The challenge

Björn Ulvaeus (ABBA), MPL Ventures and Elton John have all invested in Audoo, a music technology company which helps artists and songwriters to receive fairer royalty payments. While music is widely played in public spaces – from shopping malls to restaurants and gyms - it has not been possible to know what gets played and therefore for royalties to be distributed correctly. Audoo’s music recognition technology devices - which venues simply plug into a power socket – accurately recognise the music being played and therefore revolutionise the accuracy and transparency of royalty distribution.

Our approach

We helped negotiate a ground-breaking partnership with PPL PRS, which licenses the use of music and collects royalties for the music industry in the UK (Australia is already distributing royalties directly based on Audoo plays, demonstrating what deals like this can do). The deal required careful navigation of music rights, member’s data, commercial interests and database management.

The outcome

This was a pivotal deal for both sides – Audoo and rights holders – as no artists or songwriters have ever been paid on the basis of actual plays before. It represents a huge step forward for Audoo's mission of shining a light on how public performance revenue is distributed within the music industry; a clearer and more transparent system for public performance royalties is now emerging.