Photo credit: Julienne Schaer
Jessica Sobhraj’s “aha” idea struck several years ago when she was working on licensing music for films, TV shows, commercials and games. Almost daily, she would find herself trying to figure out who owned the copyrights to the work, only to discover that the legal documents necessary to establish ownership just didn’t exist.
“This was a huge problem,” she told us. “When creators do not take the time to put ownership agreements in place and to register their copyrights, they can face lawsuits, liability and lost income – as well as the serious cost of undoing those mistakes. After encountering this so often, I naturally said the cheesiest words any entrepreneur eventually says: ‘There has to be a better way!’ ”
At the time, there wasn’t. So Sobhraj and a small team built a basic app that evolved into Cosynd, their fast-growing platform that helps creators of music, videos, visual art, literature and other forms of media protect their work. Cosynd is now used to create, negotiate and sign copyright contracts that can be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. Many creators are discovering Cosynd through partners including CD Baby, Women in Music, BookBaby, Disc Makers, AdRev and others.
Cosynd is the first investment from women.nyc’s WE Venture Fund, New York City Economic Development Corporation’s $30 million venture partnership to invest in women and minority led businesses. “We are thrilled to be an investor in Cosynd, a company on a mission to support creators in protecting their work,” said Julia Schneider, VP of NYCEDC’s Strategic Investments Group. “As the first investment of our WE Venture portfolio, we were determined to select a partner with the passion, creativity and grit that embodies the spirit of the program. Cosynd, under Sobhraj’s leadership, was a no-brainer.”
Source: https://women.nyc/news/qa-with-cosynd-ceo-jessica-sobhraj/ BY GISELLE MUISE
