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:

  1. New Music Experiences – Are you reinventing music at home, in a car, in the club, or at a festival?
  2. Creation & Collaboration – Can you improve how we create and share music & video content?
  3. Marketing & e-Commerce – Do you help artists connect directly with fans for marketing & commerce?
  4. Content Infrastructure – Will you improve how we render and deliver music & video content to fans?
  5. Rights & Royalties – Are you working to modernize royalties, rights and licensing?
  6. Data, Machine Learning & AI – What can you build with mountains of user data?
  7. Artist Discovery & Curation – Can you find & create opportunity for the right artist at the right time?
  8. Music Education – Are you helping a generation of digital natives learn to love and play music?
  9. 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

If you have a startup or an idea for one you can find out more and apply for Techstars Music accelerator until December 11th from here: techstarsmusic.com