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Spotify Secures Direct Licensing Deal with Kobalt

Spotify has entered into a direct licensing deal with Kobalt, the companies announced on Wednesday, the latest of several music publishing deals the streaming service has secured in 2025.

Spotify and Kobalt were light on details in their brief announcement, only confirming the deal is a multi-year agreement and that it would "deliver greater flexibility, efficiency, value, and protections to songwriters in the U.S.

“As the largest independent music publisher dedicated to fighting for the rights of songwriters, this deal reaffirms our unwavering commitment to ensuring our songwriters are paid fairly for their work, and underscores the importance of progressive licensing models that reflect the real-world use of music across digital platforms,” Kobalt CEO Laurent Hubert said in a statement. “This partnership is a step in the right direction, and we look forward to continuing to work with Spotify to increase the value of songwriter royalties.”

The deal with Kobalt follows Spotify’s previously announced deals with Universal Music Group and its UMPG subsidiary back in January, and a subsequent deal with Warner Music Group and Warner Chappell back in February.

The licensing deals are of note given that the music publishers and Spotify have been at odds since last year over a controversial audiobook bundling strategy from Spotify that’s lead to lower songwriter royalties. The National Music Publishers Association said at its annual meeting back in June that publishers lost $230 million last year because of the bundles. Spotify said in its Loud and Clear report back in March that it’s paid $4.5 billion to songwriters and publishers in the past two years.

We’ve always believed that better partnerships lead to better outcomes," Spotify’s co-president and chief business officer Alex Norström said in a statement. “This agreement with Kobalt boosts our support of songwriters through a licensing model that unlocks new growth and will expand the way music is made and shared today.”

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I have searched for Spotify, then the first article in my search results jumps out at me: “Spotify Secures Direct Licensing Deal with Kobalt” The have a cool Picture with a Spotify logo on it. I am somewhat interested. What is cobalt, I click. I have an ad-blocker so nothing weird happens. But then I start to read the Article. My eyes start to glaze over. Now I still don’t know WHAT IN THE WORLD Kobalt is. And it doesnt even interest me anymore. Why do they make an article about “thing” and not tell the reader what it even is?

This Post is not about Kobalt, I do, because of this article, not know what that is. I do know what the article is. The article is pure crap. Thanks internet.

Basically I am left near speechless, because it is just so bad, completely useless. Incompetent beyond measurement.

Using Claude Sonnet 4: I have found an article claiming that spotify and Kobalt have made an agreement. What is Kobalt?

It answers (beware, it cannot cite shit):

Kobalt is an independent rights management and music publishing company founded in 2000 by Swedish entrepreneur Willard Ahdritz [Wikipedia] [Music Business Worldwide]. Think of it as the middleman who stands between songwriters and the streaming platforms — but unlike traditional publishers who buy your recipe outright, Kobalt lets creators keep ownership of their copyrights [Kobalt Music Group - Music Business Worldwide] while handling the complex business of collecting royalties.

As of 2015, Kobalt was the top independent music publisher in the UK and second overall in the US [Kobalt Music Group - Wikipedia] representing over 850,000 songs from major artists including Roddy Ricch, Max Martin, Paul McCartney, and Phoebe Bridgers [Kobalt Music Group Announces Transactions to Increase Funding Capacity to More than $1 Billion]. On average, they represent over 35% of the top 100 songs and albums in both the US and UK.

The Spotify deal announced today is part of a broader trend. This new multiyear direct licensing agreement aims to deliver greater flexibility, efficiency, value, and protections to songwriters in the US [Spotify For the Record The Hollywood Reporter]. Spotify has also struck similar direct deals with Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group [Billboard - Music Business Worldwide], essentially bypassing the standard industry royalty structure to potentially pay songwriters more.

These private deals override the statutory Copyright Royalty Board rules, improving mechanical royalty payments [Kobalt inks direct licensing deal with Spotify in the US - Music Business Worldwide] — which matters because Spotify had been embroiled in legal disputes over underpaying songwriters through a controversial bundling classification of their premium service.

Praised be the Programmers that can not be held accountable for the bullshit posted on their architecture.