Global music-services company Kobalt announced today that it was named Lonny Olinick CEO of its recordings division, which includes AWAL and Kobalt Music Recordings. Olinick will report directly to Kobalt Music founder/CEO Willard Ahdritz.
Previously the company’s Chief Strategy Officer, Olinick was responsible for business development and strategy as well as executive oversight for the recording division. Over the past year, he was actively involved in the company’s $89 million fundraising. He joined Kobalt in 2016, having previously held positions at RCA, Sony BMG and Bain & Company, in addition to running his own artist management company. He holds an MBA from Stanford.
“In the last year we optimized our recordings division for the music streaming market and as a result we had a banner year with our artists,” Olinick said in a statement. “Our focus on identifying, developing and breaking new artists through our AWAL service, alongside our established artist clients has resulted in a number of break through successes. Lauv, who had a top 30 global radio hit, went gold or platinum in 10 territories and has more than 500 million audio streams with his songs since becoming a Kobalt client is one great example of our focus. This is the dawn of a new era and we will be at the digital forefront, just as we were with publishing.”
Ahdritz said, “Lonny has contributed immensely to the overall strength and growth of Kobalt Music in the past couple years. Not only is he a smart business strategist but he is an innovator who knows how to develop what’s best for artists – not just for today, but the future music industry.”
Based in Sweden, Kobalt is best known for its publishing company, which prides itself on transparency and represents Paul McCartney (pictured), Kelly Clarkson, Dave Grohl, Dr. Luke, The Chainsmokers, the Miles Davis estate and many others, The company’s capital fund has raised hundreds of millions of dollars http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/kobalt-capital-raises-600-million-1202607677/ in recent years and put some of it to use in December by purchasing the catalog of Songs Music Publishing, which includes The Weeknd, Lorde and Diplo, for a price sources say is around $150 million. http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/songs-music-publishing-sells-to-kobalt-for-150-million-sources-say-1202633941/
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