Last Chance to Enter midemlab Startup Contest
- Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
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Music and technology conference midem has unvelied a slew of industry figures who will form the jury for the midemlab startup competition.
The conference takes place 28-31 January 2012 in Cannes, but the 4 November deadline for entries for the midemlab pitch competition is fast approaching.
midemlab has proved to be a launch platform for several musical innovations over the last few years, including SoundCloud, The Echo Nest, Songkick, and Next Big Sound.
Indeed, several of these previous winners will have representatives on the midemlab 2012 jury – Alex White from Next Big Sound, Jim Lucchese from The Echo Nest, and Alexander Ljung from SoundCloud join representatives from Sony Music Entertainment, Facebook, Coca-Cola, and more.
This year, midemlab is widening its scope to include startups and app developers who do not specifically address the music sector, but who are proposing innovative technological solutions that could help music executives, artists and brands to reach, engage with and monetise audiences.
30 finalists will be picked by Balderton Capital, one of Europes leading venture capital firms; bluenove, a French consultancy specialising in open innovation; and the UK digital consulting company Music Ally.
The finalists will be supported by personalised coaching sessions run by Microsoft BizSpark, a global programme aimed at supporting and accelerating the development of young businesses. The finalists will then pitch to the international jury at midem in January.
Winner will be named in three categories:
- Music discovery, recommendation and creation
- Marketing and social engagement
- Direct-to-consumer sales and monetising content
Companies can enter the competition here. That deadline again is 4 November.
The midem tradeshow brings together the music industry, music makers, and technology companies. It is designed to “enrich the passionate relationship between people and music, transform audience engagement, and form new business connections”. In 2011, it attracted 6,850 delegates from 3,120 companies, incluing 840 new compnaies and 155 startups.