in the world,” said Emily Stephenson, President of Downtown Music Publishing.
“Through DMP Africa, we are investing not just in infrastructure, but in long-term relationships that will shape the future of the music industry.”
“This marks an important new chapter in our presence across Africa, a region rich in creativity, culture, and talent.”
Pieter van Rijn, Downtown Music
Pieter van Rijn, CEO of Downtown Music, said: “This marks an important new chapter in our presence across Africa, a region rich in creativity, culture, and talent.
“DMP Africa reflects our belief in the region’s creative power and our responsibility to support its continued expansion.
“By partnering local expertise with global access and investing in long-term, equitable partnerships, we will ensure that talent from across the African diaspora is rewarded on a global scale.”
Below, Thando Makhunga, Managing Director of Downtown Music Publishing Africa, and Emily Stephenson, President of Downtown Music Publishing, tell us more about the rebrand, challenges in the market, and their predictions for the future.
Can you describe the specific changes that your partners will experience daily going forward, compared to when they were under the Sheer publishing brand?
Thando Makhunga: One of the things that we struggled with when Sheer was a standalone independent publisher was income tracking globally. Already, just through the closer alignment between our various copyright departments across the world, we’ve been able to start seeing those revenues come through for our creators, not just in South Africa, but West Africa and East Africa. So I think they’ve already started to see that tangible impact.
The other thing, which is really important for us, is to start exposing our catalog, our writers, and our creators to new markets. We’re working, for example, very closely with DMP on a product called Downtown Clear, which basically opens up an entire sync and creative industry to us that wasn’t readily available, particularly on production music.
We have a catalog called Skumba, which represents African Production Music dating back to the ’60s. We just haven’t been able to crack the US market for that catalog. The production music space is a very tough industry, and it’s not easy to access the biggest markets in the world. I think that’s one exciting opportunity.
The other one we’re going to introduce is Neighboring Rights, which also falls under the Downtown publishing ambit of services. We are super excited to finally be able to manage neighboring rights as well, not just in South Africa but on the continent, over and above the publishing rights that we’re administering.
The neighboring rights addition is really interesting. Do you have any ballpark predictions for the revenue impact that you see for creators over the next 12 to 24 months?
Emily Stephenson: Neighboring rights is a tough business. It’s complicated. It can be a bit antiquated in process at times. It’s a revenue opportunity, absolutely, but for us, we really want to ensure that as we’re launching Downtown Music Publishing Africa, we want to make sure that we’re able to offer a suite of services that covers all the rights that creators and copyright owners in that territory own.
We do feel like it will be impactful, and as Thando mentioned, we have our estimations for that. But more than anything, the impetus wasn’t necessarily a revenue play. It was how to become the full suite of services for copyright owners in Africa. So that was really the vision there.
Downtown Music Publishing Africa will be the first publisher in Africa to use Downtown’s royalty system, Curve. What pain points in the current royalty landscape across the African continent will this solve?
Thando Makhunga: One of the challenges that we face in Africa, but I’ll start with South Africa, which, mind you, has a far more entrenched rights management ecosystem – are issues around accurate reporting, so the quality of statements that we’re able to deliver to our clients, transparency, and ease of access to information.
The beauty about Curve is that it is obviously a Downtown-owned entity. We’ve had so much input into designing a publishing solution that makes sense for a wide range of users.
Not only do we speak to independent creators in Africa, but we also act as a sub-publisher for very large international catalogs. So, the design of the tool is going to be very robust and will allow us to be far more efficient across the spectrum of our client base.
I’m hoping our clients will appreciate just how much more quickly we’re able to resolve matters, and that we’re not using archaic systems. It’s a system designed for the future.
The press release mentions that African music is shaping the global sound. How is Downtown positioning itself to capitalize on genres coming out of South Africa and wider Africa, and what revenue opportunities do you see in the market that others globally might be missing?
Thando Makhunga: We’ve already started far more proactive engagements, particularly with the A&R team, [but also with] creative teams on sync and licensing opportunities.
When I mentioned earlier around us all using different systems; it sounds like a minor matter, but the ability for someone in New York, if they’re looking for information on Afrobeats, or Amapiano or an East African genre, that they require quickly to license or sync – or envision an American client who wants to collaborate with or sample african music – having systems and databases that are aligned, even at an operational level, creates additional opportunities for our writers.
