MUMBAI: A3C Festival & Conference launched the Startup Spotlight to help build Atlanta’s music tech community. Atlanta is already the cultural capital for hip-hop artists and creatives, and the city has a strong and rapidly growing tech sector. An essential annual meetup for the music tech and hip-hop communities to network, A3C is committed to building a music tech community around the already vibrant hip-hop community.

“Hip-hop is the most important, influential, and often largest user base for many music tech startups. Hip-hop artists are early adopters and frequently the most engaged community on social and music platforms,” explains A3C Director Mike Walbert. “We’re looking for companies that are reaching out to music makers. We're hoping to find and elevate tech startups that promise to transform how music is being created, shared, discovered, marketed and monetized. We feel these are the key elements that affect an artist’s life and are directly impacted by technology,” he adds.

Five music tech startups have been invited to showcase their companies to a panel of music industry veterans and hip-hop icons at the A3C Conference on 5 October 2018. Startups will participate in a multi-day experience connecting them with Atlanta’s tech community, music industry, artists and producers. The startups selected are able to engage with potential partners, advocates, and users to receive useful and actionable feedback.

This year’s finalists are The Labz, Amuse, SKIO, Buzznog, and Songlink. 2017 music tech startups included: Record Gram, Jammber, The UpNext, BrandSnap & RapChat. The startups will pitch to a diverse panel of Atlanta’s most influential culture and tech leaders: Paul Judge (TechSquare Labs, Co-Founder & Partner), Ryan Wilson (The Gathering Spot, Co-Founder & CEO) and Kevin ‘Coach K’ Lee (Quality Control, Co-Founder).

The Startup Spotlight rounds out A3C’s programming on The Future of Music Tech, which features a series of panels, presentations and events highlighting pioneers behind innovative tech companies at the forefront of the music industry. All about the technology changing how music is created, shared, discovered, marketed and monetized, the programming takes place on at the Loudermilk Center and will culminate with the Startup Spotlight Showcase.

Panels Include:

The Future of Creating & Collaborating

The Future of Sharing & Discovery

The Future of Data

The Future of Distribution & Monetization

More about the 2018 A3C Startup Spotlight Finalists

The Labz

Presenter: Farah Allen (CEO / Founder)

The Labz helps song creators protect and memorialize their music by centralizing their collaboration by automatically logging the contributions of individual team members, and instantly publishing their work on a blockchain-backed song information page.

Amuse

Presenter: Diego Farias (CEO / Co-Founder)

Amuse is the world’s first mobile record label combining free distribution to all major streaming platforms with a next generation A&R service on an innovative digital platform.

SKIO Music

Presenter: Omri Amouyal (VP Business Development + Co-Founder)

SKIO Music is a licensing marketplace and creator platform. On SKIO, artists can easily clear rights to remix, sample or synch directly with the rights owners. They can also set up collaborations or work-for-hire agreements using our built-in legal interface to create custom deals and split sheets.

Buzznog

Presenter: Rey Clemons (Artist Relations)

Buzznog is a direct to fan platform that provides different tools and metrics within our app to deliver content and engage with fans. They provide solutions for artists, festivals, and brands.

Songlink

Presenter: Nick Merich (Co-Founder + CIO)

Songlink enables artists to share music better and more efficiently without worrying about which music streaming platform your friends, family or fans use. Their services find each song and album on every streaming platform, so you can share one link and allow everyone to listen.