private company industry music industry founded 2000 london united kingdom founder willard ahdritz headquarters new york area served worldwide key people willard ahdritz ceo services publishing neighbouring rights label services subsidiaries kobalt label services kls kobalt neighboring rights knr kobalt music publishing kmp website kobaltmusic.com kobalt also known as kobalt music group is an independent rights management and publishing company . founded in 2000 by ceo willard ahdritz 1 kobalt acts primarily as an administrative publishing company not owning any copyrights . also offering label services and neighboring rights 1 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 . 2 wired reported in 2015 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 2 including massive attack trent reznor 3 gwen stefani 1 phoenix 3 prince 4 sonic youth ellie goulding 3 paul mccartney 5 bob marley 6 john denver 7 tiesto 3 bob dylan 3 and kelly clarkson . 1 3 kobalt owned 17.3 % of the total worldwide market share among worldwide music publishers as of 2015 ranking it second after universal . 8 with headquarters in new york kobalt also has offices in cities such as london los angeles nashville atlanta berlin stockholm miami hong kong and sydney . 9 contents 1 history 1.1 founding and early years 2000 11 1.2 expansion and new services 2012 14 1.3 recent developments 2014 16 2 technology 3 divisions 4 current catalogue 4.1 selected publishers 4.2 selected artists 5 awards and nominations 6 further reading 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit founding and early years 2000 11 edit 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 . 2 together with klas lunding ahdritz had previously launched telegram publishing in stockholm in 1988 . 2 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 . 2 in 2005 the company debuted its kobalt label services portal 10 an online portal for artists to track and manage their own portfolios . 2 kobalt music group won independent music publisher of the year at the 2009 music week awards 11 winning the following year as well . 12 kobalt added a neighboring rights division in 2011 . 3 in december 2011 kobalt bought artists without a label awal a digital distribution and label services company . 2 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 . 2 expansion and new services 2012 14 edit 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 . 5 prince signed a deal in may 2013 to market and distribute his work with kobalt with prince s rights over his masters left intact . 4 recent developments 2014 16 edit in 2014 kobalt purchsed the american mechanical rights agency amra a collection agency . 14 kobalt announced that it was preparing to expand into the latin american market in april 2014 15 and that june the company raised usd 140 million in funding to accelerate rapid growth 16 and that year kobalt also raised usd 66 million from investors such as msd capital . 8 in february 2015 google ventures in london 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 . 2 google ventures with msd capital once again investing raised usd 60 million for the company 8 in a series c round of financing 17 which kobalt announced would largely be used to develop their technology and open new offices in miami brazil and south east asia . 18 this brought the total of equity raised by kobalt to 126 million . 18 at that point kobalt had also invested 100 million of the initial 153 million it had raised to help finance a 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 . 18 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 . 2 at the time kobalt continued to collect royalty money directly from services such as spotify itunes youtube and various collection agencies . 2 with headquarters in london kobalt currently has offices in cities such as new york los angeles nashville atlanta berlin stockholm miami hong kong and sydney . 9 technology edit kobalt has developed a number of technologies to increase its own efficiency at tracking and collecting royalties . 19 20 in 2005 the company debuted its kobalt portal 10 an online portal for artists to track and manage their own portfolios . 2 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 . 21 as of 2015 kobalt had started describing their backend technology as kore . 22 23 kore manages rights and tracks collects and pay royalties across disparate markets with the collected data accessible through the kobalt portal . 