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Former Head of Music Publishing Partnerships at Facebook appointed CCO of Audoo

Audoo—the music technology company revolutionising public performance royalties—has appointed Melanie Johnson as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), adding to the company’s growing team of international industry experts. 

The esteemed executive brings over 20 years of experience in the music industry to Audoo. Based in London and reporting to CEO Ryan Edwards, Melanie is tasked with overseeing continued global expansion and adoption of the Audoo Audio Meter™.

Succeeding Will Mills as CCO, her appointment bolsters a team, and board of senior experts from APRA AMCOS, BMG, Bowers and Wilkins, PRS For Music, Sony Music Publishing, and more who have joined Audoo since its formation in 2018.

Melanie has a proven track record of securing and growing strategic accounts, driving revenue growth and cost optimisation. Her experience in areas of business development, strategy, partnerships, licensing, and sales, has brought success to publishers, labels, DSPs, and tech platforms, including leading names in music and media - EMI Music Publishing, Facebook, Sony ATV Music Publishing and more. She is also a board trustee at Music Minds Matter (Help Musicians’ dedicated Mental Health Charity) and The Ivors Academy Trust.

This appointment follows the announcement of Audoo’s partnership with PRS For Music and PPL, as the roll-out of Audio Meters in the UK sees the organisations continue to define the global standard of music royalties, enhancing distribution efficiency and delivering optimum payments for their 300,000 collective members.

Melanie Johnson, Chief Commercial Officer at Audoo, says: “My mission is always to empower the music community with transparency, data, innovation and kindness. Through my role at Audoo, building on the excellent existing work, we strive to innovate and transform the way music royalties are identified and collected, ultimately serving recognition of music creators.”

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Ryan Edwards, Founder and CEO, comments: “Mel’s stellar professional and personal reputation precedes her. Adding her expertise to Audoo as we mark a milestone five years in business, we move closer to our goal of being the partner of choice for PROs and CMOs, and continue on the mission of revolutionising the public performance royalties space worldwide.”

Audoo provides solutions to the challenges faced in public performance royalty data collection with its state-of-the-art Audoo Audio Meter™ and unique insights platform.

Its groundbreaking technology powers the commitment to improving accuracy, transparency and reporting in quasi-real-time without burden for licensees, PROs and CMOs, to the ultimate benefit of music creators. 

The installation of Audio Meters in businesses including cafés, bars, hair salons, restaurants, gyms and retail locations around the world, sees its small, discreet plug-in solution cut through foreground noise, identify the music, match the song data, and report this usage back to PRO and CMO partners - ultimately improving fair and accurate payments to rights holders with a greater level of accuracy.

Audoo raised £5.2million in its 2020 Series A funding round and £7.2million in its pre-series B funding round in 2021. Its financial backers include MPL Ventures, Tileyard London, Steve Sidwell, and Björn Ulvaeus (ABBA/CISAC) who said: “Audoo is a solution I believe will change the music industry forever and that’s why I have put my money where my mouth is.”