Empire Distribution

EMPIRE Distribution

Genre	Hip hop Afrobeat R&B dance reggaeton country pop Latin alternative
Founded	2010 in San Francisco, California
Founder	Ghazi Shami
Headquarters	San Francisco, US
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Ghazi Shami (CEO) Nima Etminan (COO) Tina Davis (President)
Number of employees	200 (2024)
Divisions	EMPIRE Distribution EMPIRE Publishing EMPIRE (label) EMPIRE EMPIRE Africa EMPIRE Latino EMPIRE Nashville
Website	empi.re

Empire Distribution, Records and Publishing Inc. (stylized as EMPIRE) is an independent American record label, distribution and publishing company founded in 2010 by Ghazi Shami. Based in San Francisco, EMPIRE has offices in New York, London, Lagos, and Johannesburg in addition to recording studios in San Francisco and New York.

Shami, a San Francisco native with a background in music and tech, founded Empire as a digital distribution company focused on hip hop and rap. Developing proprietary software that allowed managers and artists to easily track airplay and sales, Empire paid monthly royalties to artists, many of whom had not previously earned digital revenue, and gained early support from the Bay Area's artist community.

In 2014, Shami, known as Ghazi, launched the Empire label. Empire Africa, Empire Latino, and Empire Nashville divisions were later established. Since its founding—in partnership with artists and artist labels—Empire has released music by artists including Kendrick Lamar, Anderson .Paak, Shaboozey, Fat Joe, Tyga, Asake, Fireboy DML, XXXTentacion, G-Dragon, Philthy Rich, Young Dolph, Key Glock, King Von, Tink, Black Sherif, Yung Bleu, D Smoke, T-Pain, Snoop Dogg, DRAM, Cardi B and Emtee, among others. Empire Publishing was founded in 2020.