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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 19^th, 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.

You Can Also Read: The Business Of The Artists

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.

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 1^st 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.

What has happened with salsa in New York City recently

The ultimely passing of El Judio Maravilloso

Here you can see Larry Harlow — Larry Harlow

On August 20 this year, salsa fans around the world received of the devastating news about the death of Larry Harlow Kahn, who was one of the most transcendental figures of the Fania All-Stars at the time and Latin music in general. There have been many artists, writers and the general public have expressed their profound regret at the departure of pianist, leaving an unforgettable legacy and a profound mark in the minds of all those who admired him throughout his career.

According to what writer specialized in music Aurora Flores said, Harlow, also known as “El Judio Maravilloso”, marked a unique style with great ease and innovation while staying attached to his traditions. From the hand of Johnny Pacheco and Jerry Masucci, this musician became a talented producer and creator for much of the work done by orchestra La Fania, resulting an approximate of 270 recordings for other artists and a good number of hits that continue to be heard today.

This extremely talented pianist broke down all sorts of cultural barriers during his lifetime thanks to his great talent. He reached corners he has never dreamed of and will always be remembered for his great artistic endeavors.

Ricky Gonzalez and Angel Fernandez make donations to support the Salsa Museum

Johnny Cruz with two musicians — Angel Fernández, Johnny Cruz, and Ricky González

In recent days, it became known that both Ricky Gonzalez and Angel Fernandez have met with the director of the Spanish Harlem Salsa Gallery Museum, Johnny Cruz, to bring him with some highly valuable objects. Gonzalez is Marc Anthony‘s pianist and Fernandez is the musical director of his orchestra, so both musicians have much to contribute to the historic museum presided by Cruz.

In the particular case of González, he plans to offer some jackets that were worn by the famous Puerto Rican singer, while Fernández will offer a trumpet played at one of the many concerts offered by the boricua and his team. Together with the already mentioned objects, both artists pledged to collaborate in every way necessary to continue donating valuable acquisitions to the cultural institution. On the official Facebook account of Johnny Cruz, the president of the museum can be seen in the company of both musicians and some thanks from his part to both of them for supporting the Spaha Salsa Gallery, as this place is also known.

Migdalia Sánchez joins the Salsa Museum

Logo of the station Latino 99 FM

It has been announced that Migdalia Sanchez, the head of Latino 99 FM in Florida, has agreed to join the Salsa Museum with Johnny Cruz. This means that the aforementioned station will start broadcasting the programme hosted by Johnny Cruz at the same time so that all its listeners can enjoy it without a single problem.

Salsa returns to New York

Following the restrictions imposed by the local authorities due to the advance of COVID-19, many clubs and nightclubs have decided to open their doors again, but meeting each and every one of the health requirements for these places can be considered safe for the clientele.

Every day there are more well-known names that join the list of places that are working almost normally after all this time. Here we mention some of the places that have reopened their doors:

La Marqueta
S.O.B’s
González y González
El Sanjuan
Taino Towers Crystal Ballroom

Enjoy the best DJs here at El Patio Wynwood

Good music, dancing, drinks, and much more

El Patio Grand Opening — The opening of El Patio Wynwood

The spectacular city of Miami has exceptional places where visitors from anywhere in the world can go and have fun without major difficulties, especially if they come from any Latin American country. Not by chance, this is one of the cities with the highest number of Latinos in the United States. Of course, entertainment venues were going to take this major detail into account when creating the schedule of activities that they have to offer to their clients.

That is where the incredible El Patio Wynwood comes in, whose main attraction is good music and dancing, although the place is suitable for people of all ages and tastes. This disco and restaurant has areas, drinks and other things for all tastes. Besides, you can enjoy a wonderful visual display, which will leave the lucky ones who attend this venue in awe.

One of the biggest attractions of the venue is the lively music that can be enjoyed in its facilities, both played by guest artists or recorded by the staff of the place to be played depending on the day, the time and the situation. Just as is the case with many bars and nightclubs of this style, hosts always try to provide the most lively atmosphere for attendees through theme nights and other types of events such as happy hours, whose protagonists are usually talented DJs who deploy their full repertoire to the delight of party people from that night.

