Universal Music Poland Acquires Kayax Records Catalog in a Landmark Deal for the Polish Music Market
Universal Music Poland has acquired the catalog and brand of Kayax Records, a Warsaw-based independent label founded in 2001 whose roster spans some of the most recognised names in Polish music. The deal was announced on Thursday, August 20, and described by Polish daily Rzeczpospolita as the largest takeover in years on the Polish music market Rzeczpospolita.
The agreement covers global recording rights to the label's catalog — close to 130 albums built over more than two decades — plus the rights to the Kayax Records brand itself, according to Music Business Worldwide MBW. Financial terms were not disclosed by either party.
Kayax's catalog includes recordings by Brodka, Nosowska, Zakopower, Smolik, Krzysztof Zalewski, Natalia Przybysz, Maria Peszek, Artur Rojek, Mery Spolsky and Karaś/Rogucki. Albums issued under the Kayax banner also include releases by Hey, Urszula Dudziak, Reni Jusis, Skubas and The Dumplings. Specific titles named in the deal range from Brodka's Clashes and Nosowska's Basta to Zakopower's Boso and Maria Peszek's Maria Awaria.
One name sits partly outside the transaction. Singer Kayah, who co-founded Kayax Records with Tomasz "Tomik" Grewiński in 2001, said in May 2025 that she had recovered master recording rights to her albums released after 2003 and was no longer under a recording contract with Kayax Production & Publishing. Her post-2003 recordings — including the 2009 album Skała, which Kayax lists among its releases — fall outside the catalog Universal acquired.
Grewiński became sole owner of Kayax Records in April 2025 after buying out Kayah's stake in Kayax Production & Publishing, the company behind the label. He remains owner and Managing Director of Kayax Management, a separate management business that was not part of the catalog acquisition. Universal Music Poland has, however, entered a strategic partnership with that management arm.
Maciej Kutak, CEO of Universal Music Poland and SVP Central Eastern Europe at Universal Music Group, oversees the Polish operation that will absorb the catalog. Once the transaction is finalized, Kayax Records will retain a separate identity and become the fourth label under Universal Music Polska, according to Polish music site Teraz Muzyka Teraz Muzyka. Kayax confirmed on its own website that its recordings catalog is being transferred to Universal and that "the further history of Kayax Records will continue at Universal Music Polska" Kayax.
For fans of the artists involved, the practical impact is straightforward: the music stays available, now distributed through a major label's global infrastructure rather than an independent's. For the Polish market, the deal puts a sizeable chunk of the country's contemporary recorded catalogue under the same corporate roof as Universal's international roster — a consolidation that Rzeczpospolita flagged as the most significant in years, and one that reflects the broader pattern of major labels acquiring independent catalogs to deepen their territorial holdings.
