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What do you know about Kobalt?

The Alternative To Record Labels

Willard Ahdritz dressed in black sitting on a red chair
Kobalt Music Group was founded by Swede Willard Ahdritz in New York City 21 years ago (2000)

Kobalt is a state-of-the-art music company that presents an alternative to the traditional business model. This world-leading company serves as the leading independent music publisher today offering transparency and further leverage to the rights of artists, songwriters, and publishers.

Kobalt currently represents on average more than 40% of the top 100 songs and albums in the UK and the US. Among the Hispanic artists signed by this company are Enrique Iglesias (Spain), Ozuna (Puerto Rico), Karol G (Colombia), Natti Natasha (Dominican Republic), and the most recent one signed on July 19th, the Urban Composer / Producer Daniel Echavarria Oviedo (Colombia), better known as Ovy On The Drums, creator of great hits like Tusa (Karol G & Nicki Minaj), Ahora Me Llama (Karol G & Bad Bunny), Fútbol y Rumba (Anuel AA & Enrique Iglesias), Miedito O Qué (Karol G & Danny Ocean), and Sigo Buscándote (Mau & Ricky), among others.

Kobalt Music Group, Ltd. (Kobalt) has offices in the main cities of America, Europe, and Asia: London, Berlin, Sydney, Stockholm, Hong Kong, New York, Nashville, Atlanta, Miami, and Los Angeles, also manages more than 200,000 copyrights on behalf of more than 1,200 content holders, including the most celebrated composers, artists, and other music publishers.

This global technology platform from Kobalt (Ktech) innovatively tracks and collects royalties through the trillions of micropayments that streaming provides. Among the many services that they provide include brand and sync partnerships, global license management, online copyright management & use rights tracking, royalty collection and processing (website and App) with weekly online balances, monetization of YouTube, plus creative services, digital collections, and trailers for writers, publishers, musicians, and other rights holders.

How Does Kobalt Achieve Transparency?

Kobalt banner with red background
With AMRA you own your songs, keep 100% of your copyrights, have flexible online previews at your convenience, and you are free of ties

Through a global digital collection company called AMRA (American Music Rights Association – Original Name), belonging to Kobalt Music Group, but operated separated from the company. This organism began its operations in June 2015 and is the world’s first society based on technology and trust.

AMRA was designed for today’s artists and takes a straightforward, global approach to license agreement as well as digital collection and management using the advanced rights management platform, KTech, that leverages data and tracking technologies to gain insight into a valuable revenue stream with detailed reports for your clients. This optimized model allows increased efficiency by combating the margin of uncertainty, delay, and continuous errors existing in the traditional system.

I give you an example: Currently, leading digital music platforms are global companies (Spotify, YouTube, iTunes, and many more), but the traditional music industry collects their income locally and regionally. It creates an increasingly complex and fragmented collection process that causes unnecessary delays and inaccurate transmission reports that occur frequently.

AMRA works with flexible contracts, without complicated distribution rules, nor policies that discriminate or reward certain members over the artist. Most of the income is attributed to the client minus a commission absorbed by the company.

For publishers and composers, this means total clarity on the terms of the deal with complete information on all royalties collected. The association does not charge additional monthly fees or surcharges and is responsible for distributing all unattributed income.

Willard Ahdritz (Founder and CEO of Kobalt) assures that with the arrival of streaming, independent artists of medium projection level acquire most of the income of the industry through the alternative to record companies, Kobalt, what was not done before in the big record labels, who for decades denied these resources to international music figures.

“If you have $ 100k ($ 100,000) and you control your rights, the value of the masters is one million dollars in terms of the salable value of your rights.”

Willard Ahdritz

Are You An Independent Artist?

AWAL Could Be Your Option

Concert with people raising arms with light blue background
Kobalt Label Services (KLS) acquired the digital distributor AWAL in December 2011.

AWAL is a digital distribution company that guarantees independent emerging musicians a greater presence in all major

AWAL works with three modalities adapted with agreements to three different styles of artists: AWAL Core, AWAL+, and AWAL Recordings.

