Former Kobalt executive Simon Dennett joins Spanish Point Technologies as chief product officer

Simon Dennett, who spent 14 years at the music publisher Kobalt, has been appointed chief product officer at Spanish Point Technologies, the Irish company behind the music rights platform Matching Engine. Music Business Worldwide reported the appointment on Tuesday 3 November 2026.

At Kobalt, Dennett worked across product, technology and commercial strategy. He held the roles of chief product officer and chief commercial officer. He created products that supported the growth of AWAL, the independent distribution company that later became Kobalt's recordings division. He also helped drive the market entry of AMRA, the American Music Rights Association, a digital collection society, and later sat on AMRA's board.

Spanish Point's product is less visible to the public but central to how songwriters get paid. Collection societies, known as CMOs (collective management organisations), collect royalties when songs are played or used, then pass the money on to writers and publishers. Matching Engine helps these bodies work out which songs were used, who owns them and how much each rightsholder is owed.

The platform launched in 2018 and runs on Microsoft Azure cloud servers. It is used by CMOs including IMRO, SOCAN, TONO and Koda, across 13 countries in Europe and North America. Its tools cover repertoire and usage matching, distribution processing, licensing and member services.

According to the same report, CMOs using Matching Engine are expected to distribute more than €1.2 billion (over US$1.3 billion). Each euro of that sum is money owed to someone who wrote, performed or published a song, so accurate matching matters to them directly.

Spanish Point has doubled its team since 2023 and now employs more than 120 people. Brian Caulfield, a technology investor, has been appointed chairperson. He is a Venture Partner and former Managing Partner at Molten Ventures. John Corley, the company's CEO and co-founder, was named a finalist in the 2026 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year programme in Ireland.

Dennett's move brings a long background in music rights and the publishing side of the business to a company whose work sits between songwriters and the bodies that pay them.