This is the Happy Hour — Happy Hour at El Patio Wynwood

Theme nights and DJs

In addition to the most entertaining theme nights taking place here, we cannot fail to mention Las Fabulosas consisting of shows performed by all-female artists, who show why they have so much respect in the sphere of DJs. Among some of the talented women who have come to perform at El Patio Wynwood include Laura Castro, DJ Polen, Marcela Reyes, Negra Fabulosa and many more. Additional to that, the club also offers the Latino Gang which consists of a sort of battle between salsa and Reggaeton to know which one conquers more people from that night.

In addition to all this, music can be accompanied by the best cocktails in Miami, among which we can highlight La Flor De La Isla, Risa Salvaje, El Patio Mule, The Gentleman, Spring Gin, Bloody Bunny, Miss Chelada, Killer Bee, among others. As for the menu, diners can try dishes like chicken wings, pork rind skewers, garlic sausages to the grill, cheese boards, among other delights that visitors cannot miss.

If El Patio Wynwood is known for something that must be its highly innovative concept. The bar area has been designed in a way so that its clientele can enjoy a spectacular blend of art, cocktails and artisan beers and the wide range of hits to accompany the above.

All the above has resulted in excellent online reviews that show how pleased customers are with the work done by the staff of this bar and restaurant, which is definitely a compulsory meeting point for anyone who decides to visit the city of Miami, either from the United States or from any other country.

This is the area bar — Area bar at El Patio Wynwood

Link to its official website: https://www.elpatiowynwood.com/?fbclid=IwAR0rNmOTAoaqw2i9mMysYz6Q3r2T3rMPtzYLBO40sSkYo1PH09nOlB1AksY

Mike Arroyo the guitarist Using Jazz to praise God

Mike Arroyo 40/20 The Concert (The past July 19, 2021, San Juan, Puerto Rico)

Using Jazz to praise God, guitarist Mike Arroyo performed yesterday, Sunday, July 18, 2021 at the René Marqués Hall of the Centro de Bellas Artes in Santurce. As Mike himself said in front of a packed hall, yesterday’s concert became a dream come true.

At 4:50 p.m. the first call was heard over the loudspeaker. Seven minutes later, the second call was heard at full volume, which interrupted the public’s excitement as they began to settle into their seats. Five minutes after the scheduled time, the third and last call was heard; which immediately gave way to the greeting of the moderator already on stage, but not before opening the show with the usual invocation. It became clear that although the concert honored Mike Arroyo’s career, during that time the guitarist has dedicated himself body and soul to praise God.

The title 40/20 originates from the 40 years since Mike Arroyo acquired his first electric guitar, an Ovation Thunderhead® that had belonged to the tres player Nelson Gonzalez.

At 4:50 p.m. the first call was heard over the loudspeaker. Seven minutes later, the second call, which interrupted the public's excitement as they began to settle into their seats, was heard at full volume. — Mike Arroyo 40/20 The Concert

The acquisition of the guitar is still an enigma difficult to explain in earthly terms. Thus life, this shocking story, which in 1981 transformed the lives of Mike Arroyo and Nelson Gonzalez paved a path that 20 years later would see Mike’s first Jazz album, Straigth To Heaven (2001) see the light of day. It would be good to bring up the guitar transaction for discussion, but not before exposing the provenance of the guitar.

Shortly before the transaction described here, Nelson Gonzalez lost his house with all the belongings in it due to a fire. To Nelson’s surprise, the guitar, which later passed into Mike’s hands, was not only the only item to survive the fire, but remained intact. That fact alone is incredible, but in the face of a structure that was totally destroyed it looks even more dramatic. Nelson took the surviving item – his guitar – into storage. However, the custodian of the guitar decided to dispose of it as payment in exchange for a service. That third person who received the guitar as payment for that service, must have understood that the guitar had not been acquired in a lawful manner, so he sold it for $140.00 to a young Mike; who had to commit himself to pay small amounts until the agreed amount was paid off.

