EMPIRE

EMPIRE is one of the few independent music companies that built global scale without abandoning the artist-partnership pitch that made it useful in the first place. Founded by Ghazi Shami in San Francisco in 2010, the company now works across distribution, label services, publishing, and artist development with a footprint that stretches well beyond the Bay Area.

What separates EMPIRE is not branding language. It is infrastructure. The company grew by offering artists faster reporting, flexible deal structures, and a release system that could compete with majors without copying their ownership-heavy logic. That credibility gave EMPIRE room to operate across hip-hop, R&B, Afrobeats, and global pop while still presenting itself as an independent-first business.

Its K-ent relevance sharpened through the international partnership around G-Dragon's comeback cycle with Galaxy Corporation. EMPIRE handled global distribution outside Asia for releases including POWER and Ubermensch, which turned the company into a meaningful part of G-Dragon's current business map alongside the visibility of PEACEMINUSONE. That connection gave EMPIRE real relevance inside K-pop media, not just peripheral curiosity.