Adele backs Audoo: Grammy icon joins £7M bet on fair pay for musicians

Grammy award-winning artist Adele, multi-award-winning singer of Someone Like You, has become the latest music icon to back Audoo, a fast-growing music technology company focused on delivering fairer royalty payments to artists. Adele, known globally for her powerhouse vocals and chart-topping albums, has reportedly joined fellow British music legend Adam Clayton, bassist of U2, in a £7 million funding round for the London-based startup.
The funding round follows the$5 million investmentraised in 2023 and brings Audoo’s total capital raised to over $30 million. The investment also cements Adele’s role in the expanding wave of artists who are using their influence and capital to drive change in how music royalties are tracked and distributed. Alongside Adele and Clayton, Audoo’s shareholder list already features musical heavyweights Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney, and ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus.
Sir Elton John, for example, has previously stated:“Right now, artists are not being paid accurately for their plays because the data simply doesn’t exist. We’ve lost talent and future stars because of this disparity. That’s why we’ve invested in Audoo and their world-class technology and data, to help create a more transparent system for everyone, and ultimately to keep the music alive.”
The fresh injection of capital will help Audoo accelerate its expansion across Europe and the United States-two of the world’s largest music markets. The company has already begun installing its technology in thousands of venues worldwide, from boutique coffee shops in London to major gym chains in Australia. Audoo’s Audio Meter is now present in over 10 countries and counting, with plans to double that footprint by the end of 2025.
Audoo’s partnerships with major music licensing organisations, including the UK’s PPL and PRS for Music, and OneMusic in Australia and New Zealand, are helping to standardise royalty tracking and ensure more accurate payments to artists and rights holders.
Audoo’s founder and CEO,Ryan Edwards, was inspired to launch the company after hearing his own music played in public venues like stadiums and bars, without receiving a single royalty payment. This personal experience highlighted the flaws in the global music royalty system and sparked his mission to fix it.
According to the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), an estimated $2.5 billion in music royalties goes uncollected globally each year, much of it from public performances in retail and hospitality venues.
At the heart of Audoo’s innovation is the proprietary Audio Meter, a discreet plug-and-play device that recognises music played in public spaces with up to 99% accuracy. Using advanced audio fingerprinting and AI, the Audio Meter identifies songs within seconds and securely transmits anonymised data to Audoo’s cloud platform, ensuring privacy compliance with GDPR and other regulations.
Unlike traditional methods that rely on manual reporting or sampled playlists, Audoo’s technology automatically tracks every song played in real time, whether it’s in a hair salon, café, retail shop, or gym. This ensures that even lesser-known artists and songwriters receive fair compensation for their work, not just the chart-toppers.
This development is long overdue in an industry where accurate royalty tracking has historically been a complex challenge. Public performance royalties, payments made when music is played in non-private settings, often fail to reach the rightful musicians due to outdated reporting methods or incomplete data. Audoo is changing this narrative through data-driven transparency.
The company has already formed industry-first partnerships with organisations such as PPL and PRS for Music, the UK’s music licensing bodies. These collaborations enable more efficient and accurate collection and distribution of royalties to performers and rights holders, in line with Audoo’s vision of fairness and accountability.
Adele has made selective investments in the tech sector that align with her artistic interests and fan engagement goals. Her backing of Audoo is consistent with a broader strategy of supporting innovative music technologies.
In 2017, Adele invested in EVR Holdings, a London-based virtual reality startup known for its MelodyVR app. The platform lets fans experience live music performances through VR headsets. With backing from major record labels including Warner, Universal, and Sony, Adele’s U.S. label, MelodyVR stood out as a pioneering platform. Her investment was made discreetly through a nominee account, with financial details undisclosed.
Adele invested in Songkick through a strategic partnership in 2015. Songkick, a live-music platform, had raised $10 million in funding, partly to expand its collaboration with artists like Adele. This partnership allowed Adele to work directly with Songkick, rather than relying on traditional promoters, and access a wider audience. The investment was part of a larger funding round for Songkick, which also included support from Access Industries, according to reports.
Adele’s involvement in Audoo is a powerful validation of the startup’s mission to bring fairness and transparency to music royalties. As one of the world’s most influential artists, her backing not only draws significant public and industry attention but also signals trust in Audoo’s technology and vision. Her investment amplifies the company’s credibility, potentially accelerating adoption by licensing bodies and public venues. With Adele joining an elite group of music legends already backing Audoo, the startup gains both financial support and influential advocates, key assets as it scales globally and works to reshape the way royalties are tracked and paid.