History Kobalt Music Group

1 history

1.1 founding , years (2000–11)
1.2 expansion , new services (2012–14)
1.3 recent developments (2014–16)

history
founding , years (2000–11)

kobalt music group founded in 2000 in new york city, founder willard ahdritz, native of sweden, taking on role of ceo. klas lunding ahdritz had launched telegram publishing in stockholm in 1988. kobalt s initial business model focused on collecting , distributing royalties artists, stated goal of ensuring artists paid appropriately , promptly. in 2005 company debuted kobalt label services portal, online portal artists track , manage own portfolios.

kobalt music group won independent music publisher of year @ 2009 music week awards, winning following year well. kobalt added neighboring rights division in 2011. in december 2011, kobalt bought artists without label (awal), digital distribution , label services company. kobalt result gained access awal s network of digital retail partners, among other companies included itunes, amazon, spotify, emusic, rhapsody, 7digital, beatport, deezer, , nokia. acquisition allowed kobalt begin supplying advanced data analytics clients.

expansion , new services (2012–14)

after awal acquisition, kobalt formed label services division kobalt label services in 2012. in july 2012, kobalt music group signed deal mpl communications exclusively provide administrative services mpl in world outside north america, u.k. , ireland. catalog included 1,200 songwriters such hugh masekela , paul mccartney, classic songs such baby s cold outside , luck lady. prince signed deal in may 2013 market , distribute work kobalt, prince s rights on masters left intact.

recent developments (2014–16)

in 2014 kobalt purchased american mechanical rights agency (amra), collection agency. kobalt announced preparing expand latin american market in april 2014, , june company raised usd $140 million in funding accelerate rapid growth , year kobalt raised usd $66 million investors such msd capital.

in february 2015, google ventures in london made kobalt inaugural investment, google ventures president explaining kobalt changing way artists treated in music business, particularly when comes providing trust , transparency , compensating creators work. google ventures (with msd capital, once again investing) raised usd $60 million company in series c round of financing, kobalt announced largely used develop technology , open new offices in miami, brazil, , south east asia. brought total of equity raised kobalt $126 million. @ point, kobalt had invested $100 million of initial $153 million had raised finance second strand of business – label services kobalt either buys part or of artists rights collect royalties on behalf.

wired reported in may 2015 kobalt top independent music publisher in uk , second overall (to sony/atv) in us, around 8,000 artists , 600,000 songs in catalogue. @ time, kobalt continued collect royalty money directly services such spotify, itunes, youtube, , various collection agencies. headquarters in london, kobalt has offices in cities such new york, los angeles, nashville, atlanta, berlin, stockholm, miami, hong kong, , sydney.