Shortly thereafter, already in the process of normalizing his life after that same fire that had spared the guitar, Nelson returned to reclaim the guitar from whoever had deposited it. Since the custodian of the guitar no longer had it with him, Nelson set about the task of locating it. Nelson received information about the whereabouts of the guitar itself, which at that moment became – unsuspectingly – the link between the two musicians. Nelson went to Mike Arroyo’s home where he saw with his own eyes the effort the young man had made to get his hands on that guitar.

The respectable Arroyo family explained, the young musician pleaded and Nelson Gonzalez decided to part with the guitar, the only material object that had survived the destruction of the Gonzalez home, to give it to Mike. At that moment, Nelson became Mike’s musical godfather and the guitar became the divine plan that made Mike a pioneer in Sacred Jazz, a Latin rhythm of light and spiritual tonalities. The surprise of the night was the presentation of Nelson Gonzalez with Mike Arroyo, eternally united by the musical instrument that was also the instrument of that divine plan that remains intact.

At that time, Nelson became Mike's musical godfather and the guitar became the divine plan that made Mike a pioneer in Sacred Jazz. — Nelson González y Mike Arroyo

Mike is recognized in the music scene as a pioneer and precursor of “Christian Jazz” with 6 record productions and two video DVD productions. In 2017 he innovated the stages by performing a concert in the traditional format of “Jazz Organ Trio” being Brian Charette and Vince Ector the international guest musicians of that event that took place at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico.

Aware of the need to strengthen us as a people, through his “Jazz with a spiritual touch”; just as 40 years ago Nelson gave Mike that magical instrument, yesterday Mike gave the public a masterful concert, presented by BCC (Breñas Community Church). It should be noted that BCC is the church where Mike has been pastor for 15 years.

The select group of accompanying musicians included the Puerto Rican piano: Luis Marín, Gabriel Rodríguez, Jimmy Rivera, Héctor Matos on drums, José Nelson Ramírez, Tommy Lee on tumbadoras and Giovanny Rodríguez. — Piano of Puerto Rico: Luis Marín, Gabriel Rodríguez, Jimmy Rivera, Héctor Matos on drums, José Nelson Ramírez, Tommy Lee on tumbadoras and Giovanny Rodríguez.

The select group of accompanying musicians included the piano of Puerto Rico: Luis Marín, Gabriel Rodríguez, Jimmy Rivera, Héctor Matos on drums, José Nelson Ramírez, Tommy Lee on tumbadoras and Giovanny Rodríguez in his first performance with his former teacher -Luis Marín-. I imagine that no one will be surprised if it is stated that Luis Marín’s chords were gravitating towards salsa, while Tommy Lee prophesied in correspondence on the leather of the tumbadoras. Also singing were: Yanira Torres, Gilda González, Janet Hernández, Alma Galarza and Vanessa Rosado.

During these 40 years Mike has stood out musically with Christian groups and singers such as Renovación Cristiana, Abba Padre, Manuel Román among others and several recordings. He has participated with the Symphony Orchestra of PR, a Symphony Orchestra in the Dominican Republic, The Quique Talavera Orchestra in the Chucho Avellanet Show accompanying other singers such as Ismael Miranda, Braulio, Tito Rojas among others, The Pijuán Orchestra, where besides the Sextet, he also accompanied Danny Rivera and Wilkins. Mike also had the joy of dedicating a piece with his guitar to his favorite artist Jose Feliciano when he came to celebrate his 50th artistic anniversary in Puerto Rico. With his guitar he has participated in International Jazz Concerts and Festivals (PR, NY, Chicago, Curacao, among others) and has also performed in Germany.

Mike is also a musician/pastor of the Breñas Community Church (BCC) IDDPM.I. in Vega Alta for 15 years and Chaplain of the Police of PR. He is also a Music Teacher in his academy “Mike Arroyo Music” in his hometown of Vega Baja and is a Biomedical Engineer in Clinical Laboratories and Hospitals.

“Mike Arroyo 40/20 El Concierto” was dedicated to his graduating class of Lino Padrón Rivera High School of Vega Baja 1983 and to his “Padrino Musical” Nelson González.

Article of Interest: Tito Rodríguez, Jr. “The Palladium legacy lives on”

By: Bella Martinez “La Escritora Irreverente de La Salsa”