AWAL Core: This modality is created for independent artists with a career. Each musician takes home most of his income (85%), remains in control of his creations, has built a community, contributes information on his story in interesting ways, and bypasses long-term contracts. In summary, AWAL Core is for influencers in music who reach notoriety such as: “The TikTok cover exceeds 250,000 visits in 10 days” or “Reaches 100,000 monthly broadcasts on Spotify”.

By entering this mode you have the following support from the distributor:

  • Distribution: They are responsible for providing the material to the world’s main stores and digital providers (DSP – Digital Service Providers
  • Multiplatform Streaming Statistics (AWAL Analytics): Convert real-time streams into insights with proper skip rate analysis for plays, completions, playlist history, and much more using a complete and advanced music streaming platform.
  • A&R Discovery and Upstream: The multidisciplinary team assigned by creative artists and repertoire, monitors and finds constant opportunities to help them continue to climb more ground in various interesting ways in the musical field and in this way continue to attract attention on multiple platforms.
Multiple albums in red, blue, and black colors
AWAL stands for Artists Without A Label

AWAL+: In this category is a smaller group of artists that the company believes are on the brink of fame. Two examples of musical milestones found in this line are: “Debut EP Sensitive exceeds 30 million streams” or “Naika achieves high-profile sync placements in global Apple and FIFA ads”.

Generally, the method of entry into AWAL+ is through a lawyer or manager.

Once a member of this category, the artist will have a more personalized strategy with a combination of services:

  • Label Management: Designed to perfect the campaign strategy and ensure that the musician is always aware of the news and better options to promote his creations.
  • Funds: Includes project financing. When the company considers that the creative has enough force, they will contribute funds to materialize the project. However, the artist controls the destination of the budget after the campaign strategy made by the company.
  • Synchronization and DSP compatibility: This service offers synchronization and playlist promotion, that is, the global AWAL team will look for the best opportunities to put music in playlists on major digital platforms, as well as on movies, TV, commercials, feature film trailers, and other areas where he/she can reach a milestone and get more exposure.
AWAL logo in Pink, Violet and Cream color
Dozens of AWAL artists earn over $ 1Million Streaming every year (2020 Figures)

AWAL Recordings: In this last stage the singer can make his album with the company’s record label under his terms, but for whom is this benefit made? For all those artists who are constantly on the rise on the different digital platforms. As a sample, I leave you these two headlines of production and a musician for reference: “Gray Area wins the nomination for the Mercury Award, NME Award for Best British Album, and Ivor Novello for Album of the Year” and “Girl in Red gets one billion views before releasing her debut album”.

The Services of this stage are:

  • Financing Plus: Here the singer-songwriter must approve the budget for marketing. She/he maintains creative control and 100% of her/his copyright. Likewise, AWAL will take a percentage of the income that depends on the contract by mutual agreement, but they ensure that the artist obtains the majority percentage.
  • Global Marketing: The Company’s global marketing team will guide everything from digital campaigns to brand collaborations, social implementations, and whatever is necessary to propel the project towards the top of the popularity charts of all digital platforms.
  • A&R and Global Promotion: With this service, you will be able to maximize the dissemination of the project by making use of partners and commercial places with greater relevance, advertisements on music platforms such as Apple, be part of the best charts, and be on the programming grid of the best 40 radio stations.

You Can Also Read: What do you know about Kobalt?

How Can You Become An AWAL Member?

Cold War Kids at night concert
American band Cold War Kids is a member of AWAL

In August 2020, the distribution company announced that many of its artists were earning more than $ 100,000 per year per streaming, which is equivalent to an increase of 40% compared to 2018.

