2010-2014: Founding, early success Empire was founded in by Ghazi Shami. Raised in San Francisco, he grew up listening to Bay Area artists such as
Too Short,
Spice 1,
RBL Posse,
Souls of Mischief,
Luniz,
JT the Bigga Figga, and
Rappin' 4-Tay. Equally interested in music and technology, in college he worked at the tech companies Sun Microsystems, Eloquent Technologies and Audio Highway; he later worked at
Hyde Street Studios, where he engineered and mixed music by artists including
Messy Marv,
Planet Asia and Too Short. In 2006, he was hired at
INgrooves Music Group, an independent distribution and marketing company. While he had written code and built out streaming media sites since he was a teenager, at INgrooves, he learned about the intricacies of digital distribution, artist contracts, and royalties. Helping to build the company's rap division, he signed
DIY artists representative of the Bay Area sound and culture, often introducing them to online revenue streams. Ghazi founded Empire from his home in the
Potrero neighborhood of San Francisco in 2010. In a 2019 interview, he said: "This company wouldn't exist if I wasn’t born and bred in the Bay; in SF and Silicon Valley. This company is as much a software company as it is a music company. It’d be a disservice to the roots, to the origin, to everything that I stand for, if this company wasn't firmly planted or rooted here." Initially focused on rap, Empire's backend technology bypassed the existing digital distribution system and delivered music directly to streaming and retail platforms quickly to capitalize on the viral momentum of the genre's traditional rapid-fire releases. Contracts were non-exclusive and proprietary software allowed managers and artists to easily track royalties, which were paid monthly. The company's core practices, in addition to Ghazi's relationships, attracted artists, and as Empire gained traction, Ghazi hired Nima Etminan as his second-in-command.
2014-2020: Empire Records, Empire Latino, Empire Nashville With its digital distribution platform successful, Empire established Empire Records. Among others, the label released Anderson .Paak's album
Malibu, which earned .Paak a Grammy nomination in the Best New Artist, category, as well as Fat Joe's “All The Way Up” and DRAM's “Broccoli.”
Young Dolph turned down a $22 million major label deal to sign with Empire and remain independent. In an interview with
Variety, Dolph said: "Empire is on deck with people who love to do this shit just as much as I do...whether you got money to deal with it or no money to deal with it, the best relationships are going to be the ones where you understand each other." In 2017,
XXXTentacion's debut album,
17, was released on Empire. It charted at #2 on the
Billboard Top 200. His sophomore album was released on Capitol. He returned to re-sign with Empire a month before his death;
The New York Times reported that the deal was worth $10 million. XXXTentacion's posthumous album,
Skins, debuted at #1 on the
Billboard album chart. In 2018,
Tina Davis, previously an artist manager and a head of A&R at Def Jam, was named SVP of A&R, and a partnership with
L.A. Reid's Hitco was announced.
King Von's Empire-distributed song "
Crazy Story" was a 3× platinum viral hit. He subsequently signed with Empire, releasing the mixtape,
Grandson, which became one of the label's most successful releases. Empire also worked with Tyga in 2018; the track
"Taste", was 9× platinum as of 2023. Empire began working with Latino artists including
Tego Calderón and
Luis Enrique in 2012, and in 2018 established Empire Latino. In 2019, Empire Latino had its first hit with Puerto Rican reggaeton artist
Jay Wheeler; as of 2023, his song
La Curiosidad was 8× platinum. Empire Nashville, a country music division, was founded in 2019, "blazing a trail for Black country artists."
2020 - present: Empire Publishing, Empire Africa, Shaboozey In 2020, after developing proprietary software specific to music publishing that provided transparency similar to Empire's royalty software, Empire established a publishing division. Initial signings included
Illmind,
Nebu Kiniza,
Dr Zeus and Empire artists Young Dolph, Key Glock,
Mozzy, Fireboy DML,
Yung Bleu and
RJMrLA. In partnership with
Olamide and his label,
YBNL Nation, Empire Africa's first signing was Nigerian Afrobeats artist
Fireboy DML. Peezy's "2 Million Up" went viral on TikTok and hit seven
Billboard charts, including the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, Rap Airplay and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. In October 2022, Empire acquired the Bay area-founded dance label, Dirtybird. In January 2023, a partnership with the Web3 investment platform, Nebula, was announced. It was also announced that
Money Man, who was paid in
Bitcoin when he signed with Empire in 2021, would release his EP on the Nebula platform. In June 2023, Davis was named president of the company. In May 2024, Shaboozey—who signed with Empire in 2021—released the album ''
Where I've Been, Isn't Where I'm Going. The album was a worldwide hit, with the single "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" hitting #1 on the Billboard
Country Airplay chart. It held the top position on the Billboard'' Hot 100 for 16 non-consecutive weeks, tying the 2020s record for the most weeks at #1 in November. He was nominated for five 2025 Grammy Awards, including
Song of the Year (for "A Bar Song (Tipsy)") and
Best New Artist. ==Awards and nominations==