Avex Music Group Teams Up with Elkan, Producer for Drake and Rihanna, to Launch Toibox Publishing Joint Venture

Avex Music Group has entered into a worldwide publishing agreement with producer Elkan and joined forces with him to establish a new publishing joint venture, Toibox by Elkan.

Under the new deal, Elkan’s full catalog — including all future output and previous works — will be published through Avex Music Group, and Avex says it will also back the signing and development of writer-producers Elkan “is passionate about”.

US-headquartered Avex Music Group was formed in March by Tokyo-headquartered entertainment giant Avex Inc. after acquiring 100% of the S10 Music Publishing song catalog and an additional stake in S10 Management.

The company also anmed music industry veteran and S10 founder Brandon Silverstein as Chief Executive Officer of the newly formed AMG.

Toibox, in partnership with Avex, has already signed its first two writer-producers, Kavin “Kavin” Smith and Luke “Cobali” Gobrial, “with more signings to come”.

In addition to publishing Elkan’s catalog, the Avex team will collaborate closely with Elkan, his longtime manager Kasual Kas, and business partner Kristina Mazzola, to identify and develop a “new wave” of writers and artists through the Toibox venture.

Elkan, who most recently produced Drake’s No.1 global hit Nokia, was also a writer and producer on Rihanna’s new single Friend of Mine from the upcoming SMURFS movie soundtrack.

Over the years, he has also worked with such artists as Metro Boomin, Lecrae, among others. He began his production career in Freetown, Sierra Leone after an uncle introduced him to FL Studio, eventually earning early support from Metro Boomin and Lil Baby.

He later contributed to Lecrae’s Grammy Award-winning album Church Clothes 4 and is currently signed to Atlantic Records as an artist.

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