Obviously, Downtown Music, DMP Africa, and Downtown Publishing manage hundreds of thousands of titles. So, having access to information globally will be beneficial to our territory.
The acquisition of Sheer in 2020 was very bold at the time, because I don’t think anyone would have anticipated that Africa would be where it is now, in terms of the likes of Tyla and Tems and all of these Billboard charting hits from the continent featuring regularly in the US market.
So, I think Downtown Music is very well positioned for the future, whether it’s in South America, Asia, or Africa. Downtown Music Publishing Africa is going to play a big part in that success story.
Would you say Downtown was ahead of other companies in terms of investing in Africa via that Sheer acquisition?
Thando Makhunga: Absolutely, because we’re only seeing it now. We work primarily with independent creators, and those are the people who will tell you what’s really happening in the industry and what’s really needed in the market. I’m excited about it, and even this decision to align more closely is very future-forward.
We spoke a bit about the pain points in the royalty landscape – what other challenges are you seeing in the publishing market, in South Africa and the wider African continent that you are either concerned about, or thinking about, and looking at addressing?
Thando Makhunga: The major challenge at the moment is that there’s increasing fragmentation across the continent. We’re starting to see it even between global CMOs, if I could describe it that way. Licensing is starting to become quite complicated, whereas in the more established markets, it’s more of a one-stop solution to your licensing.
So I think DSPs, the likes of Apple and Spotify, and all of those platforms that are now growing very well on the continent, are also starting to find friction in the market across the various regions.
The fragmentation across 54 countries — and the various complexities that come with that — makes it challenging for us as publishers, which is why it’s so important for us as an industry to move in the same direction.
Emily and I have had many conversations about this, just in terms of what’s happening with collective management globally. We’ve discussed how to ensure that we’re collecting efficiently and working with the right people in the different territories because it is a very dynamic and complex landscape.
Emily Stephenson: I would also just add specifically in South Africa, for so long, there have only been a couple of income sources, but other rights societies and hubs are also starting to appreciate the opportunity in the region. More than ever before, we are seeing competition in the licensing and collection landscape in the territory. That’s one reason why it’s so important for us to align these businesses. A really great partner for DMP and other parts of the world might be coming to South Africa or other parts of Africa to license or to pick up some rights.
It’s a great opportunity for Thando and me to be able to discuss how our experience with one licensing hub has been and if they are a good option for us in African territories. Thinking globally has been really beneficial for us. So while at times it has been a bit fragmented and feels like there are all these new players in the game. It’s also such an opportunity for us that can feel overwhelming if we don’t take this global approach.
It’s such an opportunity for us, and that’s another reason why we wanted to do this.
Looking ahead over the next two to three years. What does success look like for the rebranded Downtown Music Publishing Africa?
Thando Makhunga: We spent a lot of time crafting a vision for the current process, and we landed on this phrase, which is “bringing Africa to the world and bringing the world to Africa.”
So, from my perspective, I’m a huge champion for African creators. As I mentioned in my example about Production Music, we represent super-talented composers who I believe are world-class, and I want them to have access to US markets with the support of Downtown.
We’re just as passionate about them, and similarly, to find opportunities for Downtown creators and tools. And even beyond publishing in Africa, I think an ideal position would be in three years time, possible and very viable and also very profitable, because, ultimately, it’s a creative business. So that, for me, would be a measure of success is that it’s a far more integrated workflow stream of rights and revenue very accurately and very smoothly.
Emily, is there anything else you think we should know about the rebrand, or DMP’s plans in Africa?
Emily Stephenson: The rebrand will probably be the most tangible element of this initially, but we hope and expect that our clients and the industry, both locally and globally, will really feel the impact of this alignment.
Thando touched on so many parts of it, but there’s so much opportunity from the back office operations, like our copyright, royalties, income tracking, data teams, and all of our technology teams, to our Curve integration. There’s also so much creativity between sync, production music, A&R, and marketing in general.
Obviously, there’s a rebranding element to this, but this is a full integration between two long-standing, independent, incredible businesses. We have a lot of expectations for what we think the opportunities are, but I have no doubt that even more will be uncovered as we move through this process.
Our teams are really excited about it. Internally, everyone’s pumped about it. It’s a huge testament to what Thando has created in what feels like a short time she’s been leading this team.
It’s amazing to see it come to fruition in this way. I’m very bullish on the opportunities it will unlock for both businesses.Music Business Worldwide
