Kobalt, the world’s largest independent music publisher, has acquired an equity stake in leading music licensing company Slipstream. The result is a licensing/content behemoth. The announcement from Slipstream says the deal “brings together complementary technology and expertise to serve the entire music publishing ecosystem, from the world’s top songwriters to brands and creative businesses of all kinds.”
This significant alliance comes on the heels of Slipstream’s acquisition of Anthem Entertainment earlier this month (RAIN coverage HERE, a production music business with 650,000 tracks.
Kobalt operates a busy representation and placement business, serving a splendid songwriting roster that includes Stevie Nicks, The Lumineers, Justin Quiles, The Foo Fighters, Paul McCartney, and many others recognized artists. On average, Kobalt represents about 35% of the top 100 songs and albums (U.S. and UK).
Unknown as of now: the amount of Kobalt’s investment in Slipstream.
“At Slipstream we have coupled the largest independent production music library, with the most technologically advanced platform to empower the global creative community,” said Dan Demole, CEO of Slipstream. “In so many ways, Kobalt has done the same, pairing technological innovation with the best global executive team in the business. They have the kind of global expertise that will enable Slipstream to maximize opportunities for our vast catalog.”
Laurent Hubert, CEO of Kobalt commented: “Dan and Jesse Korwin at Slipstream have built a next generation production music company, one which we believe has enormous potential in the marketplace. This deal positions Kobalt to be better able to serve the entire music publishing ecosystem, from the world’s top songwriters to advertisers and television/film creators looking for music queues.”
Jesse Korwin, Chief Revenue Officer of Slipstream added: “At Slipstream we aim to revolutionize the way the creative community searches for and licenses music for their productions. Kobalt is the perfect global partner to achieve this aim. We’re excited to begin working with them.”
