Kobalt Music Group

Kobalt Music Group, Ltd.
Company typePrivate
IndustryMusic industry
Founded2000; 24 years ago (2000), in New York City, New York, U.S.
FounderWillard Ahdritz
Headquarters,
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]

  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 Cite error: The named reference Alberti was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference cwiredrules was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  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. ^ Cite error: The named reference ekobaltsecures was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference mkobaltmusic was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  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.