Kobalt

ADD INVESTMENT: Here's another one for your end-of-the-fiscal-year investment scorecard. Indie pubco and music-services company Kobalt Music Group has announced a "significant" infusion of funds from MSD Capital, L.P., the private investment firm of Dell Computer tycoon Michael S. Dell and his family. MSD's participation, which sources say is in the neighborhood of $25 million, is partly in the form of direct investment and partly in acquiring the stake of SPARK Ventures plc, a founding investor in Kobalt. The "growth capital" investment's amount was not disclosed, but Kobalt's Founder/CEO, Willard Ahdritz, said it will help the company's "rapid growth." MSD Managing Partners Glenn Fuhrman and John Phelan, who always speak in unison, declared, "Today a single hit song can have 500k separate income streams. Kobalt's technology platform was built for this exciting new world. We look forward to supporting Kobalt as it expands its service offerings, and also to becoming besties with famous rock stars." (3/10p)