Guide · 07
Label and universe
NUBAYIN Studio is the label and the frame. Its artists keep their own worlds, and their works carry NUBAYIN’s credit at the foot. NUBAYIN never makes an artist look like NUBAYIN.
Status. Approved on 8 November 2026. K8: NUBAYIN is the label on XPRSHUN’s recordings, and the split of rules below. K9, the seam: the line for a person, the catalogue, the order on video, the house edition and an Artists page.
Three layers
| Layer | Owns | Today |
|---|---|---|
| The studio | The frame, the label credit and the rules that protect people | NUBAYIN Studio |
| The artist | Their name, wordmark, colour, type, voice, sound and art direction | XPRSHUN: paper, charcoal and dawn gold; Commissioner and Newsreader; “One soul. One journey.”; the whisper ident |
| The work | The artist’s look, with NUBAYIN’s credit at the foot | Chapter I, A Quiet Return, and the singles drawn from it |
XPRSHUN’s brand system stays XPRSHUN’s. This section covers only where the two meet. See the Label card.
The deal
NUBAYIN owns or licenses XPRSHUN’s recordings, so it is the label (confirmed 8 November 2026).
- Every release carries “℗ 2026 NUBAYIN Studio”, and NUBAYIN Studio is the label name on each release in the stores.
- Discogs and MusicBrainz list NUBAYIN Studio as the label.
- The song credit stays the artist’s, as XPRSHUN set it: “Words and music by XPRSHUN. © 2026 XPRSHUN. All rights reserved.” The ℗ covers the recording, and the © covers the song.
The lines
| Line | Goes on | Setting |
|---|---|---|
| ℗ 2026 NUBAYIN Studio | Releases: store and streaming credits, physical media, lyric sheets | Kufam 400 at 14px or 4mm, beside the Micro mark, in the release’s own ink |
| A NUBAYIN UNIVERSE PRODUCT | Works: title acts, apps, films, posters, NUBAYIN’s own end cards | Kufam 500, uppercase, +0.14em, 11px on screen and 4mm cap height in print, in the frame bar or the bottom strip |
| XPRSHUN releases music on NUBAYIN Studio. (K9) | The artist’s bio and profiles, as a plain sentence | The artist’s own type |
“A NUBAYIN UNIVERSE PRODUCT” never sits under an artist’s name, face or bio. A person isn’t a product. (K9)
Where NUBAYIN touches an artist’s surface
Only here, always in the same place and always in the artist’s ink. Lāzaward and NUBAYIN’s colours never enter an artist’s surface, and an artist’s colours never enter NUBAYIN’s.
- The label strip: the Micro mark at 14px or 4mm, then “℗ 2026 NUBAYIN Studio” and the catalogue number, at the foot of a release. See the Label strip card.
- On an artist’s video (K9): the artist’s own sound leads wherever the artist’s system puts it. XPRSHUN’s whisper opens long-form video and closes shorts. NUBAYIN appears only as the label strip at the foot of the artist’s end card, and silently: no studio ident, no studio sound. See the Artist video card.
- On NUBAYIN’s own films: the sung studio ident opens (K6).
The catalogue (K9)
One number for every work, whatever the medium: an album, a film, an app, an installation. Numbers follow the order in which NUBAYIN commits to the works. A release drawn from a work takes the work’s number and its track number.
| Number | Work |
|---|---|
| NBY 001 | XPRSHUN, Chapter I, A Quiet Return (album) |
| NBY 001.1 | When the Noise Went Silent (single 1, track 1) |
| NBY 001.2 | Water on My Hands (single 2, track 2) |
| NBY 001.7 | One More Step (single 3, track 7) |
A number is never reused, and a work keeps its number in every format. The catalogue starts with Chapter I: the three earlier singles, which come down after single 1, take no number. A shared catalogue is how Factory and Criterion made work that looks nothing alike read as one collection. It also fills the catalogue field on Discogs and MusicBrainz and the spine of anything physical. See the Catalogue card.
Artists on NUBAYIN’s surfaces
- Artists appear in their own colours under the frame bar: in title acts, work cards and an Artists page (K9). Nothing of the artist leaks into NUBAYIN’s frame bar, navigation or footer.
- An artist’s released work appears as released wherever NUBAYIN shows it. NUBAYIN never crops, retouches or recolours it, and it carries the artist’s own credit and disclosure. XPRSHUN’s covers use AI images of the artist, made from the artist’s own photographs with the artist’s consent, and the credit line says so.
Whose rules bind whom (K8)
| Everyone on the label | NUBAYIN’s own surfaces only |
|---|---|
| Consent and credit for anyone shown | Lāzaward, Kufam, the frame bar and the studio’s voice |
| Captions on every video | No AI-made people in NUBAYIN’s own images; plates are labelled |
| AI is always disclosed | No religious text, and the faith is never named |
The religious-text ruling governs the studio’s own voice. Artists’ lyrics and covers follow the artist: a studio that welcomes every faith signs artists who sing about theirs.
The next artists (K9)
- With a world of their own: they bring it, as XPRSHUN did. NUBAYIN adds the label strip and nothing else.
- Without one: they start in the house edition, which is NUBAYIN’s frame and type with one colour of their own, built like a title act (D5), until they build their own world. The artist’s colour is never lāzaward.
- When an artist joins, settle: who owns the recordings; the label name and ℗ line on every release; the first catalogue number; where the artist’s own ident sits; consent and disclosure for every image of a person.
With partners and festivals
- Partner and festival marks sit in one row at equal optical height, separated by
space-6, after a 1pxrulehairline. - Use only real laurels for real selections, as the festival supplies them. Never a mock laurel, an invented press quote or a placeholder partner logo.
- Barakah Agency appears only as an endorsement (“Prepared with Barakah Agency” on working documents). Its colours and fonts never appear.