Kobalt provides big-data-based tools and a dashboard to track music usage and collect royalties across streaming services and other platforms. It operates divisions including music publishing, neighbouring rights, and recordings (through AWAL and its AMRA acquisition) to serve creators and rights holders. Kobalt says it represents about 40% of the top 100 songs and albums in both the US and UK and serves some 25,000 songwriters, 600 publishers, and 20,000 independent artists. The company aims to increase tracking granularity to capture billions of micro-transactions as streaming expands, with CEO Willard Ahdritz noting potential to track up to 10 billion transactions. Financially, Kobalt's Series D was announced in May as $75M at a $775M valuation; a new $14M installment by Section 32 brings the post-money valuation to $789M. Bill Maris has reinvested via Section 32 and joined Kobalt's board. The company has had recent leadership changes, including the departure of president Richard Sanders and Laurent Hubert assuming the additional role of president. Kobalt operates a technology platform that tracks music plays — including samples and fragments — across multiple digital streaming services in near real time to collect royalties. The company currently covers 25,000 songwriters, 600 publishers and 20,000 independent artists, representing about 40% of the top 100 songs and albums in the U.S. and U.K. It tracks plays on twenty top digital streaming providers today and plans to add another 20 sources in the next six months. Kobalt also runs a label services business that buys part or all of artists' rights and expanded that strand with its 2015 acquisition of AMRA. The platform claims it delivers revenue uplifts of roughly 25% versus industry standards by improving tracking and collection. Kobalt is using its tracking data for additional services such as planning live performances and informing exclusive releases, and is exploring further product expansion into video and virtual reality. Kobalt has built a big-data music analytics platform and tagging system that tracks plays across services like YouTube, Spotify and SoundCloud to calculate and distribute royalties to rights holders. The company provides a dashboard with analytics and regular payouts to users, and says more than 8,000 songwriters and over 500 publishing companies use its platform, representing about 40% of the top 100 songs and albums in the U.S. and UK. Kobalt reports its tracking covers 400 million people today and aims to expand coverage to 1.5 billion people within six months by integrating additional streaming services. It operates offices in London and New York and plans to open new offices in Miami, Brazil and Southeast Asia to support international expansion. Financially, Kobalt says its publishing side is profitable, has grown revenues roughly 40% annually for the last four years, and is projecting gross annual revenues of $260 million for the end of June 2015. Management plans to scale the organization and double the tech team to increase speed and expand global integrations. Kobalt provides a technology platform that detects song plays and metadata across digital services, aggregates billions of micro‑transactions, and handles royalty accounting and payouts for rights holders. It offers artists a dashboard with analytics, advances against future royalties, and a commission model of roughly 6%–15%, well below traditional publishers. Kobalt currently collects royalties for about 2,000 high‑profile artists and oversees rights for roughly 600,000 songs, including 45 of the world’s top 100 albums. The company integrates with platforms such as YouTube globally and Spotify in Europe, though it does not yet cover services like Pandora, SoundCloud, or Deezer; the new funding is intended in part to secure more platform deals. In fiscal 2013 Kobalt reported $175 million in sales (up 40% year‑over‑year) and a $7.4 million loss (up 30%). The firm operates as an aggregator using proprietary detection and accounting technology to improve royalty recovery compared with blanket licensing approaches. Kobalt offers a web-based, centralized administration service that helps publishers track music royalties more effectively and accelerate payments. The company also provides artist management services alongside its royalties platform. Founded in 2000 by Willard Ahdritz with early investment from New Media Spark, Kobalt has positioned itself as a technology-driven publisher and rights manager. Its platform focuses on improving royalty visibility and payment speed for publishers and rights holders. Recently the company secured fresh funding that alters its current financing position and board composition.

Total raised

$305M

Funding rounds

5

Latest round

Series D

Latest activity

Oct 2017