RZA invests in AYO Music Group, a royalty administrator chasing uncollected money
The Wu-Tang Clan founder joins Chaka Zulu, Jeff Dixon, CIH Group and David Goldberg as investors in the invitation-only copyright administrator.
RZA has put money into AYO Music Group, the copyright administrator co-founded by Deborah Mannis-Gardner and Pär Almqvist. AYO announced the investment on Tuesday, November 10, Music Business Worldwide reported. The size of the round was not disclosed.
The Wu-Tang Clan founder joins Disturbing Tha Peace Records co-founders Chaka Zulu and Jeff Dixon, the Atlanta- and Johannesburg-based family office CIH Group, and Ewing Athletics owner David Goldberg. Goldberg was AYO’s first investor. CIH Group is led by Boikai Cummings, who is also a partner with Zulu and Paris Kirk in Legacy Publishing, owner of the Blackground/Black Fountain catalog, including songs by Aaliyah, Timbaland and Missy Elliott.
AYO is an invitation-only administrator of publishing, neighboring rights and recordings. Its pitch is to collect the royalties rightsholders are owed. “Most music creators have never seen a full accounting of what their music actually earns,” said Almqvist, who is co-founder and CEO. He calls it “a data, business model, and supply chain problem.” The new money will let AYO sign and actively serve more clients.
RZA described it in his own terms. “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,” he said. “Deborah and Pär have built something that actually finds it.” AYO notes that he built the business structure behind Wu-Tang, signing the group collectively to Loud/RCA while each member stayed free to sign solo deals elsewhere. That put Method Man at Def Jam, GZA at Geffen and Ghostface Killah at Sony. AYO says RZA has described the setup as a financial movement rather than a record deal.
Mannis-Gardner started DMG Clearances in 1996 and has cleared samples for Drake, Beyoncé, Eminem, Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar, among others. Almqvist co-founded the sample-licensing platform Tracklib in 2014, ran it as CEO for a decade, and raised $12.2 million there in 2021. Mannis-Gardner, Almqvist and Stacey Haber founded AYO in 2023 and launched it publicly in 2024.
AYO says its catalog now holds songs totaling well over 10 billion streams, up from more than 1 billion at launch. Clients include MC Lyte, Pete Rock, LeToya Luckett, Mach-Hommy, Dave East and Drumma Boy.
The company points to producer Domingo as an example. He co-wrote Immortal Technique’s “Internally Bleeding” in 2003. After he signed with AYO in 2024, the company says it combed his catalog and recovered publishing revenue he had never collected, more than two decades after the song came out.
The announcement comes four days before RZA’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Wu-Tang Clan goes in under the performer category on Saturday, November 14, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. AYO client MC Lyte will be honored the same night in the Early Influence category.