On February 1st of this year, AWAL

To become a member of this company, you must be selected by the differently trained professionals who are in charge of choosing them according to the following characteristics:

  • Quality: You must have a mixture of three skills: exponential Creativity, maximum Originality, and overflowing Talent.
  • Fans participation: A good base of engaged fans is essential because the number of transmissions on platforms such as YouTube, Spotify, and Soundcloud will be quantified with the number of followers and subscribers. They will also analyze the number of fans on associated Social Networks such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. In addition, they will be attentive to musicians with successes in live presentations and tours that confirm the power of a massive convocation.
  • Breaking the Noise: Each artist must be proactive and create press headlines as well as comments on blogs and music magazines to break the noise of the 20,000 new recordings that Spotify adds daily and be part of the hard-working replacement generation to make his name known.
  • Support Team: You must have among other work relationships: Manager, publicist, Music Editor, and lawyer. It is not necessary for your team to be made up of all these members, but at least three.
  • Strong Brand: First, you must have a high degree of professionalism. Having created a brand and being in continuous growth demonstrates the basis of a great effort and commitment to consider and be evaluated.

Although AWAL is selective, its main mission is to partner with creative, passionate, and motivated artists to propel them with their careers on a professional level.

4 Salsa Books You Can Read In One Week

Spanish Author Saúl Delhom Immerses Us Into The World Of Salsa In Four Simple Illustrated Texts

Ficcionario Salsero and El Antimanual de la Salsa by Saúl Delhom
El Antimanual Para Bailar Salsa. Episodio I: El Social was published in November 2019 and contains 73 pages

The computer engineer, illustrator and dancer, Saúl Delhom, recreates the culture of Salsa in an exclusive selection of four short books that are easy to understand, a substantial exploration of the representatives of the genre, and an enjoyable reading that you can finish in a week.

The author of these different texts tells us quickly and with the characteristic Spanish humor about the skills, efforts, adaptability, and approach of Afro-Caribbean music.

With these books aimed at Salsa fans, you will get motivation, reflection, knowledge of history, tips, and advice on social dance based on real stories that will not allow you to get left behind in this competitive and fascinating world of Latin dance.

The four books on Salsa by Valencia-born Saúl Delhom will make you learn the most relevant data of the Salsa industry in a fast and exceptional way.

En Clave

En clave is one of the books by the Valencia dancer with which he makes a chronological journey of Salsa through the lives of 77 women artists around the world. For this reason, you will find singers, instrumentalists, composers, and directors of the genre from Croatia, Denmark, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Japan, Puerto Rico, the United States, Cuba, and Venezuela, just to mention a few countries.

En Clave is structured by a timeline dating from 1877 to 1995, separated by decades. So in the first instance, you will read the biography of an artist who is probably the source of inspiration for another. Then, you will come across a connection diagram as visual support and contribution of extra information that will provide you with emotional ties, teachers, professionals, and collaborations between members of the industry.

Likewise, you will find at the end of each biography the title of a song along with a printed code that you can scan through your smartphone that will link you directly to the Spotify digital platform to listen to it.

And finally, you will observe a second timeline with the exhibition as a frame of reference for contemporary male singers and groups and the exact date of the incursion and musical performance of the artist reviewed for that moment.

“In short, for this book, I have opted for that general vision of the term Salsa… This has also allowed me to include interpreters of traditional Cuban music, to travel back in time making prominent women visible, and to the future including generations of artists who merge, and they reinterpret. For that reason, you will find exponents of the Trova, Danzón, Danzonete, the Cuban point, Guajira, or Latin Jazz. ” Excerpt from the En Clave book.

Remember that you need to read this book because…

“More Salsas are known with female names than female names in the Salsa”. Saúl Delhom

El Antimanual Para Bailar Salsa: Episode I. The social

El antimanual para bailar Salsa is an ironic and humorous illustrated guide on how to successfully overcome a social dance of this Latin rhyme on a dance floor.

In this first book by Saúl, you will find answers to common questions of beginning dancers, such as: Should the girl be dragged to the floor? Is it better to dance only with your partner? Is doing many figures the best to stand out? Do I have to know all the songs of memory to be a real Salsero? Is criticizing other couples a national sport? Who moves my drink from here?

