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Kobalt Music Group

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Kobalt Music Group, Ltd.
Company typePrivate
IndustryMusic industry
Founded2000; 24 years ago (2000), in New York City, New York, U.S.
FounderWillard Ahdritz
Headquarters
New York City
,
United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
[1]
Services
Subsidiaries
Websitekobaltmusic.com

Kobalt Music Group, Ltd. is an independent rights management and music publishing company. Founded in 2000 by CEO Willard Ahdritz,[2] Kobalt acts primarily as an administrative publishing company, not owning any copyrights. Also offering label services and neighboring rights,[2] the company has developed an online portal to provide royalty income and activity to artists and allow them to manage their rights and royalties directly.[3]

In 2015 it was reported that Kobalt was "the top independent music publisher in the UK and the second overall (to Sony/ATV) in the US," with around 600,000 songs and 8,000 artists in its catalogue[4] Examples of artists served by Kobalt include Paul McCartney, Foo Fighters, John Denver, The Weeknd and Marshmello.[5]

Kobalt owned 17.3% of the top 100 radio songs in the US in of 2015, ranking it third after Universal.[6] [7] Kobalt paid $29.8  million for the acquisition of Fintage House's Music Companies.[8]

History

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Founding and early years (2000–2011)

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See also: AWAL

Kobalt Music Group was founded in 2000 in New York City, with founder Willard Ahdritz, a native of Sweden, taking on the role of CEO.[3] Together with Klas Lunding, Ahdritz had previously launched Telegram Publishing in Stockholm in 1988.[3] Kobalt's initial business model focused on collecting and distributing royalties for artists, with the stated goal of ensuring artists were paid appropriately and promptly.[3] In 2005 the company debuted its Kobalt Label Services Portal,[9] an online portal for artists to track and manage their own portfolios.[3]

Kobalt Music Group won Independent Music Publisher of the Year at the 2009 Music Week Awards,[10] winning the following year as well.[11] Kobalt added a neighboring rights division in 2011.[12] In December 2011, Kobalt bought Artists Without a Label (AWAL), a digital distribution and label services company.[3] Kobalt as a result gained access to AWAL's network of digital retail partners, which among other companies included iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, eMusic, Rhapsody, 7Digital, Beatport, Deezer, and Nokia.[13] The acquisition also allowed Kobalt to begin supplying advanced data analytics to clients. (No reference)

Expansion and new services (2012–2014)

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See also: Kobalt Label Services

After the AWAL acquisition, Kobalt formed the label services division Kobalt Label Services in 2012.[13] In July 2012, Kobalt Music Group signed a deal with MPL Communications to exclusively provide administrative services to MPL in "the world outside North America, the U.K. and Ireland." The catalog included 1,200 songwriters such as Hugh Masekela and Paul McCartney, with classic songs such as "Baby It's Cold Outside" and "Luck Be A Lady".[14] Prince signed a deal in May 2013 to market and distribute his work with Kobalt, with his rights over his masters left intact.[15]

Recent developments (since 2014)

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Kobalt logo from 2014 to 2023

In 2014 Kobalt purchased the American Mechanical Rights Agency (AMRA), a collection agency.[16] Kobalt announced that it was preparing to expand into the Latin American market in April 2014,[17] and that June the company raised US$140 million in funding to "accelerate rapid growth"[18] and that year Kobalt also raised US$66 million from investors such as MSD Capital.[6]

In February 2015, Google Ventures in New York made Kobalt its inaugural investment, with Google Ventures' president explaining that Kobalt was "changing the way artists are treated in the music business, particularly when it comes to providing trust and transparency and compensating creators for their work."[3] Google Ventures (with MSD Capital once again investing) raised US$60  million for the company[6] which Kobalt announced would largely be used to develop their technology and open new offices in Miami, Brazil, and South East Asia.[19] This brought the total of equity raised by Kobalt to $126  million.[19] At that point, Kobalt had also invested $100  million of the initial $153 million it had raised to "help finance the second strand of its business – label services where Kobalt either buys part or all of an artists' rights to help collect royalties on their behalf."[19]

Wired reported in May 2015 that Kobalt was "the top independent music publisher in the UK and the second overall (to Sony/ATV) in the US," with around 8,000 artists and 600,000 songs in their catalogue.[3] At the time, Kobalt continued to collect royalty money directly from services such as Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, and various collection agencies.[3]

In December 2017, Kobalt acquired Songs Music Publishing for an estimated $150 million.[20]


On 1 February 2021, Kobalt sold AWAL and Kobalt Neighboring Rights to Sony Music for $430 million, pending regulatory approval.[21][22] The deal was completed in May 2021.[23]

