Founded in 2000 by CEO Willard Ahdritz,[2] Kobalt acts primarily as an administrative publishing company, not owning any copyrights.

[8] Kobalt Music Group was founded in 2000 in New York City, with founder Willard Ahdritz, a native of Sweden, taking on the role of CEO.

[3] Kobalt as a result gained access to AWAL's network of digital retail partners, which among other companies included iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, eMusic, Rhapsody, 7Digital, Beatport, Deezer, and Nokia.

The catalog included 1,200 songwriters such as Hugh Masekela and Paul McCartney, with classic songs such as "Baby It's Cold Outside" and "Luck Be A Lady".

"[3] Google Ventures (with MSD Capital once again investing) raised US$60  million for the company[6] which Kobalt announced would largely be used to develop their technology and open new offices in Miami, Brazil, and South East Asia.

"[19] Wired reported in May 2015 that Kobalt was "the top independent music publisher in the UK and the second overall (to Sony/ATV) in the US," with around 8,000 artists and 600,000 songs in their catalogue.

[23] On July 24, 2022, Kobalt removed its entire catalogue of 700,000 tracks from Facebook and Instagram, two social media networks owned by Meta Platforms, in the United States.

[24] On September 7, 2022 private equity firm Francisco Partners acquired a controlling stake in Kobalt for an estimated $750 million.