Diggs This

RZA of Wu-Tang Clan has invested in AYO Music Group, the music copyright company co-founded by Tracklib’s Pär Almqvist and clearance veteran Deborah Mannis-Gardner. AYO helps rightsholders get more out of their catalogues. Bobby Digital is in the building.

Pär (AKA Peyo) Almqvist is a magical creative being and my Swedish brother. If past lives are a thing, we were friends in the past—or perhaps friends in the future, since how we perceive time is different from how time actually flows. (And that is the limit of my understanding of modern physics.)

Before his music companies, Peyo co-founded a clean energy electrification company in rural India, and spent years in Istanbul before returning to Stockholm. At age 19 (!), he wrote for A List Apart. We met for the first time around Christmas 1999 in Stockholm, where K10k were hosting a design conference where both of us gave talks.

A few times a year, he calls me, and when he calls, I answer. Which, if you know me, is not something I usually do when the phone rings. But when Peyo calls, Gondor will answer. I wish you all could know him. Despite his pioneering work on the early web, Peyo is never on social media. He calls. He visits. He hosts guests. My brain and heart grow each time we talk.

Protect Ya Deck: Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA invests in AYO Music Group

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