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Elton John invests in music tech company Audoo

Elton John and his manager David Furnish have invested in a music technology company that is bidding to “revolutionise” public performance royalties.

The duo have joined the likes of ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus, MPL Ventures, Tileyard and Edinv in backing London-based Adoo, which has secured $5 million (€4.76m) in its latest funding round, taking its total raised to $22m.

The investment round follows key hires at Audoo, including music publishing veteran Nigel Elderton as chair and Melanie Johnson as chief commercial officer.

“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,” says Elton. “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.”

“Being able to draw on the support of artists in our mission to revolutionise the royalty space has been key to Audoo’s success”

Formed in 2018, Audoo’s board includes experts from APRA AMCOS, BMG, Bowers and Wilkins, PRS for Music and Sony Music Publishing. According to the firm, its technology “powers the commitment to improving accuracy, transparency and reporting in quasi-real-time without burden for licensees, PROs and CMOs”.

“Being able to draw on the support of artists in our mission to revolutionise the royalty space has been key to Audoo’s success,” says Audoo founder and CEO Ryan Edwards. “We are proud to welcome more icons to aid the next stage of our journey.

“With Elton and David’s strategic investment, we continue to champion and 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.”

Audoo works to provide solutions to the challenges faced in public performance royalty data collection and payment distribution with its Audoo Audio Meter and insights platform that is rolling out across the UK, Europe, Australasia and Africa through industry-first partnerships.

The company says the installation of Audio Meters in businesses worldwide – including cafés, bars, hair salons, restaurants, gyms and retail locations – “sees its small, discreet plug-in solution cut through foreground noise, identify the music, match the song data, and report this usage back to PRO and CMO partners – ultimately improving fair and accurate payments to rights holders with a greater level of accuracy”.

 


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