Breakthrough star Central Cee has signed to Warner Chappell UK, Music Week has learned.
The UK rapper has signed with the publisher as he racks up big streaming numbers with his debut mixtape Wild West, which is self-released in partnership with Warner Music’s ADA.
While the signing has not been formally announced, Warner Chappell UK’s Instagram account has today posted images from the mixtape.
Music Week understands there was intense competition for the signing of Central Cee. The Warner Chappell UK deal is one of the biggest so far for MD Shani Gonzales, who moved from the US to head up the British business six months ago.
Central Cee was selected for Spotify UK’s Radar programme earlier this year. The rising rap star from West London has 4,772,395 monthly listeners on Spotify.
Wild West has not left the albums chart Top 10 since it peaked at No.2 last month. It has sales to date of 31,057 (23,374 from streams), according to the Official Charts Company.
Central Cee has so far had three Top 20 singles – Loading (No.19 peak, 282,448 sales), Commitment Issues (No.9, 161,604 sales) and 6 For (No.16, 59,360 sales).
Video streams have contributed to those singles’ sales totals. Loading has 32 million views on YouTube, while Commitment Issues has 12m views.
Click here to read Warner Chappell UK’s Amber Davis on the publisher’s BRITs nominees.
FOLLOW 