On July 24, 2022, Kobalt removed its entire catalogue of 700,000 tracks from Facebook and Instagram, two social media networks owned by Meta Platforms, in the United States.[24]

On September 7, 2022 private equity firm Francisco Partners acquired a controlling stake in Kobalt for an estimated $750 million.[25]

In April of 2024, the company renewed its commercial office lease for 10,000 sq/Ft at 2 Gansevoort St. in New York City for 10 years.[26]

Technology

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Kobalt has developed a number of technologies to increase its own efficiency at tracking and collecting royalties.[27][28] In 2005 the company debuted its Kobalt Portal,[9] an online portal for artists to track and manage their own portfolios.[3] In 2014, Kobalt introduced ProKlaim, a YouTube integration that by 2014 had significantly increased artist revenue on the platform. ProKlaim serves as an "advanced detection platform" by integrating with YouTube's own music detection technology.[29] As of 2015, Kobalt had started describing their backend technology as "KORE."[30][31] KORE manages rights, and tracks, collects and pay royalties across disparate markets, with the collected data accessible through the Kobalt Portal.[31]

Divisions

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Division Formed Description
Kobalt Music Publishing 2001 Kobalt Music Publishing (KMP) is an independent, private music publisher that also provides creative services to artists.[3] Explains The Telegraph, "the company aims to offer its clients a 'transparent' fee model, using sophisticated algorithms to monitor and collect music royalties from all areas of digital output, and breaking down these earnings for artists."[6] As of February 2015, Kobalt owned 17.3% of the total market share among Hot 100 music publishers, ranking it second in the US after Universal.[6]
Kobalt Label Services 2012 Introduced in January 2012,[13] Kobalt Label Services (KLS) was founded when Kobalt acquired digital distributor AWAL.[32] Kobalt Label Services provides record label services to artists,[33] receiving a share of revenues, while artists retain ownership of their master rights.[15] According to The Independent, the division allows artists to "maintain ownership of their work and control over when, how and where they will release their music."[15]

Current catalogue

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Kobalt currently has licensing deals with around 8,000 artists and 600 publishing companies, representing a catalogue that totals around 600,000 songs.[12]

Selected publishers

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The following publishers are currently signed to Kobalt Music Group:[12]

Awards and nominations

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The following is an incomplete list of awards won by Kobalt Music Group:

  • 2009: Music Week Awards – Independent Music Publisher of the Year[10]
  • 2010: Music Week Awards – Independent Music Publisher of the Year[11]
  • 2011: Music Week Awards – Independent Music Publisher of the Year
  • 2012: Music Week Awards – Independent Music Publisher of the Year
  • 2013: Music Week Awards – Independent Music Publisher of the Year
  • 2014: Music Week Awards – Independent Music Publisher of the Year
  • 2015: Music Week Awards – Independent Music Publisher of the Year
  • 2016: Music Week Awards – Independent Music Publisher of the Year[37]
  • 2017: Music Week Awards – Publisher of the Year

