Turning great innovation into funded success
Startup clients
Stealth AI company (can't say name yet!)
A tech R&D company exploring ethical AI solutions to ensure that music/media rightsholders are recognised and compensated in the age of generative AI.
Offers AI-powered MRT (music recognition technology) to identify and report live and recorded music played in venues, ensuring accurate royalty distributions through Performance Rights Organisations.
Ultra Miami Festival and Miami Music Week press release
Simplifies revenue-sharing agreements by enabling collaborators to create legally binding contracts within minutes, ensuring transparent and fair income distribution without transferring rights.
Claimy automates the tracking of music usage and the claiming of royalties, empowering creators and rightsholders in an increasingly complex rights landscape.
While 30% of music royalties are not properly redistributed to authors, Claimy has developed an AI that tracks them.
This startup is part of Challenges' 2025 "100 startups to invest in" selection:
106,000 unpaid live performances. That’s how many gigs in the UK went unreported last year, according to The Guardian, due to missing or incomplete setlists Let that sink in.
Live music recognition that closes the data gap
Vollou tackles one of the biggest blind spots in the royalties ecosystem. Around €3.5 billion is collected in live royalties each year, yet only a small fraction is backed by reliable data. Setlist reporting remains low, with only five per cent of DJs submitting setlists. Sixty-four per cent of nightclub royalties end up in the black box, and only seven per cent of UK venues use any music-recognition technology. The result is that artists, writers and publishers often miss income they should receive. Vollou provides accurate, automated setlist reporting that societies and publishers can rely on. They already work with BumaStemra, and more than a hundred DJs use the app, including one in six of the Top 100. Verified setlists have risen sharply, which is improving distribution accuracy on both the PRO and publisher sides. Although the first traction has been in electronic music, Vollou’s progress in recognising non-electronic live performance is moving quickly. This is the step that opens up the wider live-music market, where most of the value sits. I work closely with the founders as they develop this next phase and continue to support their growth across the industry.
Vollou was selected as the winner of the recent Music Tech pitch competition hosted by MTUK and AFEM (May 2026)
During the event, Vollou presented its vision for improving live music reporting and royalty distribution in electronic music environments.
The feedback reinforced a long-standing industry challenge: setlist reporting remains largely manual and incomplete, meaning many performances go unreported and royalties do not always reach the correct rightsholders.
The event brought together startups, labels, publishers and industry professionals, creating valuable opportunities for new partnerships and collaboration.
Winning the competition highlighted both the scale of the reporting challenge and the growing demand for more effective solutions.
"Setlist reporting is not an administrative detail. It is the mechanism that connects live performance to songwriter income."
The following MBW op/ed comes from Crispin Hunt, President of the PRS Members’ Council.
This Music Business Worldwide piece argues that when setlists are not submitted, royalties cannot be paid, even though the shows took place. The message is clear: setlist reporting needs to be treated as a standard part of touring practice, shared across artists, managers, venues and promoters.
Meet the winners of the 2025 Music Ally SI:X music-tech startups contest
Client testimonials
Collaboration in music: Creative and business perspectives
I’m always looking to create win-win opportunities through my network. A recent session at the University of Westminster was a great example. I spoke to MA and BA music students about collaboration across creative and business processes.
"This was such an amazing session for the students, Mandy. Hearing about you and Doug's stellar careers and the advice that you would give to emerging executives and producers was priceless. I'm not even a producer, and I want to use SubMix. I know the students had a very rich experience. Thank you again for coming in."
- Julia Toppin | Music business lecturer at University of Westminster