This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ryan Edwards, 40, the founder of Audoo, who is based in London. His employment and Audoo’s investors have been verified by Business Insider. This piece has been edited for length and clarity
In my early 20s, I was the drummer of an indie band. We toured festivals and made the UK’s Top 10 Independent Singles Chart.
But I knew our success wouldn’t last forever. Eventually, the time would come for me to grow up and find a real job.
Since leaving the band in 2008, my career has been varied. I’ve worked in retail, at startups, and eventually became a senior leader at Visa Europe. In 2018, I founded Audoo, a startup that aims to help musicians receive royalties, which has investors including Elton John.
My career pivots have been unexpected and I tend to fall into my line of work, but they have felt natural because my dreams keep changing. While my job titles have changed, one thing hasn’t: a belief in getting my head down and doing the hard work. In my experience, nine times out of ten, that’s what pays off.
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Band life was fun, but hard
As a kid, I dreamed of being a footballer — then I got into music. My dad loves Motown and he wanted me to become a saxophonist. I started learning the clarinet and the sax, and then the drums, because I thought it might get me more girls.
I planned to study jazz at music school, but that never happened. Soon after I finished my high-school exams, the band I was the drummer of was signed by an indie label while gigging locally. When I heard the words “record deal,” I got goosebumps.
From 2006, we were suddenly getting studio time and supporting major acts on tour. Looking back, touring for a year and a half was probably a better life experience than going to university: I became a better musician and learned how to drink.
Band life was fun, but it wasn’t always easy. I remember renting budget hotel rooms and flipping a coin to see who would sleep on the floor. Eventually, it became clear that the label would prioritize better-selling and more well-behaved bands.
Panic set in when I left the band. I didn’t know what to do with my life, but I knew I needed an income. I got a job as an assistant store manager at a cell phone retailer chain in 2008, where I ended up working for four years in increasingly senior roles.
Working in retail was an excellent education: you’re trading day in, day out. There were similarities to life in the band, where I’d sell T-shirts and stickers after shows. In both lines of work, I managed stock and convinced people to part with their hard-earned cash.
I was made redundant in 2012, and after a stint as a business development manager at an app development business — whose founder I met at a friend’s wedding — I was offered a job at Visa Europe as a senior manager in late 2013.
I learned to always be open to exploring new opportunities. You never know where they might take you.
Visa was my first corporate job
It was my first job in a corporate environment. Suddenly, I was sitting in a three-piece suit at a quiet desk, worrying it would be stale, but I ended up being given permission to shake things up.
I hadn’t planned to leave Visa — the pay was great and I felt comfortable in my job. But in 2016, after three years, I joined a fintech start-up in sales, after two brilliant guys tried to poach me. They knew of me from working on Visa data feeds, and needed contacts in retail.
The risk of pivoting felt worth it because the idea for the business was amazing.
Then the idea for Audoo hit me. In 2018, I was in a department store in London when one of my band’s singles started playing, and my wife joked about the royalties I’d earn. I said they were more likely to buy her a coffee than the designer bag she was eyeing up.
Weeks later, I got my royalty statement. It listed what I’d been paid but offered no data about how those payments were calculated or the flow of how plays become payment. I became fascinated by how the royalties process worked — and realized the system was a mess.
Inspired by Amazon’s Alexa and Shazam, I wanted to build a technology that would identify the music played in public and ensure artists get paid fairly for it. I built the first prototype for Audoo on my kitchen table with a Raspberry Pi. It worked — it recognized songs —but, looking back, it was embarrassing. We use barely any of that code anymore.
Now, our Audoo Audio Meter uses a plug-in device to track the music played in commercial premises, like stores and bars, and sends the data to royalty-collection organizations.
I incorporated Audoo in August 2018 at the age of 33. We’d just gotten a puppy and my wife was pregnant, so I needed it to work. I used LinkedIn to reach out to industry leaders and set up coffee dates, which quickly confirmed there was demand to build and scale the product.
In 2020, Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA saw me on TV promoting Audoo and later invested. He put out a statement that exceeded my expectations: “Audoo is a solution I believe will change the music industry forever,” he said.
I reset my goals every few years
Through word of mouth, others in the music industry started to hear about the company and invest, including Elton John.
The team and the mission we’re delivering are incredibly rewarding — but I’m always open to new challenges.
When I was a drummer in The Lines, I never thought I’d one day be the CEO of a music tech company. I can’t say where the future will take me as I’ve never been one to stick to a particular plan.
While some people have lifelong linear goals, I tend to reset mine every two to three years. For me, it’s about continually learning something new, never being boxed in, and being adaptable to change.
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