Midemlab Launches 2018 Music Tech Startup Competition

Leading international music conference Midem has launched the 2018 edition of its Midemlab music-related startup competition, with Kima Ventures, Ticketmaster, Google, and Tencent joining the jury. Midem will be in Cannes, France June 5-8.

Midemlab 2018 will  feature promising international music and music tech startups. Since its inception in 2008, 217 music startups from 31 countries have taken part in the competition.  .

Midemlab provides finalists with exposure to both industry decision-makers and potential investors. Previous participants have raised millions of dollars in funding and are now well established in the music ecosystem, including Soundcloud, The Echo Nest (acquired by Spotify), Next Big Sound (acquired by Pandora), and BandPage (acquired by YouTube).

One of the 2017 Midemlab winners was Soundcharts, an artist management company with its own system to monitor artists’ activity on social media, streaming playlists and more. “Midemlab brought us two major things: credibility and visibility,” said Soundcharts’ Founder and CEO, David Weiszfeld. 

This year’s call for entries is now open, and 20 finalists will be chosen from submissions by Midem's selecting partners. They will be invited to Midem to pitch their business to a jury and the wider Midem audience. Music streaming giant Deezer has just agreed to back Midemlab for the next two editions, and is particularly interested in startups developing innovative products and technologies involving data/analytics.

“The intersection of technology and music is Deezer’s natural environment, so we are excited to partner with Midem supporting the music-tech community. We’ve learned that it’s not about good or bad data, it’s about the right data. And that’s how, at Deezer, we’re able to create a personalised experience for every user,” said Aurélien Hérault, Chief Research & Data Officer, Deezer.

Application must be received by March 21, 2018.