Kobalt Music Group and Swedish copyright management organisation STIM have launched Kobalt STIM Aggregated Rights AB – dubbed a ‘large-scale one-stop European licensing solution for song rights’.
“Kobalt and STIM both look after some of the most successful songwriters and songs in the world and share a visionary approach to copyright administration in the new music economy. With our publisher/CMO copyright partnership, cross-border digital music services can now easily access these seamlessly integrated rights that cover all of Europe,” said Tomas Ericsson, STIM Deputy CEO.
The licensing service will be administered through a newly formed subsidiary of STIM poised to start operations on March 1, 2013. Board members will include STIM Deputy CEO Tomas Ericsson and Kobalt Music Group CFO James Fitzherbert-Brockholes.
Kobalt said its clients would ‘leverage a unique, shared technology platform [offering] transparency in usage data, rates and costs per licensee’ as a result of the deal, adding that they would receieve ‘significantly accelerated access to their money, as fast as a month from when the music was used, which is unique in publishing’.
“We are excited to once again be announcing innovative changes to the global collection structure for music rights. This unique partnership with STIM will provide a step change in transparency, speed and efficiency for our client’s digital collections across Europe. We also hope that this licensing simplification will assist in bringing new and exciting music services to market. STIM has shown itself to be both technologically advanced and highly adaptable, which made it the obvious partner for this venture,” said Willard Ahdritz, Founder & CEO of Kobalt.
“We are delighted to collaborate with Kobalt, a truly innovative music company that combines thought-leading technology with a client roster that dominates the global music scene. This new licensing service is a business model that will take online rights administration to a new level,” added Ericsson.Music Business Worldwide
