Music-tech company Audoo has announced the close of its Series A, raising £5.2m in a round led by ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and existing investors including Tileyard London.
Audoo has created an IoT device in the form of an audio meter, shaped as a small plug that fits into a standard electrical socket.
The meter monitors what music a venue is playing and logs it, meaning that artists and composers can receive the royalties they are owed for the broadcast.
Beyond royalty reporting 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.
Björn Ulvaeus said of the start-up: “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.”
Speaking on the closing of the funding round, Audoo CEO Ryan Edwards added: “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. The mission is everything to us.
“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.”
In September the start-up’s board grew to include Alexi Cory-Smith, Ex-President Repertoire & Marketing at BMG, Rick Riccobono a former vice-president at BMI Inc. and International Rights Expert, Cliff Fluet, Chair of the Ivors Academy Trust, Adam Parness the formal Global Head of Publishing and Chris Herbert, Music Manager and creator of the Spice Girls.
Fluet said: “As a rights lawyer passionate about using technology to generate, find and distribute greater revenues, I have observed the importance of better data leading to more equitable distributions.
“This is a challenge experienced by all those in the music value chain and mission-critical for creators, from some of the largest artists on the planet to the emerging talent we are supporting in the early stage of their careers at the Ivors Academy Trust. Fair distributions of these revenues are even more important given the decimation of live music during the pandemic, which is a core focus of the DCMS inquiry into new music revenues.”