Delhom tells us that his intention in creating this project was initially purely personal and without any commercial intention, but due to its success and the liking of the experience acquired, he decided to write an extension of this book with a few extra chapters and face a second different book.

 Ficcionario Salsero. 50 New Words Explained For Normal People

The Ficcionario Salsero is a dictionary of 50 words invented by the author.

These simple words with minimal modifications in the union of two of them or the exchange of one or two letters make the meaning vary entirely, creating a new terminology in salsa slang.

To do this, Saúl Delhom developed an advanced algorithm that allowed him to generate each new term, which in the writer’s words, that should already exist today.

In addition, in the last pages of the Ficcionario, you will find a story about the events that take place in a Salsa Congress and in which these new words are used as an example and that make you actively get involved in this fascinating world.

It should be noted that the style and method applied to the illustrations here are different from those applied previously.

 Trivial Salsero

Finally, there is the Trivial Salsero, a Salsa cultural enrichment book. Its base consists of 360 questions that join a playlist of 160 songs.

In the questions related to a hit, for example: According to a song from El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, what city do you recommend living in summer to have fun with charm and beauty? You will have the information about the correct answer and bring you the exact time within the song through a mark on the digital link to listen to it on Spotify.

Trivial Salsero also includes a system to choose pages randomly without the need for dice or cards.

And is that if you consider yourself a real Salsero you should already know the answers to any of these questions that appear in this book and that I leave you here below as a preamble to what you will find in its internal pages:

  1. With what instrument is the artist Noro Morales associated?
  2. What discipline did Celia Cruz leave to dedicate herself to music?
  3. What nickname has the artist Charlie Palmieri received?
  4. What is the meaning of the word Segundo of the artist Compay Segundo?

“I’ll tell you a little personal anecdote… The first time I tried a Salsa class was in a pub called Cachao. At that time, I had no idea who was the legendary double bass player Israel López “Cachao”. I believed that it was an invented word or the name of some island. Years later, I not only know his story thanks to dancing and the controversial term Salsa, but I have ended up writing a book in which appears his sister Coralia López, much less known”. Saúl Delhom

Saúl Delhom dancing
Saul Delhom

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Johnny “Dandy” Rodríguez Jr. Growing Up in Latin Dance Music and Jazz

Johnny “Dandy” Rodriguez Jr. is a salsa legend and world-renown, pioneering bongocero.

His “Dream Team” is currently regarded as the hottest salsa “conjunto” performing In New York City.

It is rare, and ever increasingly so, that a musician would spend a lifetime in a band. But percussionist Johnny “Dandy” Rodríguez Jr. who was a teenager when he was allowed to sit in with the Tito Puente Orchestra and be an apprentice for a few months before earning a place in its rhythm section, was also there at the end, playing alongside Puente until his death, after a concert on May 31st, 2000.

“I went from being a kid, coming into the band as a 16-year-old to being the man running the band at the end,” said Rodríguez, 70, in a conversation from his home in Las Vegas.

Johnny "Dandy" Rodriguez Jr. Growing up in Latin dance and jazz music
Johnny “Dandy” Rodríguez Jr.

Between that beginning and end, Rodríguez also contributed, in prolonged stints, to the sound of the Tito Rodríguez Orchestra, Ray Barretto, his own band, Típica ‘73, and more.

The son of Johnny “La Vaca” Rodríguez Sr., a respected percussionist who also played with the Puente and Rodríguez orchestras, “Dandy” Rodríguez is one of those essential musicians who have created and shaped the sound of contemporary Latin Jazz yet are little known by the public at large.

"When they called me to talk about the concert I thought it was a great idea," Rodriguez says.
Johnny “Dandy” Rodríguez Jr. y Pedro Bermúdez en New York

While some of the great players in Duke Ellington or Count Basie bands have long been recognized for their contributions, their counterparts in the Latin orchestras, for the most part, have not.  Rodriguez will be honored by Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra in their concert “Tribute to the Great Sidemen of Latin Jazz” alongside Sonny Bravo, Ray Santos, Papo Vázquez, Reynaldo Jorge, José Madera, Joe González, and Bobby Porcelli at Symphony Space, in New York City, January 29th and 30th.

