Kobalt performs heroics in the indie sector.

Kobalt has only been in existence since 2000, but such has been its rapid rise that last year it took control of more than a quarter of the UK's independent publishing sector.

The company, which was formed by CEO Willard Ahdritz, finished as the runaway number one indie publisher of 2007 as it outscored its three nearest rivals combined with a 25.9% share of the independent market. Only a year earlier its share of the independent market had been just 4.0%, putting it in eighth position.

Billing what it offers as "music publishing for the 21st Century", the company markets what it calls its "unique, transparent" systems, which it says take the guesswork out of global royalty collections and reporting, so enabling songwriters to get more money, more quickly.

That approach has built up a roster that includes the likes of Gwen Stefani, Interpol, Richard Ashcroft, Badly Drawn Boy and Barry Manilow and helped it last year to become the top UK independent publisher of the year for the first time in its history.

Its domination of the indie publishing sector in 2007 is without question in regards market share, but it is also pushing hard at the major publishers. On singles, for example, it finished just 1.8 percentage points behind Sony/ATV as it claimed two-thirds of the year's biggest-selling single, the Leona Lewis-performed Bleeding Love. It also grabbed a 50% share of the Sugababes hit About You Now, the year's sixth top seller, and half of the 13th-placed The Sweet Escape by Gwen Stefani feat. Akon.

Although its performance on ...