Audoo, a London-based music tech startup revolutionising public performance royalties, has secured $5 million in funding. The round saw participation from Grammy superstar Elton John, David Furnish, MPL Ventures and ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus, Tileyard and Edinv. With this, the total funding raised by Audoo accounts for $22 million.
The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and reach its business globally.
This round of investment follows several key hires at Audoo, including music publishing veteran / ex-PRS for Music’s Nigel Elderton as Chairman and former CEO of NASDAQ-listed Contract Research Organisation Syneos Health (SYNH), Alistair Macdonald, as a board advisor.
Elton John commented, “Working as a musician can be seen as all glitz and glamour but for the vast majority of artists, especially new and emerging acts, this isn’t the case. It’s often brutally unfair and this sadly extends into being paid correctly. Right now, artists are not being paid accurately for their plays because the data simply doesn’t exist. People have given up on their dreams and we’ve lost talent and future stars because of this disparity. That’s why we’ve invested in Audoo and their world-class technology and data, to help create a more transparent system for everyone, and ultimately to keep the music alive.”
Ryan Edwards, Audoo founder and CEO, comments: “Being able to draw on the support of artists in our mission to revolutionise the royalty space has been key to Audoo’s success, and we are incredibly proud to welcome even more icons to aid in the next stage of our journey. With Elton & David’s strategic investment, we will be able to continue to champion & deliver a fairer, and more transparent music industry for creatives to benefit for generations to come. We look forward to welcoming more international partners, licensees and creators to join us on this industry-changing journey.”
Resolves challenges in music royalties
Artists are losing out on up to $3 billion globally in unaccounted royalties. Founded in 2018 by Ryan Edwards, Audoo aims to solve the public performance royalty data collection and payment distribution issue via its Audio Meters and insights platform. It makes it easy for everyone in the data chain to recognise in quasi-real-time where and when music is played, in detail, and how it should be paid.
Audoo’s devices are being rolled out across Europe, Australasia & Africa through partnerships to track and report every song played in public performance locations like cafes, bars, hair salons, restaurants, gyms and retail locations with world-leading accuracy. The Audio Meters are now in more than ten countries across four continents.
