Former Kobalt Music Group executive Simon Dennett has been appointed Chief Product Officer at Spanish Point Technologies, the Irish company behind music rights platform Matching Engine.
Dennett, who served as both Chief Product Officer and Chief Commercial Officer at Kobalt, will lead the platform’s international expansion.
Matching Engine is used by collective management organizations (CMOs) including IMRO, SOCAN, TONO, and Koda across 13 countries in Europe and North America.
Launched in 2018, the cloud-native platform is built on Microsoft Azure and is designed to help CMOs manage repertoire and usage matching, distribution processing, licensing, and member services.
“As Matching Engine grows internationally, that experience will be instrumental in helping CMOs meet the challenges ahead.”
John Corley, Spanish Point Technologies
John Corley, CEO and co-founder of Spanish Point Technologies, said: “Simon spent 14 years at Kobalt working in product, technology and commercial strategy across the group. Having been a core part of scaling Kobalt and its global collection society amra, he understands the rights problem from all sides: writer, publisher and collection society.
“As Matching Engine grows internationally, that experience will be instrumental in helping CMOs meet the challenges ahead.”
Corley was named a finalist in the 2026 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year program in Ireland.
At Kobalt, Dennett helped drive the market entry of the group’s global digital collection society, amra (American Music Rights Association), according to a press release.
Spanish Point says he also created products that underpinned the growth of AWAL (Artists Without a Label), then Kobalt’s recordings division.
Dennett later served on the board of amra and has since built, advised, and invested in businesses focused on rights, intellectual property, and technology.
“Rights management is becoming more data-intensive and technically demanding, with AI significantly amplifying that trend. The industry needs platforms that can manage this step change.”
Simon Dennett, Spanish Point Technologies
Simon Dennett, Chief Product Officer at Spanish Point Technologies, said: “Rights management is becoming more data-intensive and technically demanding, with AI significantly amplifying that trend. The industry needs platforms that can manage this step change without compromising accuracy, transparency or speed.
“Matching Engine has built a strong foundation with leading CMOs, and the opportunity now is global. My focus will be on strengthening the platform to stay ahead of the challenges to come as we expand into new markets.”
Spanish Point has also appointed technology investor Brian Caulfield as Chairperson.
A Venture Partner and former Managing Partner at Molten Ventures, Caulfield has backed companies including Movidius, Graphcore, and Clavis Insight.
Spanish Point says it has doubled its team since 2023 to more than 120 people, and that CMOs using Matching Engine are expected to distribute more than €1.2 billion (over USD $1.3 billion) in royalties to over 500,000 creators and rightsholders worldwide this year.
It also says it is Microsoft’s largest Azure partner in Ireland and one of only three UK and Ireland partners authorized to deliver Microsoft’s AI transformation program.Music Business Worldwide