Nkoda, Universal Music, and others have launched a rental and licensing platform called Kordl. Photo Credit: Samuel Sianipar
Is it time to streamline music rentals? Nkoda believes so, as it’s launched a one-stop platform, Kordl, alongside Universal Music Publishing and others.
London-headquartered Nkoda, which bills itself as “the world’s leading digital library of sheet music,” formally announced that platform today. Besides Universal Music, Concord-owned Boosey & Hawkes and Wise Music Group are on board as well.
Keeping the important point in mind, the involved parties didn’t hesitate to spell out that Kordl “is being designed to replace legacy platforms” and establish “a single, streamlined gateway to some of the world’s most prestigious rental catalogues.”
The precise timetable remains to be seen; among different things, Boosey & Hawkes’ website directs prospective customers to Zinfonia for rental orders. And Wise Music’s licensing processes appear multifaceted, with the company also directing customers to Zinfonia for rentals.
(Wise, Boosey, and Universal alike had a hand in the creation of Zinfonia, in which founder Peter Grimshaw, a now-former Nkoda exec, secured “full ownership” two years back, the relevant site shows.)
But Kordl, the new platform’s own site drives home, “unifies every aspect of rental and rights management – from ordering, fulfilment, returns, and rights approvals, to direct customer communication – into a single, streamlined” offering.
Said B2B platform can be customized based on each publisher’s needs and will “soon” support recorded music licensing, with sync on the table in the long term, Kordl told DMN. More immediately, Nkoda co-founder and CEO Lorenzo Brewer emphasized his ambitious vision for Kordl.
“Having worked closely with Boosey & Hawkes, Wise Music Group and Universal Music Publishing for a number of years,” Brewer said in part, “we are in a unique position to combine our knowledge of their rental catalogues, and our understanding of their different internal business processes, with our deep technical and industry expertise.
“The result will be a software platform that is streamlined, intuitive, robust and future-proofed. We hope to extend access to the Kordl platform to all our other publishing partners,” he concluded.
In addition to the inherent financial perks associated with streamlining rentals for Universal Music, it’s worth reiterating that the major operates (via Deutsche Grammophon) Stage+.
The classical streaming service, which has a well-entrenched competitor in Apple Music Classical, features live performances “from the world’s greatest concert halls and opera houses,” per its website.
And perhaps not coincidentally, Wise Music last month offloaded the entirety of its education division. Nkoda, on the other hand, now operates an “AI-powered music education tool” called ARIA-i, the company noted today.