Ghazi Shami accepts the Clive Davis Visionary award from Olamide at SXSW London 2025.
Penske Media Corporation (which also owns Billboard) and film and production company MRC became investment partners of SXSW in 2021. Penske took majority ownership of SXSW two years later.
Mike Van:
Past years, the Clive Davis Visionary Award is usually presented at our Power 100 event before the Grammys. Yet due to the wildfires in L.A. this year, we were forced to cancel that event. As such, we could not go without presenting the award this year, and in many ways, this is an even more fitting room for the occasion given the incredibly bold vision of this year’s honoree. This remarkable leader has been making big bets around the world for years, investing in artists and executive talent from Africa to Asia to the Middle East and, of course, in the U.S., and making global waves. In the process, his company, Empire, has been part of 62 Billboard Hot 100 hits as an imprint or label, including Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song,” which tied the record as the song with the most weeks at No.1 in the Hot 100 as well as in history in last year, at 19 weeks. Empire has also been an imprint or label on eight top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 and had a hand in distributing over 150 albums that have reached the Billboard 200 chart. To present this award, we’d like to welcome one of this year’s Global Power players and the founder of Nigeria’s most prominent record labels, YBNL nation. Please give it up for Olamide.
Olamide:
Thank you, Billboard, for having me today. Ghazi has partnered with YBNL for six years, and the Empire team has helped expand the global reach of not just YBNL artists, but music from African continent as a whole. Through its hard work and strong vision, Ghazi has shifted how artists and labels work together in true partnership. As Empire celebrates 15 years, we hope Ghazi and Empire team continue to set the bar for independent musicians globally. Thank you.
