PopArabia has made its name with publishing and label services across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, but now it is adding distribution too.
The company is acquiring label and distributor Viral Wave, which is based in Egypt’s capital Cairo. Its senior commercial manager Rania Ibrahim will oversee the company in a role as PopArabia’s general manager for Egypt.
“With the acquisition of Viral Wave, we are bringing together complementary strengths to better serve artists and rights holders as a dominant indie powerhouse,” said PopArabia CEO Spek.
The CEO of PopArabia’s parent company Reservoir, Golnar Khosrowshahi, said that the deal is “a meaningful turning point in PopArabia and Reservoir’s emerging markets story”, heralding “a new phase, with even more comprehensive operations” in the MENA region.
Besides adding distribution services, the deal swells the catalogue managed by PopArabia to nearly 100,000 Arabic songs, cementing its position in the second fastest-growing region in the world last year for recorded music – with revenues up 15.2% according to the IFPI.
