A music tech start-up focused on royalty distribution has received 拢600k funding for its music monitoring service.
Audoo鈥檚 plug-in device monitors and recognises the music played in commercial spaces, ensuring that the artists responsible are paid for use of the track.
The advent of streaming music has made it easier for commercial spaces to play music into their spaces but are required to pay royalties when they do so.
The company, founded by former Visa Europe and Vodafone executive Ryan Edwards, launched after Edwards 鈥� an ex-musician 鈥揷laimed to hear his own single played in a well-known department store chain.
Edwards never received any broadcast royalties for the music, and said it highlighted a gap in the market.
Edwards and his company say a 鈥榬oyalty revolution is coming鈥� and will invest Audoo鈥檚 profits back into the music industry.
The start-up鈥檚 backers include co-Founder of Bink Greg Gormley, co-founder and CEO of Testcard Luke Heron, Director of Ventures and Chief Innovation Officer of Co-op Tim Davies, Ed Matthews and Marcus Watson.
Edwards said: 鈥淎s an ex-musician, I know first-hand how challenging the distribution of royalties can be with its manual processes and lack of accurate data.
鈥淭racking performance royalties has always been a challenge in the music industry. We aim to change this by providing a tool for PROs to manoeuvre efficiently in the digital age and ensure artists are paid fairly.鈥�
Investor Greg Gormley added: 鈥淚鈥檓 delighted to have invested in such an innovative business that will change the face of the music industry and fairly reward artists.
鈥淎s a technology entrepreneur, it was evident very early on that Audoo鈥檚 technology has the potential to revolutionise a much-loved industry, making it fairer and more transparent for everyone.鈥