AYO Music Group Grows Roster and Catalog, Expands Gapfinder Tool, and Releases Reissue of Rare Joe Washington Vinyl

16 January 2026 - Press release

 

Since its official launch in 2024, AYO Music Group, an active copyright administrator offering global administration of publishing, neighboring rights, and recordings, continued to grow throughout 2025 with new additions to their roster, further development of their Gapfinder tool, and upcoming releases in the works for 2026.

Adding to the company’s already robust roster, the team recently welcomed hip-hop icons Pete Rock, Silkk the Shocker, and Drumma Boy to the AYO family, along with Junglepussy and SOCAN Breakthrough Songwriter Award finalist Kayla Diamond.

AYO’s song catalog continues to expand as well, representing hits across genres, decades, and cultures. This includes evergreen hits like Destiny’s Child’s “Say My Name,” Latin Grammy-winning works such as Residente’s “Estilo Libre,” and RIAA-certified tracks from Kacey Musgraves, JID, Ella Mai, Drake, Chris Brown, Davido, Kendrick Lamar, and more. The team also added major titles from legendary hip-hop group De La Soul, including “Palm of His Hands,” “Yours,” “Different World,” and “The Package,” as well as “LOVER GIRL” from Megan Thee Stallion.

In 2025, AYO developed and launched Gapfinder, a unique and proprietary tool to identify errors and gaps in publishing work registrations with global PROs. This powerful tool has been even further developed to include music consumption data from several key sources and is now offered to selected AYO clients across the world. The team is rolling out a subscription option during 2026 to make Gapfinder even more accessible and affordable across the industry.

Finally, AYO is working with Silas Washington, son of Joe ”Bubba” Washington and representative of the Joe Washington Estate, for a reissue of his father’s rare 1976 release ”Church – How Long / Da Da Song.” Another Joe Washington recording, “Look Me in the Eyes,”  was recently sampled on Drake & J. Cole’s ”First Person Shooter,” a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The original 7” single of ”Church – How Long / Da Da Song” is a rare and expensive find on Discogs, and the reissue will include both a digital version and a 7” vinyl limited to 500 copies – launching on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 19, 2026.

“Since starting AYO, we’ve been honored to welcome so many incredible music creators and copyright owners who trust us to create a lasting legacy with their music,” said Pär Almqvist, Co-Founder and CEO of AYO. “We are passionate about helping our clients actively protect their music copyrights, and Gapfinder allows us to do so on an even broader scale across the global music industry. AYO stays committed to our ethos – copyrighting copywrongs.”