“When they called me about the concert I thought it was such a great idea,” says Rodriguez.

Johnny Rodríguez
Johnny “Dandy” Rodriguez Jr. is a salsa legend and a world-renowned pioneer bongocero.

“Usually people just know the name of the bandleader and it’s fine,” he says. “But they must remember that there is a good team behind that leader which makes him look so much better.

There’s a way of playing that music that makes it sound the way they wrote it and the way they wanted it and these guys knew it and they knew how to do it.”

Rodríguez grew up in Spanish Harlem, Manhattan, in a house with “a great music collection, a good, what was then called, hi-fi system and always full of musicians,” he recalls.

“It was great but I was interested in baseball, in stickball. I didn’t get involved with music until later, but the music was always in the background, in my house.” By the time he was in junior high, Rodríguez played bongos, congas, timbales, and set drums and, as he puts it, “started to get into it.”

“Remember, I lived in El Barrio and back in those days, in that area, there was a lot of music in the air.

There would be speakers outside the furniture store or the bodega or the record shop, and music would be playing. This shop would be playing this radio station, the butcher would have another, so walking one block you’d be hearing three different pieces of music. It was an environment full of music.”

During the first two decades of the new century, the musical work of maestro Johnny Rodriguez continued; thus, his musical imprint has remained in other publications with The Latin-Jazz Coalition, Frankie Morales, Eddie Palmieri, Gilberto Santa Rosa, George Delgado, Victor Manuelle, Rick Arroyo, Orestes Vilató, Mitch Frohman, Cita Rodriguez, Doug Beaver, Adalberto Santiago and Jeremy Bosch.

In addition, special mention must be made of the participation of maestro Johnny Rodríguez with a group called The Latin Giants Of Jazz, in the best style of the classic Big Bands, made up of great teachers, among them, some of the former members of the band of maestro Tito Puente; with this group they have released four albums; this project gave rise to another band called The Mambo Legends, who recorded the album titled: Watch Out! ¡Ten Cuidao!

John Rodriguez is, without any doubt, one of the most prolific percussionists in the world of Latin music called Salsa; the nickname “Dandy” goes back to his childhood, when the car in which he was taken was bought in a warehouse or a store called “Dandy”, and people said: look how cute the “Dandy”, and from there he kept that nickname. In music he is better known as Johnny instead of John.

In the (year 2022) the experienced Johnny Rodriguez had three or four groups with which he is playing, among them Dandy Rodriguez and his Dream Team, and at the same time he teaches percussion classes over the Internet. He is part of the true legends of Latin music, not to mention that his talent has also been reflected in recordings for other musical genres such as: Electronic, Folk Rock, Folk, World & Country, Funk / Soul, Heavy Metal, Jazz, Stage & Screen, Jazz-Funk, Merengue and Pop.

In his very extensive artistic career, the master Johnny Rodriguez took part in historical and iconic recordings of our musical culture, some of these albums have been worthy of awards such as the Grammy Award, among which are:

Homenaje a Beny Moré – Year 1978.
On Broadway – 1983
El Rey: Tito Puente & His Latin Ensemble – Year 1984
Mambo Diablo – 1985
Goza Mi Timbal – Year 1990
Mambo Birdland – Year 1999
Masterpiece / Masterpiece Tito Puente & Eddie Palmieri – Year 2000.

“In 2008, Johhny entrusted LP’s Research and Development Department with the design of the John “Dandy” Rodriguez Jr. bongoes in the Legends series. John is proud that these drums, which bear his name, feature such outstanding sound and visual characteristics.”

He died on August 17, 2024 in New York City of a stroke.

