RZA, the founder of Wu-Tang Clan, has invested in AYO Music Group, the copyright administrator co-founded by Deborah Mannis-Gardner and Pär Almqvist.
He joins Disturbing Tha Peace Records co-founders Chaka Zulu and Jeff Dixon, Atlanta- and Johannesburg-based family office CIH Group, and Ewing Athletics owner David Goldberg as investors in the company.
AYO announced the investments on Tuesday (November 10), four days before RZA is inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Wu-Tang Clan. The company did not disclose the size of the round.
AYO is an invitation-only administrator of publishing, neighboring rights, and recordings, and says its purpose is to help rightsholders collect the royalties they are owed.
“Most music creators have never seen a full accounting of what their music actually earns,” said Pär Almqvist, co-founder and CEO of AYO Music Group. “That is a data, business model, and supply chain problem, and fixing it is the main reason AYO exists.
“This round of investments lets us sign and actively serve more clients to collect what they are already owed – fulfilling our mission to get music creators paid.”
“Most music creators have never seen a full accounting of what their music actually earns.”
Pär Almqvist, AYO Music Group
RZA built the business structure behind Wu-Tang Clan, signing the group collectively to Loud/RCA while leaving each member free to sign solo deals with competing labels.
That arrangement sent Method Man to Def Jam, GZA to Geffen, and Ghostface Killah to Sony, all under the Wu-Tang banner.
AYO says RZA has described the setup as a financial movement rather than a record deal.
“I have spent thirty years making sure the people who created the music got paid for it, and I have watched a lot of money disappear into paperwork along the way,” said RZA. “Deborah and Pär have built something that actually finds it.
“That is a mission I want to be part of.”
“I have spent thirty years making sure the people who created the music got paid for it, and I have watched a lot of money disappear into paperwork along the way.”
RZA
Chaka Zulu and Jeff Dixon co-founded Disturbing Tha Peace Records with Ludacris and have spent more than two decades building artist careers and businesses in Atlanta.
CIH Group is a multi-asset family office led by Boikai Cummings.
Cummings is also a partner, alongside Zulu and Paris Kirk, in Legacy Publishing, which owns the Blackground/Black Fountain publishing catalog, including songs by Aaliyah, Timbaland, and Missy Elliott.
David Goldberg, owner of Ewing Athletics, was AYO‘s first investor when the company was founded.
Mannis-Gardner founded DMG Clearances in 1996 and has cleared samples for Drake, Beyoncé, Eminem, Jay-Z, and Kendrick Lamar, among others.
Almqvist co-founded sample-licensing platform Tracklib in 2014 and served as its CEO for a decade, raising USD $12.2 million in a 2021 funding round.
Mannis-Gardner, Almqvist, and Stacey Haber founded AYO in 2023 and launched it publicly in 2024.
The company says its catalog now holds songs totaling well over 10 billion streams, up from the more than 1 billion it reported at launch.
AYO‘s clients include MC Lyte, Pete Rock, LeToya Luckett, Mach-Hommy, Dave East, and Drumma Boy.
The company cites producer Domingo, who co-wrote Immortal Technique‘s Internally Bleeding in 2003, as an example.
After Domingo signed with AYO in 2024, the company says it combed his catalog and recovered publishing revenue he had not previously collected, more than two decades after the song’s release.
The funding round lands as RZA prepares to enter the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday (November 14) at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
Wu-Tang Clan will be inducted in the performer category, while AYO client MC Lyte will be honored in the Early Influence category.
RZA has continued to build businesses around the Wu-Tang catalog, striking a partnership with Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group and LL Cool J’s Rock The Bells in 2024 to expand the group’s brand.Music Business Worldwide