“You smile a lot. You must have heard a lot of BS about Kobalt.”

Willard Ahdritz has built his independent publishing empire by boldly questioning this industry and seeking out transparency at every turn. Evidently, that goes double for smirking Music Week journalists.

As would surely please a man who prides himself on pinpoint accuracy, Ahdritz’s jokey accusation during our hour-long interview is spot on. (Behind the scenes, chatty rival publishers aren’t so much threatened by Kobalt as outright obsessed ...