Sony Music Puerto Rico has had its facilities on the island since 1980.
Chairman/CEO Ron Perry and executive vp/GM Jen Mallory have guided the label to an increasingly rare kind of pop music success, with established superstars and next-gen talents alike dominating on all fronts.
They'll be the first pair to receive the honor since Herb Alpert & Jerry Moss, the co-founders of A&M Records.
"The test of time shows that he had a freaking secret formula that nobody has been able to emulate. Even today the music just blows you away."
Kayibi will look for investments and deals in both Anglophone and Francophone Africa.
The new label's first release arrives this week, with FMU also dropping the debut album from Wonderland's Whyte Fang project this March.
Ethiopia Habtemariam oversaw the best period for the storied label in years. With her impending departure, questions for the future remain.
"It helped pull us out of the disco days and it became a whole new world," says one former Epic Records exec of the landmark album.
This move, says PIAS Group co-founder Kenny Gates, “makes us stronger."
The deal expands on an earlier partnership between the two that involved the [PIAS] distribution wing [Integral].