Further reading

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  • "Kobalt Expands into Label Services With Major Acquisition". MusicRow. 23 January 2012.
  • "Kobalt Strikes Australasian Sub-Pub Deal With Disney". Billboard. 5 March 2013.
  • "Michael Dell Takes Kobalt Stake, New Joint Venture Signs Ex-Village Person". Billboard. 14 March 2014.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Jeannette Perez promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer at Kobalt". Music Business Worldwide. 7 October 2021. Archived from the original on 16 October 2021. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  2. ^ a b Alberti, Alexander (20 December 2011). "Kobalt Music Group: Redefining Music Publishing". Music Business Journal (online ed.). Berklee College of Music. Archived from the original on 25 March 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2014.[unreliable source?]
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Gray, Kevin (1 May 2015). "Kobalt changed the rules of the music industry using data – and saved it". Wired. Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  4. ^ "Kobalt changed the rules of the music industry using data – and saved it". Wired. 1 May 2015. Archived from the original on 15 May 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  5. ^ "Kobalt - Roster". Kobalt Music Group. Archived from the original on 21 May 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d e Anderson, Elizabeth (27 February 2015). "Kobalt secures $60m of Google-linked funding". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  7. ^ "Locations". Kobaltmusic.com. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  8. ^ "Kobalt paid $29.8m for Fintage House's music companies – Music Business Worldwide". Music Business Worldwide. 9 April 2017. Archived from the original on 20 August 2018. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  9. ^ a b Christman, Ed (2 December 2014). "Kobalt Unveils Label Services Portal, A Powerful New Set of Tools for Artists". Billboard. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  10. ^ a b "Kobalt Music Group Wins Independent Music Publisher of the Year". kobaltmusic.com. 2009. Archived from the original on 5 May 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  11. ^ a b "Kobalt wins Independent Music Publisher of The Year Award". IDM Music. 2010. Archived from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  12. ^ a b c "Yearly Report" (PDF). Kobalt Media – 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 May 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  13. ^ a b c "Kobalt Music Group Expands into Artist and Label Services, Digital Distribution and Neighbouring Rights, Marking an Industry Evolution into a New Class of Service-Oriented Music Company" (Press release). Kobalt Music Group. 23 January 2012. Archived from the original on 15 July 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  14. ^ Christman, Ed. "Exclusive: Publishing Briefs: Kobalt Music Group Inks Deal With Paul McCartney, MPL CommunicationsRelease". Billboard. Archived from the original on 13 October 2016. Retrieved 5 April 2016. (24 July 2012)
  15. ^ a b c Casciato, Paul (21 May 2013). "Prince signs new deal with record label Kobalt Music Group without giving up control over his rights". The Independent. Archived from the original on 1 June 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  16. ^ Sisario, Ben (3 June 2015). "Going to the Ends of the Earth to Get the Most Out of Music". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 15 January 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  17. ^ Liggins, Hassahn (10 April 2014). "Kobalt Music Group Ready to Expand into Latin America". RadioFacts. Archived from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  18. ^ Ulloa, ina (4 June 2014). "Kobalt Raises $140 Million in Latest Round of Funding". Digital Music News. Archived from the original on 31 May 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  19. ^ a b c Lunden, Ingrid (25 February 2015). "Kobalt Tunes Into $60M Led By Google Ventures For Its Music Rights Collection Platform". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  20. ^ Shirley Halperin and Jem Aswad (8 December 2017). "Songs Music Publishing Sold to Kobalt for $150 Million". Variety. Archived from the original on 9 December 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  21. ^ Aswad, Jem (1 February 2021). "Sony Music Acquires Kobalt's Label and Neighboring Rights for $430 Million". Variety. Archived from the original on 1 February 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  22. ^ "Sony Music Buys AWAL, Kobalt Neighbouring Rights in $430M Deal". Billboard. 1 February 2021. Archived from the original on 1 February 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  23. ^ Frater, Patrick (20 May 2021). "Sony Music Completes Acquisition of AWAL and Kobalt Neighboring Rights; U.K. Initiates Post-Mortem Probe". Archived from the original on 22 May 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  24. ^ "Kobalt is pulling its 700,000 songs off Facebook and Instagram. Is the music biz headed for a historic bust-up with Meta?". 24 July 2022. Archived from the original on 25 July 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  25. ^ Dredge, Stuart (8 September 2022). "Investment firm Francisco Partners buys controlling stake in Kobalt". Music Ally. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  26. ^ Rizzi, Nicholas (24 April 2024). "Kobalt Music Recommits to 2 Gansevoort With New 10K SF Deal". Commercial Observer. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  27. ^ Ingham, Tim (30 October 2015). "Kobalt: We'll grow YouTube revenues by 50% for AMRA clients". Music Business Worldwide. Archived from the original on 31 October 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
  28. ^ "Kobalt: ProKlaim has rocketed YouTube revenue for artists". Music Business Worldwide. 1 May 2014. Archived from the original on 31 May 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  29. ^ "KORE trademark details". Justia. 17 May 2016. Archived from the original on 31 May 2016. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
  30. ^ a b Lunden, Ingrid (8 June 2015). "Kobalt Quietly Acquired AMRA To Launch Its Own Global Collection Group For Digital Music". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  31. ^ Skates, Sarah (23 January 2012). "Kobalt Expands into Label Services With Major Acquisition". MusicRow. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  32. ^ "Services". kobaltmusic.com. Archived from the original on 15 April 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  33. ^ "Kobalt Music signs global deal with Eric Church's publishing company Little Louder – Music Business Worldwide". 13 December 2017. Archived from the original on 28 February 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  34. ^ "Kobalt Investment Fund Acquires Bulk of Nettwerk's 30-Year Publishing Catalog". Billboard. 25 July 2016. Archived from the original on 26 July 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  35. ^ Sisario, Ben (8 December 2017). "Songs, Music Publisher of Lorde and Diplo, Bought by Kobalt". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 9 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  36. ^ "Music Week Awards 2016 – all the winners". Music Week. 2016. Archived from the original on 1 May 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
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