Spark Ventures

London, UK (24 November 2009) – Willard Ahdritz, the CEO and Founder of Kobalt Music Group (Kobalt), has received the Venture Capital backed CEO of the Year Award - Southeast and London region, from the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA) Ltd. of England and Wales.
The BVCA CEO Awards recognise and celebrate the achievements of PE and VC-backed CEOs throughout the U.K.
Ahdritz, who founded and conceived the original Kobalt business concept in 2001, was recognised for his leadership of the emerging global music publishing company which has based its unique service-based business model around a transparent, automated and centralised, online administration service which collects between 10-50% more income for clients up to 2.5 times faster.
Kobalt, which has grown to over 80 employees and six offices worldwide, has more than 900 clients, including superstar artists and songwriters Dave Stewart, Gwen Stefani, Moby, Nine Inch Nails, Kelly Clarkson, Kid Rock, Tom Jones, Badly Drawn Boy, The Hives, McFly, Herbie Hancock, Max Martin, Andreas Carlsson, and companies 8 Mile Style (publishers of Eminem), Big Life, Evergreen Copyrights, National Geographic and Getty Images among many others.
The company has produced explosive, organic growth of over 60% per year for the last three years, with turnover reaching over £37m in the year ending June 2009. The company was named Independent Music Publisher of the Year at the 2009 Music Week Awards held in London. In 2008, it was the leading independent music publisher in the U.S. and in key European music markets including the U.K. and Germany. Recent market share estimates for Kobalt in key territories include the U.S. (6.1%), U.K. (5.4%) and Germany (5.3%).
Kobalt is backed by SPARK Ventures and Balderton Capital among other investors. For more information on Kobalt Music Group, go to http://www.kobaltmusic.com.

 

Contact:
Rebekah Alperin, PR for Kobalt Music Group
ralperin@alperinent.com 1.310.770.1045