Kobalt launches collection society following AMRA purchase

Independent music publishing and global music rights management services company Kobalt Music Group has launched a new digital collection society.

Last year Kobalt fully acquired American Music Rights Association (AMRA) and built this new collective management organisation (CMO) on AMRA’s existing operations.

Kobalt is describing the revamped and relaunched AMRA as the first ‘global, direct, digital mechanical and performing rights society’ and according to Kobalt founder and CEO Willard Ahdritz, it’s a move to become more financially efficient.

“With AMRA, we are now able to fully execute our original Kobalt vision of trust and technology for creators and rights owners on a global scale,” said Ahdritz. “AMRA allows us to offer service unlike anything ever seen before in royalty collections. The industry can no longer afford to spend $5 collecting $1 – the efficiency and transparency of AMRA is the future.”

Using its own royalty processing platform KORE, which is licensed to AMRA, Kobalt will collect publishing royalties direct from digital services like Spotify, Rdio, Pandora and YouTube globally. This cuts out the midde-men collection societies that many rights management services go through. However, it won’t cover single territory digital music services, leaving that to the existing territorial CMOs.

AMRA offers two services: licensing of AMRA publisher members’ Anglo-American repertoire to digital service providers (DSPs) which operate in multiple territories and collection of writer’s share of public performance revenue on behalf of AMRA writer members.

The new CMO’s team will be headed by Tomas Ericsson, former Kobalt President for Society Relations and former CFO and Deputy CEO of STIM in Sweden. Kenth Muldin, former Chairman of CISAC, and forner CEO of STIM, has been named AMRA’s Chairman of the Board.

James Fitzherbert-Brockholes, COO of Kobalt said AMRA’s strategy to license directly to the global multi-territorial DSPs is the best way to handle the ‘high volume/low transactional value’ of music repertoire in thestreaming-driven world.

“The traditional model of individual licenses across 100 local territories for one major DSP does not promote transparency, efficiency or economies of scale in today’s digital business,” said Fitzherbert-Brockholes.

AMRA, which was founded in the ‘60s as a writer-oriented collection society, operatedin a similar fashion to the US’ main mechanical rights society HFA (previously Harry Fox agency). Its ex-President SindeeLevin purchased AMRA in 1998, taking on rights to represent Keith Jarrett, Bill Frisell, Meredith Monk, and the Estates of Don Cherry and Tony Williams.

Also announced in recent days is Kobalt's co-financing and administrative partnership withindependent entertainment studio IM Global. Asa subsidiary of India's Reliance ADA Group,IM Globalwill allow Kobalt to providepublishing,distribution and marketing services to soundtrack releasesboth locally and internationally on IM Global’s film and television projects.