Calling all music innovation startups! The Music Tectonics Conference has officially opened applications for its highly anticipated Swimming with Narwhals Music Tech Startup Pitch Competition. Aspiring music tech entrepreneurs are invited to apply and attend the conference October 22-24, 2024. Early Bird rate tickets are available for $249 before August 20 (when prices go up), plenty of time to buy a badge before Pitch Competition applications close August 12, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time. Find competition applications and conference tickets at MusicTectonics.com.
Now in its sixth year, the Music Tectonics Conference continues to cultivate a robust community of music innovators, bringing together investors, labels, advisors, distributors, tech-savvy artists, and more. This mix of potential partners and clients is the jet fuel startup founders seek to kickstart their venture and blast off of the launchpad they’ve created for their business.
“After investing in music tech for some years, it’s very apparent that the community is really tight, and I’ve found that Music Tectonics is one of the best places to be,” says Joe Tou of Sony Ventures. “The assembly of the right people gives the Music Tectonics conference certainly some unique DNA for the sector, and people can have very personal conversations and therefore be very productive at the same time.”
Kicking off before the October conference, the Swimming with Narwhals competition offers an opportunity for startups to ask questions and get feedback from investors and industry experts. Through online events and pre-conference programming, startup founders can network and hone their pitches prior to the conference.
As a pitch competition, Swimming with Narwhals is much more approachable than Shark Tank. Rather than pitting founders against each other and antagonistic judges, the Music Tectonics competition is designed to be welcoming and mutually supportive—focused on spotlighting and encouraging innovators with real-world solutions. Winners will be announced in a press campaign and receive a founder interview on the Music Tectonics Podcast after the event, as well as a free badge for the 2025 conference. Learn more about the competition at a free online event July 17, 2024.
Leading competitors will make it through to the final pitch session in front of the whole conference. For other startup applicants, pitching is just one way to get involved. At every stage, competitors interact with juries of investors who offer encouragement, feedback and advice for honing their pitches. Juries for the 2024 competition include Sun Jen Yung, (Nfluence Partners), Deek Velagandula (Waverley Capital), and Kristin Grant (angel investor). Past judges have included investors from Amazon Investor Fund, Union Street Ventures, Sony Ventures, Caldecott Ventures, and Expert DOJO, as well as experts from Techstars Music, Capacitance, and Wasserman Music.
“Having attended Music Tectonics for the first time the year before, RealCount was really excited to apply and participate in the pitch competition in 2023. It was really great doing the virtual pitch. We got a lot of great feedback, and it was so nice that people from around the world could attend,” says Diana Gremore of RealCount, the startup that won the Audience Choice Award in 2023. “I am a bit of a nervous public speaker so being able to win the audience over with RealCount at Music Tectonics was exciting for me personally as well as for the company.”
Bob Moczydlowsky, investor and former Managing Director of Techstars Music, says of Music Tectonics, “This conference is great because people can go there and do business.” After experiencing the Music Tectonics community at conferences at online events, Bob adds, “There’s not a lot of folks that think and talk this way. Be friends with each other, talk to each other, share ideas, help each other. There’s no other way to move it forward.”
Competition Timeline:
July 10 Application Opens
July 17Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Online Narwhal Kickoff Event –Â Register Here
August 12Â Â Â Â Applications closed at 11:59pm Pacific Time
August 20Â Â Â Â Last day to purchase badges at Early Bird rate of $249.
August 27 Ten semi-finalists announced, selected by a panel of music tech
entrepreneurs, investors and experts
September 11Â Â Semi-finalists pitch at the Music Tectonics Online Preconference
September 16Â Â Finalists announced
October 22Â Â Â Â Â Startup Carousel demos at the Music Tectonics Conference in Santa
Monica, CA.
October 23Â Â Â Â Finalists pitch in-person at the conference.
October 24Â Â Â Â Â Jury choice and Audience Choice winners announced at the conference.
To make a long story short, music innovation startups need to be at the Music Tectonics Conference—so diving in with the Narwhals just makes sense! Find competition details and a simple application form at MusicTectonics.com.
