Kobalt Enters Next Phase Amid Continued Growth

Kobalt today reported that its gross collections grew by 25% to $616M in the fiscal year-ending June 30, 2019, and the company expects continued growth to approach $700M in gross collections the fiscal year- ending June 30, 2020. The company’s average headcount grew from 515 to 652 employees during that same fiscal year and has since expanded in France to further support its roster across the globe.

“This past year was another banner year of growth. In addition, we successfully scaled our business to support our clients in the next phase of Kobalt,” said Willard Ahdritz, Founder & Chairman of Kobalt.” For the past 20 years, Kobalt has worked to create a better music industry for artists and songwriters. Our pace and focus on more transparency, less confusion, and being tech and talent-friendly has had a major impact on the industry. Kobalt’s mission is stronger than ever and we are aiming for future growth and profitability. I’m very excited to continue to serve our clients with the global strength of our staff, systems, technology and partners.”

“In the past three years, Kobalt has grown significantly and succeeded in many areas, said Laurent Hubert, CEO of Kobalt. “With any company that grows at our pace to compete with highly entrenched competitors, it’s remarkable what we’ve been able to achieve. As an agent of change in the publishing industry to help songwriters and help take artists to the top of the charts via our recordings arm, AWAL, we still know there’s more to do. There’s opportunities to be more efficient and provide more value. I’m excited about this next phase of profitable growth, while continuing to offer the best global services to talent and partners.”

Growth Highlights

Kobalt Well-Suited to Weather Coronavirus Crisis

Ahdritz added, “The music industry is entering some uncertain times as a result of the coronavirus crisis, which is being felt around the industry, especially in live music. As much as I believed large parts of the industry would transform into digital 20 years ago, I’m confident that our company - and others that have truly invested in tech, systems and global remote workforces - are well-prepared to continue to support artists, songwriters and partners during this time of crisis. Our hearts go out to the songwriters, artists and all those hard-working people behind the scenes whose livelihoods are severely disrupted right now especially in the live music industry and we all hope for a swift recovery.”

Hubert added, “Kobalt has taken many proactive steps to ensure our staff’s safety and well-being in this uncertain time. I’m pleased to say that we transitioned smoothly to an all remote workforce back on March 10th. While not intentional for this exact scenario, our unique global setup that allows our teams and creatives to leverage tech remotely has us well-prepared. It did not take us long to get our operations up and running to support all of our clients. Kobalt is well-capitalized and we will continue to invest in staff’s well-being and our client services to achieve our long-term business goals.”