Publishing deals rarely generate headlines outside of music industry circles. But when the masked drummer of the biggest hard rock band in the world — a man who has never publicly confirmed his name, whose face has never been photographed, and who helped write songs that appeared on the Billboard Hot 100, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and earned a Grammy nomination — signs with the world’s leading independent music publisher, it says something specific about where hard rock is commercially right now, and about how the music business is starting to treat its composers with the same infrastructure as the genre’s biggest pop and hip-hop songwriters.
On January 21, 2026, Kobalt, the world’s leading independent music publisher, announced the signing of II, the dynamic drummer behind the Grammy-nominated band Sleep Token. The deal is a publishing agreement — meaning Kobalt takes on the administration, collection, and protection of II’s songwriter royalties across more than 180 territories globally, using its proprietary technology platform to ensure maximum transparency and payment speed.
For the uninitiated, that might sound procedural. It is not.
Who II Is — and Why the Anonymity Makes This Deal More Remarkable
Sleep Token operates under a framework of deliberate mystery. The three members — the vocalist known only as Vessel, and instrumentalists referred to by Roman numerals — have never confirmed their real names, shown their faces in public, or given traditional media interviews in conventional form. The anonymity is not a gimmick but a central part of the band’s artistic identity, which draws on themes of devotion, mythology, and the relationship between creator and unknowable force.
Within that context, II is the rhythmic backbone. II gained notoriety as the drummer and a key songwriter of Sleep Token, serving as the driving force behind the band’s rhythmic architecture. His studio work features thoughtfully crafted rhythmic motifs, percussive textures, and grooves that carry as much emotional weight as musical complexity, blending elements of modern metal with jazz, electronic, and cinematic percussion to create a rhythmic voice unlike anything in heavy music today.
That description is not marketing language. Sleep Token’s music genuinely defies easy categorization — Even in Arcadia has been described as alternative metal, djent, pop, R&B, progressive metal, pop rap, trap, and metalcore, with elements of math rock, emo, arena rock, trip hop, electronic, and reggaeton. None of that would be possible without a drummer who understands all of it and can hold the center while the genre alchemy swirls around him.
Crucially, II’s role extends well beyond drumming. Sleep Token capped off 2025 with Grammy nominations for best metal performance (“Emergence”) and best rock song for “Caramel,” for which II is nominated as a co-songwriter. A Grammy nomination as a co-writer is precisely the kind of commercial and critical validation that makes a publishing deal with Kobalt not just appropriate but overdue.
The Numbers Behind the Deal
To understand why Kobalt pursued this signing with evident enthusiasm, the commercial data of the past year is essential reading.
Even in Arcadia debuted atop the Billboard 200 with 127,000 equivalent album units — the biggest week by units for any rock album in nearly a year, and the biggest for any hard rock album in two years. All 10 of its songs appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 — the type of chart penetration reserved for legit streaming blockbusters. The album also broke records for vinyl sales, shifting over 47,000 units — the highest number for any hard rock album in the modern era, breaking the record only recently set by Ghost’s Skeletá.
The album did not just perform in the United States. Even in Arcadia reached No. 1 in Canada, Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as the UK and US. That international breadth is exactly the kind of catalog that requires the global administrative infrastructure Kobalt provides — royalty collection across streaming platforms, sync licensing opportunities, and rights protection in territories where independent artists often lose money through gaps in local collection societies.
Sleep Token claimed the top two positions on the year-end Hot Hard Rock Songs tally, led by “Emergence,” and five of the top 10 — by far the most for a single act since the first edition in 2021. The year-end data confirmed what the May charts suggested: this was not a one-week phenomenon but a sustained cultural moment.
What Kobalt Brings — and Why It Matters for II Specifically
Kobalt Music is the leading independent music publishing destination for songwriters and publishers, powered by technology. Across 10 global offices, Kobalt serves over one million songs, representing some of the biggest songwriters in the world, including Roddy Ricch, Max Martin, Karol G, Andrew Watt, Stevie Nicks, Phoebe Bridgers, The Lumineers, Paul McCartney, and many more. On average, Kobalt represents over 35% of the top 100 songs and albums in the US and the UK.
That roster context matters enormously. For a drummer-songwriter operating inside an intentionally anonymous band, the traditional music business infrastructure can present real challenges. Royalty collection in Europe, sync licensing for film and television placements, performance rights payments across dozens of territories — these all require active administration that a band’s day-to-day management cannot always prioritize. Kobalt’s technology-first model was built specifically to close those gaps, operating its own global digital collection society AMRA to maximize direct payments to creators in the streaming economy.
For II specifically, whose songwriting contributions span an album that has been streamed nearly 70 million times in its first week alone, the administrative scale of what Kobalt provides is substantial.
The enthusiasm on Kobalt’s side was genuine and specific. “Sleep Token are not only an extraordinary band — they are reshaping the sound, feel, and emotional impact of music today,” said Melissa Emert-Hutner, Kobalt’s SVP of creative. “Their live performances are truly immersive experiences, and their albums are beautiful bodies of work that continue to push creative boundaries. Working alongside Ryan Richards throughout this journey has been an exciting privilege, and being part of the world that II has helped build for Sleep Token is genuinely special.”
Kenny McGoff, EVP head of creative UK and GSA at Kobalt, added: “What a privilege to be part of this incredible band that has taken the world by storm. With so many Sleep Token fans already at Kobalt, it’s an honour for us all to protect and serve the songs.”
The Broader Signal: Hard Rock Has Arrived at the Publishing Table
The Kobalt deal is not happening in isolation. It is part of a wider recognition — by major publishers, streaming platforms, and mainstream media — that hard rock’s commercial ceiling has been permanently raised.
The hard rock world has been starving for new superstars for years, and bands like Sleep Token and Ghost are filling the void. The question is no longer whether these bands can sell albums; the question is whether the publishing and licensing infrastructure around them has caught up to reflect their commercial reality. A Kobalt deal for Sleep Token’s drummer-songwriter is a clear answer: it has.
For II, a musician who has chosen anonymity as a creative principle and yet whose songwriting fingerprints are on some of the most-streamed hard rock recordings in history, the deal ensures that the commercial fruits of that work are properly administered, protected, and paid. The mask stays on. The publishing deal is very, very real.
