Kobalt’s new mobile app aims to give creators transparency in real time

Kobalt has spent millions creating technology that can optimise the collection and distribution of royalties on behalf of its artists. 

Now, the company has unveiled a new mobile app, available on iOS only, for now, enabling its artists to get real-time stats on their income, synch activity and music usage at any given time. 

Given that the company’s mantra is ‘transparency’, this makes sense, and it shows that Kobalt is miles ahead of the majors (both labels and publishers) in providing such an options to artists. 

The app enables users to view their income on a yearly or quarterly basis and lets musicians receive daily updates from the likes of Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, Pandora and more. 

On top of this being a very helpful tool to track income, the app’s immediacy could help artists understand the impact of specific events (for example, an appearance on a late show or a spin by a well-respected DJ). 

One of the interesting features of the app is that it lets artists track usage of their music on YouTube, whether their own versions or a cover. This means that if a version of your song played by monkeys on ukuleles goes viral, you’ll know soon enough. 

Finally, the app enables artists to keep track of sync opportunities, seeing exactly where they are from pitch to payment. 

The Kobalt app seems to set a benchmark for the industry. Looking at it from an outsider’s perspective, one could be forgiven for thinking: why is this kind of tool not available to every artist? Artists may be thinking the same, which is why Kobalt’s challenge to the traditional side of the industry should help increase investment in the space and ultimately increase transparency across the board.

 

(Andrea Leonelli)