PRS for Music and PPL have announced a new distribution partnership with the music technology company Audoo.
The partnership is aiming to enhance the distribution of public performance royalties for over 300,000 artists, recording rights holders, music publishers, writers and composers.
In order to achieve this aim, Audoo's unique Audoo Audio Meters are set to be installed across a range of businesses - including cafés, bars, hair salons, restaurants and retail - in the UK in order to identify the background music being played. This data will then be reported back to PRS for Music and PPL, helping to accelerate accurate and transparent royalty distribution to their 300,000 collective members.
Designed to be GDPR-compliant, the Audoo Audio Meters use smart plug-in technology to securely track and report the music being played in quasi real-time without capturing any public or private non-music audio.
Tim Arber, Director of Operational Improvement at PRS for Music, said in a statement: 'We are continually investing in new technologies and services to ensure we can pay out royalties more quickly and accurately, delivering the best possible service to members. We have been working with music recognition technology for many years and are excited to see how this collaboration with Audoo can support our ambition to pay out over £1 billion annually in the next few years.
'Helping businesses across the UK to report the music they play through smart data capture will be integral to reaching this milestone and maximising our members public performance royalties.'
Russell Chant, PPL’s Head of Distribution, added: '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. We look forward to working with the Audoo team over the coming months.'
Ryan Edwards, Audoo founder and CEO, said: 'This collaboration with PRS and PPL is a milestone in the evolution of the public performance royalty space, for creators, performers and rights holders, as well as licensees delivering an enhanced experience for customers through the joy of music played in public spaces.
'Audoo is a proud British business that has designed, developed and continues to manufacture all products in the UK, so it is particularly poignant to launch Audoo at home with global leaders PRS for Music and PPL following the successful impact in other territories.'