 

Facebook: John Rodriguez(Dandy)

Article of Interest: José Madera Timbal de Machito and his Afro-Cubans, Tito Puente, Mambo Legends Orchestra and Fania Record Co.

Johnny "Dandy" Rodríguez Jr. y Frankie "El Sonero del Barrio" Vázquez
Johnny “Dandy” Rodríguez Jr. y Frankie “El Sonero del Barrio” Vázquez

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Argentina and its musical genres of origin and the tropics

Argentine musical genres and development to date with tropical genres

 

Each country has its essence with respect to what it represents above all in its culture, and in Latin America there is a great variety of musical genres and dances unlike Europe since during the colonization of the new world a mixture occurred not only at the level of races but also of culture, emerging a great variety of musical genres…

In this time we have Argentina, a country full of cultural diversity being the most interesting characteristic of this great South American country. It is a country where music is expressed with great style and elegance, especially at the level of dance, since its presentations are made in various places, including outdoors, especially in Buenos Aires (usually in summer).

Argentinian dance
Argentine Collash

Among the musical genres that stand out are:

  • Argentine Rock: it is the mix of rock and roll, blues, country & western, R&B, doo wop, boogie woogie and swing; It is characterized by having an outstanding and recognized Hispanic lyrics throughout Latin America thanks to the great popularity of the bands and artists that participated and reaped records in album sales and in attendance at recitals in the mid-1950s to date. (sample bands)

 

  • Tango: a musical and dance genre very characteristic of the Rio de la Plata region and its area of ​​influence, but mainly of the cities of Buenos Aires (in Argentina) and Montevideo (in Uruguay). Their music and dance is very popular in Argentina and this expressive dance has strong European influences. It is danced as a couple where the dancers merge in a romantic embrace, showing their sensuality, passion and feeling in each step taken, leading it to become one of the most famous dances and musical genres in the world.

 

  • Cumbia: despite the fact that this rhythm from the Caribbean countries, particularly Colombia, has spread in several Latin American countries including that country, the cumbia and the different variants are part of the music called “tropical”, and in Argentina Cumbia Villera is a subgenre born in popular areas, born approximately in 1997. It emerged from the fusion with local rhythms such as chamamé and tango, due to its instrumental endowment; Another particular characteristic of Argentine cumbia is the inclusion of flamenco within its musicalization.

 

  • In Argentine there are folk rhythms:

 

  • Zamba: its name derives from the daughters of black slaves and aborigines, who were sought to seduce through dance, this genre is located in the central part of the country and is generally associated with the Argentine Pampas. It is danced in pairs where the man surrounds the woman’s shoulders with a handkerchief with the intention of seduction.

 

  • Carnavalito: this genre is located in the Andean region, north of Argentina, its music and dance make up a part of the Andean pre-Columbian culture, it has a festive and lively tone.

 

  • Chacarera: a dance native to the north-central part of the country, has a marked aboriginal influence where the Quichua language is manifested. With vehement and intense tones, it is used in regional Carnival dances and is danced by stamping and courting figures.

During the 50s in the USA (United States) several musical genres were called “Latin Rhythms” to differentiate them from African-Americans, among which are salsa, merengue, samba, bachata and bolero among the most known. You will say that this has to do with the musical genres mentioned above … because there is a great difference and history since each musical genre or dance has its own rules to perform them either on a musical or dance level, but when a mixture arises. from two or more musical genres, a new one more innovative, fun and with a taste to the population, like what happened with the Latin rhythms in that country.

Photo of some dancers
Tango dancers photos

Salsa is a contagious and fun rhythm most of all for the general population at the time of dancing it, since people enjoy a very lively music where they usually shine with the amount of turns to magically show themselves with their spectators and to achieve this you are born with it or you train with professionals in dance; this generally applies to all Latin and / or tropical rhythms.

It does not matter what genre this popular in each country, the important thing is the dedication, expression and that each person has when producing their musical theme or dance to the public, giving the native his personal touch to his music or dance, becoming more unique and not as generic as it is made in other countries.

 

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