Techstars music startup accelerator gets backing from Sony, Warner and Sonos
Techstar have launched a music accelerator to help startups build their business and now have support from 2 of the world’s major record labels.
There are a selection of initiatives to help get new music companies of the ground like the legendary Abbey Road Studios’ Red project. Techstar, a company built around helping startups go further, have launched Techstars Music to invest £120,000 in 10 music-based startups.
Techstars Music is a 3 month accelerator based in Los Angeles. Since launching recently it has gained support from a whole host of major names from the music industry, including; labels Sony and Warner, Sonos, Harmonix, and management firms Q Prime, BSE and SAM.
Techstars Music will be overseen by former executive for music at Twitter Bob Moczydlowsky, who tweeted: “Our goal is to grow the music startup ecosystem – across all categories. We have a broad definition of what makes a music company.”
The 10 startups chosen to receive support from Techstars Music $100,000 in convertible note and $20,000 as well as mentoring from executives at the companies in support of the project. In return Techstars Music receive 6% of the startup’s common stock. It’s a smart initiative as it gives new companies a step up to achieve their dreams whilst also providing investment opportunities to the benefactors.
The startups that Techstars Music are on the hunt for will be working on:
- New Music Experiences – Are you reinventing music at home, in a car, in the club, or at a festival?
- Creation & Collaboration – Can you improve how we create and share music & video content?
- Marketing & e-Commerce – Do you help artists connect directly with fans for marketing & commerce?
- Content Infrastructure – Will you improve how we render and deliver music & video content to fans?
- Rights & Royalties – Are you working to modernize royalties, rights and licensing?
- Data, Machine Learning & AI – What can you build with mountains of user data?
- Artist Discovery & Curation – Can you find & create opportunity for the right artist at the right time?
- Music Education – Are you helping a generation of digital natives learn to love and play music?
- Social Platforms & Games – How will artistic careers (and fan affinities) get built in modern ways?
The total benefits received for the chosen startup companies are:
- $100,000 convertible note and $20,000
- Access to Techstars resources for life
- Acceleration in the Techstars Music program with intense, hands-on mentorship from artists, executives from Techstars Music Member Companies and the broad music business
- Connections to the Techstars Network of over 5,000 founders, alumni and mentors
- 400 perks worth over $1,000,000
- Office space in Los Angeles for the duration of the program
- Demo Day and other investor connections
- Equity Back Guarantee, the only one of its kind in the industry