This music publisher wants to help ‘middle-class’ songwriters get the money they’re owed

The trope of the starving, broke artist has long maintained a place in the public imagination, even as it has morphed into idealized notions of “‘hustle” or “grindset.” “It’s cool to romanticize [that lifestyle] for a little bit and use it as part of your motivation,” says L.A.-based rising musician Gidi, “but at a certain point we gotta be able to see the fruits of our labor.” 

For many artists and songwriters, the fruits are there in the form of royalties—they’re just exceedingly difficult to harvest. In the labyrinthine world of the music industry, royalty collection is particularly complex. There are hundreds of music streaming platforms operating in hundreds of countries, each with their own copyright laws. The simple act of uploading a song onto Spotify can quickly turn into an administrative nightmare, especially if an artist only owns the rights to a percentage of a given song. As a result, unclaimed dollars—which estimates suggest be as much at $1 billion annually—are effectively locked up in the global system of music publishing. 

Independent music publisher Kobalt wants to change that with its new product Kosign, aimed at empowering emerging songwriters by helping them collect the money they’re owed. Kobalt disrupted the music publishing space 25 years ago when it introduced the world’s first online portal for artists to look at their royalty earnings at any time—a far cry from the snail mail system that preceded it. Today, Kobalt is the world’s biggest music publisher not owned by a major label, with clients who include Paul McCartney, Stevie Nicks, Childish Gambino, and Phoebe Bridgers.

With Kosign, Kobalt is targeting a group executives describe as a growing “middle class” of artists and songwriters who, thanks to a changing music landscape, are increasingly able to operate independently, but may not be ideal for a publishing contract. The platform is designed to leverage Kobalt’s infrastructural and technological capabilities for a new demographic. 

“We’ve already built, for the last 20 years, a platform to unlock [royalties],” says Jacob Paul, Kobalt’s creative strategy director. “The problem we’re trying to solve is ‘How can we take this thing we already built and make it even more streamlined and flexible so that the next generation of artists coming up can get paid their money that otherwise is hidden from them?”

Kosign users apply, pay the platform’s $100 signup fee, activate their membership, submit songs, and then get paid. “We will register them across the globe, across every territory, every platform,” Paul says. “There’s no income stream left untouched.” Artists can watch royalties hit their account in real time, as well as other useful metrics, such breaking down earnings by streaming platform or territory. That data is available for an artist’s entire catalog and individual songs alike. 

Though Kosign is focused on making its tools accessible to emerging talent, the company assesses projected earnings for prospective members to ensure they’re a fit for the platform. A single songwriting credit, no matter how lucrative, might not be reason enough for them to snap up a lucrative publishing deal—especially for someone who doesn’t have an extensive back catalog. At the same time, Kosign doesn’t want to become bloated with a huge, unwieldy user base that will dilute the level of service. “What we want to do is to make sure that for those who earn a certain threshold of money, [they] have the ability to collect as effectively as possible,” says Kobalt CEO Laurent Hubert. “So, we want it to be selective from that perspective.”

For that growing population of songrwiters, Kosign is a way to secure their royalties without committing to the sort of long-term contract better suited to a more established artist (Kosign takes 20% of a member’s royalties). “It’s a flexible deal,” says Paul. “Artists keep control of their copyrights, and they can leave the platform anytime if they want to evolve somewhere else.” KOSIGN also affords emerging artists a level of self-sufficiency; no ironclad deals means no figuring out if you need a lawyer, a manager, or broader team to sort through the red tape.

It’s an appealing prospect for an up-and-coming artist. They get access to the same technological capabilities as Max Martin or Paul McCartney, minus a lengthy contract. Alongside its cut of royalties, Kobalt also gets a pipeline of potential future signed songwriters out of Kosign. When those artists are ready to make the jump to a major publishing deal, Kobalt will have already built a relationship with them via Kosign.

Gidi, an early adopter of the platform, calls using it “a no-brainer.” A musician and producer specializing in electronic R&B and pop, Gidi was part of the studio crew on last year’s massive Tommy Richman hit ">“Million Dollar Baby,” which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Gidi’s involvement earned him a small percentage of the song. While it might not sound like big money, music publishers know that royalties for even part of a track can be the difference between needing a day job and being able to pursue music full time. 

For Gidi, working with Kosign means he can collect the money that he’s owed while expanding his own artistic output. Ultimately, he says, it comes down to “understanding my worth, and understanding that there’s a lot more coming from me.”

The added financial security is also a weight off of Gidi’s mind. “It’s great that I’m able to collect my publishing royalties without having to pursue a full-scale publishing deal,” he says, adding that the royalties offer him additional income he can use to cover the mixing and production costs for upcoming projects on his own. 

Gidi isn’t a proxy for every Kosign artist, but he is representative of the sort of artist Kobalt wants it to reach. “If you can unlock the publishing system for a new generation of up and coming artists and producers and songwriters, you are changing each of those people’s lives,” Paul says. “You are making it possible for each of those people to actually make a living off of their music.”

https://www.fastcompany.com/91283772/kobalt-kosign-royalties-collection-platform?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss