Our people. Our principles

Founded in 2000 by Swedish entrepreneur Willard Ahdritz, Kobalt took a bet on digital music and won.  The startup built a platform to maximize efficiency, accuracy, and transparency across the billions of micro-payments collected in today’s highly complex digital world. As traditional music companies fought technology and contracted, Kobalt embraced it and grew, building a global digital music infrastructure and world-class creative team purposely designed to usher in the streaming era and a more fair, rewarding music business for creators.

Now in operation for over 20 years, Kobalt has become a destination for songwriters, artists, publishers, and rights holders. With its unique one global roster, one territory approach, the company represents some of the most iconic and exciting songwriters in the world, including Roddy Ricch, Max Martin, FINNEAS, Karol G, Andrew Watt, Stevie Nicks, Phoebe Bridgers, The Lumineers, Gunna, Justin Quiles, The Foo Fighters, Paul McCartney, and many more. Today, the company, on average, represents over 40% of the top 100 songs and albums in the US and the UK.

The company’s mission as a positive transformative force for the benefit of all creators remains. As the music industry hurdles forward, Kobalt continues as a steadfast change agent to ensure creators and rightsholders are paid fairly. Its latest innovation, AMRA, the only global digital society, continues to remove the frictions and spillage in the last mile of paying songwriters and rights holders. Through AMRA and Kobalt’s award-winning publishing business, the company will continue to build as a premier destination for creators and won’t stop until all the friction in the collecting world is removed.