ABBA’s Bjorn-backed Audoo partners with music licensers to collect royalties from background music in bars and cafes
Audoo, a music tech company backed by ABBA star Björn Ulvaeus, has partnered with major British music licensers PRS for Music and PPL to improve royalty distribution to music artists through audio meters.
Audoo’s audio meters can identify background music being played in public spaces such as bars, shops and restaurants.
The data collected is sent to PPL and PRS for Music who collect and distribute royalties to artists when their music is performed or played in public. PRS for Music are funding the installation of the plug-in devices.
PPL is the world’s largest collector of international royalties for performers and recording rights-holders.
Audoo chief executive Ryan Edwards, who set up the London-based company in 2018, told City PM their iPhone-sized audio meters are designed for public spaces to “fit and forget”.
He said the UK launch of the audio meters is a milestone for the company because “the UK music market is one of the strongest globally and we’re really excited we are growing it at home”.
According to Audoo, their audio meters are GDPR complaint and do not store any data or collect background conversation.
PRS for Music collect roughly £1bn a year in royalties and distribute it to artists. Previously they have collected for the Beatles.
Russell Chant, PPL’s head of distribution, said: “At PPL, we’re always working to ensure that performers, record labels and self-releasing artists are fairly and accurately paid for the music they create.
“This initiative with Audoo will complement our existing suite of advanced technological tools and public performance music usage data, offering us a further way to check that our distributions are as accurate as possible.”
Currently, the audio meters will only work for recorded tracks but Audoo are launching a similar detection device for live performances early next year.
Tim Arber, PRS for Music’s director of operational improvement, said the smart data capture technology will be “integral” to maximising their members’ public performance royalties.