Gunna launched SB THE LABEL on October 9, 2026, in partnership with Warner Music Group's Atlantic Music Group, with himself as CEO and three Atlanta artists as its first signings: Casper Bluff, Nechie and Dracc. Who owns those artists' masters, who pays for their records and how profits split has not been reported: financial terms were not disclosed.
The launch came with a single. “pop it,” released the same day, will appear on Gunna's upcoming album Splurge, and its video stars tennis player Coco Gauff, per Music Business Worldwide. Nechie is not a new face in the camp: he features on “i can't feel my face” from Gunna's 2025 album The Last Wun. Dracc is known for “P Star.”
How did Gunna get here?
Until now, Gunna released his albums through Young Thug's YSL Records, an imprint of 300 Entertainment, which Warner Music Group bought in December 2021 for $400 million in cash. Wunna (2020) and DS4Ever (2022) both debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The Last Wun, his sixth studio album, arrived in August 2025 and debuted at No. 3 with 80,000 album-equivalent units, and MBW reports it was his final album via YSL Records.
The public record in between: Gunna was arrested in May 2022 in the Fulton County, Georgia, YSL indictment. On December 14, 2022, he entered an Alford plea to one count of conspiracy to violate Georgia's RICO law, a plea that lets a defendant maintain innocence while pleading guilty. He was sentenced to five years, one commuted to time served and the rest suspended, with 500 hours of community service, and was released that evening, according to The New York Times.
What does a label “partnership” with a major usually mean?
“Partnership” is a press-release word. Underneath it sits a contract, and in the record business that contract usually takes one of a few shapes. Here is what each typically means for the artist who signs to the new label, in general terms, not as a description of this deal:
| Shape | Who usually pays | Who usually owns masters |
|---|---|---|
| Funded label deal | The major pays for recording and promotion, then recoups those costs first | The major usually owns or controls them |
| Net profit / joint venture | The major fronts costs; costs come off the top, then profit splits, often 50/50 | Negotiated; often the major during the term |
| Distribution only | The label owner funds its own releases | The label owner keeps them; the distributor takes a fee, often 15 to 25% |
Those ranges come from Mixcloud's May 2026 guide to label deals, which puts the core rule plainly: in a label-funded deal, the money spent making and promoting your music “is recouped first.” That is the line every young artist should underline.
A famous CEO on the letterhead does not change who wrote the check.
What is actually reported about SB THE LABEL?
Only this: Gunna is CEO, Atlantic Music Group is the partner, and the terms are private. Rayna Bass and Selim Bouab, co-presidents of 300 Entertainment, called Gunna “one of his generation's defining artists.” AMG chairman and CEO Elliot Grainge said: “It's impossible to overstate Gunna's influence on this generation of hip-hop and music as a whole.” Neither statement says who owns what, and The Ring will not guess.
SB THE LABEL represents the beginning of a new chapter for me.Gunna, statement reported by Music Business Worldwide
It is a familiar model. Dan Nigro's Amusement Records runs as a venture inside Universal; and PLVTINUM went the other way, building Rebellion Records outside the majors.
What should an artist signing to a new label ask?
- Whose name is on my contract: the new label, or the major behind it?
- Who owns my masters, and do they ever come back to me?
- Which costs are recouped from my share, and from which income?
- What happens to my deal if the partnership ends?
For Casper Bluff, Nechie and Dracc, a CEO with two No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 is real leverage. The paperwork is what decides how much of it becomes theirs.