23 divisions edit division formed description kobalt music publishing 2001 kobalt music publishing kmp is an indepdent private music publisher that also provides creative services to artists . 2 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 . 8 as of february 2015 kobalt owned 17.3 % of the total market share among worldwide music publishers ranking it second in the world after universal . 8 kobalt neighboring rights 2011 formed in 2011 3 kobalt neighboring rights knr claims neighbouring rights royalties owed from collection societies on behalf of all knr clients 24 navigating the royalties laws of separate countries . 3 this division oversees the kobalt portal which allows artists to access their financial data in real time . 3 kobalt label services 2012 introduced in january 2012 13 kobalt label services kls was founded when kobalt acquired digital distributor awal . 25 kobalt label services provides record label services to artists 24 receiving a share of revenues while artists retain ownership of their master rights . 4 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 . 4 current catalogue edit kobalt currently has licensing deals with around 8 000 artists and 600 publishing companies representing a catalague that totals around 600 000 songs . 3 selected publishers edit the following publishers are currently signed to kobalt music group 3 mpl communications 3 inside assage 3 b unique music 3 big life music 3 blue mountain music 3 cherry tree 3 communion defend music 3 disney music group au 26 and nz 3 getty images pump audio 3 lateral 3 mpca bicycle 3 national geographic 3 owsla 3 polar patrol publishing 3 razor and tie 3 san remo 3 secretly canadian 3 soul kitchen music 3 ten 3 third and verse 3 selected artists edit the following artists have a significant portion of their catalog if not all currently overseen by kobalt music group adam lambert 3 alt j 3 ariel pink 3 ariel rechtshaid 3 art garfunkel 27 albert hammond jr. 28 the b 52 s 3 29 band of skulls 30 black submarine 31 blonde redhead 32 bob marley 6 busta rhymes 33 beck 3 14 34 big & rich 3 billy steinberg 3 bon iver 3 bon jovi 3 brian mcknight 3 cirkut 3 cut copy 3 cerebral ballzy 35 charli xcx 36 courtney love 37 cyndi lauper 3 dan romer 3 dan wilson 38 dave bassett 3 dave grohl 3 13 39 dr. luke 1 3 40 eg white 3 ella eyre 36 family of the year 36 the family rain 41 flume 36 foo fighters 42 gary go 3 gary numan 3 gotye 3 guy chambers 3 gwen stefani 1 3 14 holy ghost 3 iain archer 3 jack garratt 3 jake bugg 3 jamie liddell 3 jimmy eat world 3 joss stone 3 john denver usa 7 kelly clarkson 1 3 kelly price 3 kid cudi 3 kid rock 3 killswitch engage 3 kygo 3 geoff barrow 3 mogwai 3 lady antebellum 3 lmfao 3 lcd soundsystem 3 lionel richie 3 little boots 3 lil c 43 little dragon 3 lindy robbins 3 local natives 3 matt squire 3 max martin 3 44 45 miles davis 3 moby 3 14 neil finn 3 noah 40 shebib 3 noel zancanella 3 panic at the disco 3 paul mccartney 3 5 14 peaches 3 phoenix 3 poli a 3 queens of the stone age 3 rammstein 3 rod stewart 3 roxette 3 rudy nicoletti 3 rufus wainwright 3 ryan tedder 1 3 serj tankian 3 shane mcanally 3 shane stevens 3 shellback 3 shelly peiken 3 skrillex 3 sonic youth 3 steve winwood 3 stevie nicks 3 tears for fears 3 tiesto 3 todd edwards 3 the cardigans 3 the head and the heart 3 the hives 3 the lumineers 3 the presidents of the united states of america 3 trent reznor 3 tv on the radio 3 wavves 3 william orbit 3 yeasayer 3 50 cent 3 kobalt neighboring rights 3 30 seconds to mars 3 akon 3 27 aloe blacc 3 ariana grande 3 bjork 3 bob dylan 3 bruno mars 3 calvin harris 3 carly rae jepsen 3 charlie xcx 3 cher lloyd 3 duran duran 3 ellie goulding 3 felix jaehn 3 foxes 3 gotye 3 jake bugg 3 james bay 3 jess glynne 3 jessie ware 3 john newman 3 kygo 3 macklemore and ryan lewis 3 nico and vinz 3 omi 3 pitbull 3 red hot chili peppers 3 sam smith 3 simon and garfunkel 3 taio cruz 3 tame impala 3 tove lo 3 zedd 3 kobalt label services 3 band of horses 3 big and rich 3 46 billy idol 3 47 blonde redhead 3 boy george 3 48 courtney barnett 3 culture club 3 the darkness 3 david gray 3 49 deadmau5 3 50 de la soul 3 die antwoord 3 good charlotte 3 joss stone 3 julian casablancas 3 karen o 3 laura marling 3 lenny kravitz 3 lifehouse 3 little simz 3 macy gray 3 martina mcbride 3 massive attack 3 neil finn 3 new kids on the block 3 nick cave and the bad seeds 3 45 noel gallagher s high flying birds 3 pet shop boys 3 peter bjorn and john 3 placebo 3 steel panther 3 todd terje 3 travis 3 the waterboys 3 awards and nominations edit the following is an