Rock Era Magazine continues its coverage of the growing number of artists raising concerns about Darkside Records and its founder Saïd Chebacheb. While the collective statement published recently brought the issue to wider international attention, we have now been contacted by Hecham, drummer of Moroccan death metal band Sakadoya, who has shared evidence and testimony suggesting that the pattern of unfulfilled commitments and legal irregularities did not begin recently — it stretches back to at least 2022, and possibly earlier.
The music community deserves the full picture. Here it is.
Following their initial public post about their experience with Darkside Records in 2022, Sakadoya were met with questions about the basis of their claims. They responded with the following documented statement, which Rock Era Magazine is now amplifying:
“Since we posted our last article yesterday about the unfortunate events that happened with the Darkside Records Company/Label, a lot of people came forward and asked us questions about what grounds and what proofs we have to post such accusations. Well, these are some of the public information that you can easily get with just a couple of clicks on the internet — without sharing some of the words and comments we received from multiple Moroccan bands that were promised the same things we were, and any other private conversations.”
The band then presented the following publicly verifiable findings:
1. Darkside Records Maroc — No Legal Existence
A search of Morocco’s official business registry using ICE number 00305806500003 returned a legal status of “non-existent.” This information is publicly accessible via Morocco’s tax authority business search portal.
2. Darkside Records Europe — Dissolved by Court Order
According to Estonian court records, Darkside Records Europe OÜ was dissolved following a court ruling and ordered to pay a €3,500 fine by the Harju County Court. The ruling references case number 2-20-16477, with enforcement dated 15.12.2020 / 19.01.2021. The registered address on the court documents reads: Jardin de Carthage, Ain Zaghouen, Tunis, 2070, Tunisia — a detail the band notes is unlikely to be coincidental.
These documents are publicly accessible via the Estonian business registry.
3. Darkside Records USA — A Separate, Unrelated Entity
A New York State business registry search confirms that Darkside Records & Gallery LLC is a domestic limited liability company registered in New York on August 6, 2010 — a music store with no apparent connection to Darkside Records Europe or its founder. The band’s 2022 statement explicitly flags this distinction to prevent any confusion between the two entities.
In reaching out to us, Hecham was direct: “Since then, he had been trying to do it in Morocco but we managed to kick him out and stop his scams.”
He also urged us to draw attention to the documentation Sakadoya compiled in their original 2022 post, which revealed the non-existence of the label in any of the countries in which it claimed to operate and sign bands.
“We gathered some documents in the first post exposing the non-existence of his label at the time in any of the countries he presumed to have bands in,” Hecham told us. “Make sure you see those too.”
What began as a recent collective statement from multiple bands has now been placed in a significantly longer timeline. The legal and administrative questions raised by Sakadoya in 2022 — the non-existent Moroccan entity, the dissolved and court-penalised European entity, the separate and unrelated US business being used to create an appearance of international legitimacy — were publicly documented years ago.
The fact that these concerns were raised in 2022, and that bands are still coming forward with the same complaints in 2026, is a matter that the independent music community cannot afford to ignore.
Rock Era Magazine stands in full solidarity with Sakadoya, with the bands who signed the recent collective statement, and with every artist who has been affected. We encourage anyone with additional documentation to come forward. The more voices speak, the harder this becomes to repeat.
