The number of copyrights now owned or managed by the World’s Top 5 music publishers is very close to 11 million, according to MBW analysis. Earlier this month MBW calculated that Sony/ATV’s haul of copyrights – which it either directly owns or controls via admin deals – had topped 4m. Elsewhere, Kobalt has publicly stated that it now manages over 600,000 copyrights, while Warner/Chappell boss Cameron Strang recently told an audience at Canadian Music Week that the major now has “1.2m copyrights under management globally”. UMPG has confirmed that it’s in control of 3.2m copyrights. Wrapping up the Top 5 is BMG - the Berlin-based company says that it manages 1.9m copyrights worldwide
Kobalt has announced that it had raised another $60 million to fund the growth for the firm. A long-term player in publishing rights administration, Kobalt has been growing rapidly in recent years, and says that through its online rights management platform it offers "the most transparent, efficient and accurate royalty collection and reporting solutions". The company has also moved into managing the record industry's neighbouring rights and offering distribution and label services to artists. Adding to the $66 million already raised by the company, Kobalt says that the new money will be used to support its "commitment to serving artists and songwriters with unparalleled creative services and to further develop and scale Kobalt's suite of technology solutions that efficiently collect and report music royalties in today's complex digital world". Kobalt now has technology to track the billions of songs that are being broadcast and streamed and pass accurate information and payments back to those making the music. Confirming the new finance, Kobalt boss Willard Ahdritz told reporters: "We take great pride in the fact that Google Ventures and MSD Capital both share our vision of technology and transparency working together to create a new industry structure in today's complex digital world. We are relentless in our mission to increase trust between the music and technology industries in order to build a new infrastructure that benefits fans, creators, rights owners and DSPs, all together".
