Kobalt Names Ryan Wright as Chief Marketing Officer

Kobalt, the leading independent music services company, announced today that Ryan Wright has been appointed to Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), overseeing marketing, communications and client experience for Kobalt and its divisional brands. Based in New York City, Wright will assume the newly created position effective immediately, reporting directly to Kobalt Founder & CEO, Willard Ahdritz. As CMO, Wright will continue to lead Kobalt’s central marketing team, covering press, advertising, online and mobile, social media, insight and design across the company. A major focus for Wright will be working closely with each of Kobalt’s divisions on brand messaging, client experience and engagement, and launching new services and technology products.

Wright commented, “It’s inspiring to work at a company that is growing so fast and is laser focused on reshaping the future of music. It’s always more fun to be on the side of positive change! It’s also awesome to be able to harness Kobalt’s wealth of real-time data and insights to drive and shape our messaging and priorities. Willard has a clear vision to bridge the gap between music and tech, and I could not be more excited to work with all of the talented people here at Kobalt to make that happen.”

Ahdritz commented, “I am thrilled to have Ryan’s experience, talent and passion as our CMO during this important time of growth for Kobalt. He has played a key role in positioning Kobalt as the leading voice in music for transparency, technology and creators’ rights. And will be instrumental as we launch our aggressive lineup of new tech products and services that will continue to put our clients first and deliver the best results for them.”

Ryan Wright has more than 18 years of marketing, brand strategy, PR, consumer insight and strategic partnership experience across the globe. Prior to Kobalt, Wright was SVP of Global Marketing for Sony Music, leading Sony’s marketing teams and global superstar releases around the world. Wright started his career at Samsung, based in Seoul, Korea. He then moved to Jive Records to oversee the Asia Pacific Region from Singapore. And was later appointed as VP of Global Marketing for BMG, based in NYC.