The Irish Music Rights Organisation has announced a partnership w with Audoo - the music recognition technology company deigned to improve public performance royalty distribution worldwide.

The Audoo Audio meter has been backed by the likes of Elton John and ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus.

The current proposal will see the meter be installed in a selection of public spaces such as cafés, bars, restaurants, and retail locations across urban areas in Ireland with plans to expand the rollout of the Audoo technology across Ireland in all business types.

Enhancing existing reporting mechanisms used by IMRO (which administers the performing right in copyright music in Ireland on behalf of its songwriter, composer and music publisher), the meter is designed to recognise background music being played and report the data back to IMRO.

In terms of privacy concerns, Audoo is reported to be GDPR compliant as the device contains no language processing technology, meaning it focuses solely on capturing music data.

The partnership between Audoo and IMRO’s is designed to improve distribution efficiency for the Irish Music Rights Organisation's 25,000 members.

Seán Donegan, Chief Commercial Officer of IMRO, said: “IMRO continuously invests in new technologies and services to ensure faster and more accurate royalty payments, providing the best service to members. Partnering with Audoo adds another layer of advanced technological tools and music usage data, ensuring IMRO distributions are as precise as possible".

Ryan Edwards, Founder and CEO of Audoo, added: “Partnering with IMRO signifies a pivotal moment in the evolution of public performance royalties, offering benefits to creators, performers, rights holders, and licensees. It promises an enriched experience for customers by bringing the joy of music to public settings".