The music industry is feeling the pain of copyright issues, and royalties as rights holders are not paid out correctly, which is amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid revenue globally. Audoo, a London-based music tech company is working towards a royalty revolution to ensure accuracy is delivered for artists, composers, labels, license payers, and royalty societies alike.
Raises €5.8M
Audoo has raised £5.2M (approx €5.8M) in its Series A round of funding by Björn Ulvaeus – Swedish singer-songwriter, producer, a member of the Swedish pop group ABBA. Existing investors including Tileyard London also participated in this round. According to Audoo, the amount was raised in less than 10 weeks.
“For a long time, I have urged Performing Right Organisations to use intelligent third-party technology. Audoo is a solution I believe will change the music industry forever and that’s why I have put my money where my mouth is,” says Ulvaeus remarks.
The raised capital will allow Audoo’s “Audio Meter”, a small device that securely monitors what music is played in public performance areas (e.g. shops, gyms, and cafes), to ensure artists receive royalties that are rightfully theirs.
Ryan Edwards, CEO of Audoo states, “It doesn’t matter who you are – from Sir Elton John to the local singer-songwriter, we will deliver accurate data to ensure artists are paid fairly. If our technology is in place in all UK licenced premises, it will log around 80 million plays every 12 hours. We’ll know – with certainty and in detail – exactly what people are listening to. We will collect and report the biggest set of public performance music data ever created.”
According to Crunchbase, in May 2019, the company had raised £1.2M (approx €1.3M) in its Seed round of funding.
What is Audoo?
Audoo was founded in 2018 by Ryan Edwards after he himself missed out on royalty payments from the broadcasting of his song “Domino Effect”. Audoo is a music technology company that aims to create a more accurate system for compensating artists and composers.
The company has created a solution which tracks actual played music and relays that information in real-time to help Performing Right Organisations (PRO) digitise and streamline their processes, resulting in more accurate and transparent royalty distribution.
Audoo’s audio meter plugs into commercial establishments such as shops, restaurants, gyms, and bars and takes a digital imprint of the music played. This data is then analysed for PROs who ensure artists, composers and publishers are compensated fairly and accurately, every time their music is played.
How does this audio-meter work?
Audoo has invented an audio-meter, shaped like a small plug that fits into a standard electrical socket without the need for complex installation.
The meter securely monitors what music a venue is playing, recognises, and logs it, meaning that artists and composers can accurately receive the royalties they are owed for the broadcasting of their work.
To maximise the audio-meter rollout, the company is working with Performing Right Organisations around the world to make installation a condition of venues gaining a license to play music.
How is Audoo fixing the issue with technology?
No audio that is captured is ever recorded, stored, or transmitted, therefore no PII (Personal Identifiable Information) is ever captured either.
Music is identified by proprietary digital fingerprinting technology, which is then matched against a library of over 70 million songs, to report the exact version of the song broadcasted. This ensures Audoo is GDPR compliant.
Besides, the data captured can also be leveraged by record labels, publishers, catalogue owners, managers, booking agents, and artists themselves to refine their strategy, book tours, and better understand how real-world music is consumed.
Image credit: Audoo