Photo Credit: Audoo
PRS for Music and PPL have officially partnered with Audoo for more accurate public detection of performance royalties.
According to the companies, the installation of Audoo’s ‘Audio Meters’ (pictured above) in businesses like cafes, bars, salons, restaurants, and other retail locations across Great Britain will accelerate accurate and transparent royalty distributions to music creators. The Audio Meters can accurately identify background music being played at specific locations, relaying the information back to PPL and PRS for Music.
According to the copyright collectives, the partnership with Audoo will help PRS for Music and PPL enhance distribution efficiency by delivering optimum payments for their 300,000-plus members. Audoo’s Audio Meters are GDPR compliant and use smart plug-in technology to securely track and report the music being played in real-time while filtering out non-music audio.
Suddenly, music recognition technology — or ‘MRT’ in biz-speak — is being deployed in one of the world’s largest music markets. “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,” relayed Tim Arber, PRS for Music’s Director of Operational Improvement.
Arber pointed to some big distribution targets, with MRT offering the possibility of better matches and additional payouts. “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 maximizing our members’ public performance royalties.”
Russell Chant, PPL’s Head of Distribution, pointed to a potentially major improvement in public performance tracking.
“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,” Chant said. “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.”
“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,” adds Ryan Edwards, Audoo Founder & CEO.
Edwards also took the opportunity to celebrate the hometown partnership. “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.”
