This year we were invited to join the Department for International Trade (DIT) on their trade mission to Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2020, as part of the Great Britain cohort at Eureka Park. CES is one of the largest technology conferences globally, with over 250,000 attendees each year - showcasing everything from automotive, robotics and sport, to healthcare, AI, of course music technology… oh and that dreaded technology industry buzzword, blockchain!


We worked closely with the Department for International Trade throughout 2019 and are pleased to again in 2020. They’ve been huge advocates of the work we’re doing, inviting us on a number of successful trade missions and delivering strategic introductions - the best one to date being to Isabel Garvey (Managing Director, Abbey Road Studios) and Karim Fanous (Innovation Manager, Abbey Road Red), which lead to our joining of the Red incubator in 2019.

Due to CES, direct flights from London to Las Vegas were astronomical, so we tactfully flew into Los Angeles and drove Route 66 across to Las Vegas, either side of the exhibition (one way in a convertible mustang… of course!). So, with our driving playlist fully loaded, roof down (not a great idea in Jan!) and sunglasses on – we hit the long road for our 6-hour drive.
During the drive we stopped at Barstow Service Station to buy a Route 66 sign for the office, which not only did we do… but we also managed to find an Abbey Road sign, 5,000 miles away from home!

Upon arriving in Vegas, we stood in a very long check in line at the hotel – having heard a conversation from two US attendees, the phase that stuck was “CES isn’t a conference, it’s an endurance sport”. With this, we decided not to party Vegas style, or even hit the slots but to retreat to our rooms and try to defeat the jetlag.

On this particular trade mission, we were invited to host a stand within the UK Pavilion, representing Great British technology. We were in great company alongside companies presenting immersive '3D' sound, high-fidelity facial animation and mood monitoring wearables to name just a few.

We saw some particularly interesting music & entertainment trends across the exhibition, with technology adapting to the ways of the modern consumer. This included Samsung’s Sero TV, which can work in a traditional horizontal format, but is able to turn on its side for playing back vertical, portrait-style video. This is very much a display aimed at teens, which makes a lot of sense when you consider the amount of content being filmed and consumed in a vertical orientation, particularly on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, for instance.

TV manufacturers are adapting to compete with smart devices, but opposition is strong. With Quibi content, mobile devices are the only place you can watch. The platform – which is looking to attract people on the go – is scheduled to launch on April 6, 2020 in the US and is backed by huge amounts of cash, as well as some big names in the film industry.

But our favourite from the show has to be Nuraloops. The audio company that makes Bluetooth headphones which promise to pump out sound that’s tailored precisely for you. It works based on science first theorised in the 1940s, that the cochlea in your ears emits very tiny sounds based on different audio inputs.

It wasn’t until the 1970s that this theory was proven, and Nura is now claiming that it can use this feature of the human ear to offer precisely tailored sound at every frequency, creating a perfectly tailored audio experience for every listener. We can’t wait to order a pair of these ourselves and give them a try!

As well as enjoying what CES had to offer, we also had some successful results for Audoo. Over the four days we met and spoke with a number of VCs, angel investors, record labels, publishers, artists advisors and technology partners interested in our technology. We’ve had some extremely positive follow-ups so far, including a number of meetings in the UK and we are planning a follow up trip to the US giving to deliver our technology on a global scale.

CES was a great opportunity to kick-start 2020, and to not only get excited about some of the incredible innovation we witnessed at the conference, but also our own plans for the year ahead - The royalty revolution is coming.