Sony Music has appointed Christel Kayibi to its Africa & Continental Europe team as director of repertoire strategy for Africa. She will report directly to Daniel Lieberberg, president, Continental Europe & Africa, in close coordination with Sean Watson, managing director of Sony Music Africa.
Based in London, Christel Kayibi will work alongside the major’s teams in South, East and West Africa, as well as French-speaking Africa. She will develop Sony Music’s rosters and network, identifying catalogue, label and other investment opportunities in order to support the company’s advance into new markets across the continent.
Christel Kayibi will also work closely with the regional and local Africa teams to assist with the signing of artists in partnership with Sony Music labels worldwide.
Christel Kayibi was voted best lawyer in music industry during The Young Music Boss (YMB) Awards whick took place at Earth, Hackney (London) on Wednesday 16th February 2022. The YMB Awards recognises the outstanding achievements of the U35 groundbreakers who work tirelessly to innovate and elevate the music industry.
Established leader and legal professional
An established leader and legal professional with over 8 years of international business experience, Christel Kayibi was, since January 2019, Legal Business Affairs Manager & A&R at Columbia Records UK, which is a division of Sony Music Entertainment. This role includes working closely with various functions including finance, sales and marketing as the Legal and Business Affairs Managers for Columbia Records, 5K Records and Dream Life Records to ensure the successful day to day operations of all labels. She was responsible for all the legal and business affairs.
Born in democratic republic of Congo (DRC), Christel Kayibi’s parents decided to move to London when she was two, and she has lived most of her life in London. She also lived in Ghana for about 7 months, in 2016.
She holds a Bachelor of law from Kings College London and attended a legal practicing course (Law) from BPP University Law School (London). Passionate, confident and determined with excellent leadership skills and strong relationships in the music industry, she has a deep knowledge of African music, culture and trends gained over a number of years working with Mr Eazi and various other artists and through living and working in Accra, Ghana.
Early days in the music industry
Christel Kayibi originally came into the music industry in 2017 as Legal Counsel and Business Strategist for Banku Music, Mr Eazi’s music label . “With Eazi, I actually knew his DJ. My friend Naija Boy used to DJ for Fuse ODG, and I met him in 2015 at an afro-beat karaoke night in Shoreditch. I think we actually had a dance-off. When I moved to Ghana in 2016, Naija Boy called me and said Mr Eazi needs a lawyer and asked if I could help him. “I said [to Fuse ODG], ‘but I’m not a music lawyer,’ and he came back and said ‘but you’re still a lawyer, so just speak to him and see how you can help.’ So, I ended up meeting Eazi after one of his shows, and he shared with me what he wanted to do in music and his long-term view of being a businessman. Two-three weeks after that, I got a call again from Naija Boy, and suddenly I was back in London with Mr Eazi having another meeting – and we just started working together from there.”, Christel Kayibi told ubjournal.com.
As global legal counsel to Mr. Eazi, she negotiated various commercial, publishing and licensing deals with labels and distribution companies in Africa, the UK and the US. She has also represented and advised other notable artists and personalities such as YCEE, R2bees, Legendary Beatz and Eddie Kadi.
Others key achievements include managing all legal and strategic aspects of the Banku Music label which transitioned from a label with one artist in 2017 to a label with 4 key artists including Mr Eazi, Joeboy, J.Derobi and GuiltyBeatz. She also managed all legal and strategic aspects of the emPawa Africa music incubator from inception to a company currently distributing audio and video content for 100 artist across the continent of Africa which has achieved over 2 billion audio and video streams across all DSPs and video channels.
First link with Columbia
Christel Kayibi was first linked with Columbia by negotiating Mr. Eazi’s record deal with them. The (now) president of Columbia took her number when the deal was signed, champagne was popped, etc, and they kept in touch. She would actually go to meet him on her lunch breaks and just sit and talk to him about what was going on with the artists and they formed a solid working connection. Eventually, he ended up offering her the job as a Music Lawyer at Columbia and she was working with him by January 2019 as a music lawyer. “In music, there’s a lot of diversity. Diversity of thought, diversity of culture and diversity of creativity. I mean, I’m a lawyer, so I’m not in the most creative sector, but I’m also in A&R meaning that I can be creative. I focus a lot more on Africa, but being on a UK label (Sony) you still have to focus on UK music, too, but there’s still that kind of freedom to focus on what I like. Music is fun, obviously. Covid has changed it a bit, because you feel more like an office worker, but when the outside is open and you’re going to parties, album launches and Wireless, that’s when you actually enjoy the perks of working in music”, Christel Kayibi told ubjournal.com.
Corporate career
Prior to join music industry, Christel Kayibi has worked for several law firms and company. In 2012, she began her legal career as a trainee solicitor at the prestigious London law firm, Slaughter and May. Two years later, she was admitted as a solicitor and began practicing as a corporate finance lawyer. During her time as a corporate finance lawyer, she advised multinational companies such as BA, Unilever, World Duty Free, Ahli United Bank, Santander, as well as represented the African Export-Import Bank (a pan-African multilateral trade finance institution) on various financing transactions across Africa. During her 4 year career as a corporate finance lawyer, Christel Kayibi worked at Slaughter and May, Hunton & Williams LLP (USA) as associate finance; Kimathi & Partners, Corporate Attorneys (Accra, Ghana), as Legal secondee; White & Case LLP (USA), as associate; Slaughter and May (UK), as associate finance; and was also Legal consultant for Bedfont Scientific Ltd (UK), a company specialised in the design and manufacture of exhaled breath and gas monitoring instruments since 1976.
