Kobalt Label Services (KLS) is a part of the Kobalt Music Group. KLS provides record label services to artists, receiving a share of revenues, while allowing artists to retain ownership of their master recordings. The company was founded in 2012 when Kobalt acquired digital distributor AWAL. Their roster includes artists such as Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds,Prince,New Kids on the Block,Pet Shop Boys,Maya Jane Coles, and Travis.

Artists

Kobalt is a fictional character, a comic book superhero published by DC Comics. He first appears in Kobalt #1 (June 1993), and was created by John Rozum and Arvell Jones.

Publication history

Kobalt was somewhat a super-hero, but had built a ruthless and fierce reputation. Some criminals even believed he was a cannibal. Kobalt carries a vendetta against the St. Cloud organization. Kobalt's first appearance was in Kobalt #1 as he harasses some of the employees of St. Cloud. After the battle, Kobalt learns from another vigilante, Clover, several of Cloud's men are manipulating his organization for profit and other sinister purposes, without Cloud being aware of it.

Despite this, Kobalt refuses to team up with Clover. He insists on no new partners ever and it is soon learned he had at least one before, who had managed to set up a very illegal phone line that only a few know about. One of these people is the father of Page, an inept superhero groupie. Kobalt owes Page's father and he calls this in, wanting him to train his son to be a genuine superhero.

Kobalt is a line of hand tools, power tools, and tool storage products owned by the American home improvement chain Lowe's. It is the house brand for both Lowe's in North America and their joint venture Masters Home Improvement in Australia.

History

Lowe's and manufacturing partner J.H. Williams launched Kobalt in 1998, with the intention of competing against rival retailers Sears and The Home Depot and their respective Craftsman and Husky tool brands.

In 2003, the Danaher Corporation began producing the majority of Kobalt hand tools.

In 2011, Lowe's ended its arrangement with Danaher and switched to a different supplier for its mechanic's hand tools, JS Products of Las Vegas, Nevada. Screwdrivers continue to be supplied by Great Neck. The same year, the Kobalt line expanded to include cordless power tools, manufactured by Chervon.

Budget brands

Lowe's has two brands of tools and supplies positioned below Kobalt in quality and cost: Task Force and the more recent Blue Hawk, introduced in 2009.

The 2014 Kobalt 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on March 9, 2014, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas. Contested over 267 laps on the 1.5 miles (2.4 km) asphalt tri-oval, it was the third race of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Brad Keselowski won the race, his first win of the season, after Dale Earnhardt, Jr. ran out of fuel half a lap from the finish. Earnhardt, Jr. still finished second, while Paul Menard, Joey Logano, and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five. The top rookies of the race were Austin Dillon (16th), Kyle Larson (19th), and Michael Annett (29th).

Previous week's race

Kevin Harvick held off Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the final nine laps to score the victory in the The Profit on CNBC 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Harvick praised his Stewart-Haas Racing team for the efforts in the early part of the season, since his move from Richard Childress Racing, stating "to add an extra team, bring in a bunch of new guys, new driver, Rodney Childers has just done a phenomenal job of putting this team together. These guys all want to win that is why they came here". He added that he was "really happy" with the engine that had been provided by Hendrick Motorsports. Earnhardt, Jr. was disappointed to miss out on the victory, stating that he "would have loved to have won the race, am a little disappointed to have come that close", but like Harvick, praised his team for their performances, adding that they have "a lot of great chemistry and good communication going back and forth. Everybody's confidence is very high. Everybody's mood and morale is really high".