Music Ally SI:X is our annual showcase, contest and mentorship programme for early-stage music startups. We launched it in 2022 – you can read about last year’s winners here – and now we’re delighted to announce the finalists for 2023.
To quickly recap: the contest element to SI:X involves six categories: Music Creation and Hardware; Marketing, Promotion and D2C; Live, Experiential and Gaming; Data, Analytics and Tools; Distribution and Consumption; and then an Other category for startups who don’t fit any of the others.
The contest is for music-related startups founded since the start of 2018, who currently have a headcount of fewer than 200 people. And the 2023 finalists are…
Music Creation and Hardware
- AIBeatz (A tool for musicians and creators to make and customise music using AI)
- Cosonify (Data management for musicians)
- Flame2Fame (A company that makes music accessories from recycled materials)
- InTempo (Preventing panic attacks and anxiety with a tactile smartphone case)
- Masterchannel (An AI-mastering service with a B2B angle)
- RoEx (A platform that handles both AI mastering and AI mixing)
Marketing, Promotion and D2C
- Genni (Helping music clients run influencer marketing campaigns)
- Planet (A superfan communities platform for artists)
- Pytch (A tool for pitching music to key journalists)
- Riff Digital (An app that promises to turn any song into a video)
- StanPass (A platform for running gamified music marketing campaigns)
- Zebr (Making connections between labels and influencers)
Live, Experiential and Gaming
- 12on12 (A startup building a community around vinyl compilations)
- Frow (A new way to shop records live from independent stores)
- KYD Labs (Ticketing, ad-tech and AI-powered concert marketing)
- Rivar (A “social app live-broadcasting entertainment in AR”)
- Tickets For Good (sourcing free and discounted tickets for deserving fans)
- TurnTable Live (One of the revivals of the famous avatar-based music site)
Data, Analytics and Tools
- Aims API (Smart music search and tagging, powered by AI)
- Offstage (Music analytics with an emphasis on understanding superfans)
- Merchro (Financial tools for artists and creators in Africa)
- Music Tomorrow (Helping music companies boost artist discoverability on DSPs)
- Ringo (Making the sync and licensing market more efficient)
- Song Sleuth (Helping music companies track down royalty-bearing UGC)
Distribution and Consumption
- Kelele Digital (Providing a range of services for clients in Africa)
- Legato (An automated licensing platform for the music industry)
- Otto (An AI-powered app creating playlists based on prompts)
- River Beats TV (A streaming service focused on electronic music)
- Sona (A new spin on free streaming that aims to be fairer to artists)
- TLD3 Entertainment (A portable playback and streaming DAC/amp)
Other
- Hall Up (live home recording with premium audio engineers)
- IndieKnow (An app that helps self-releasing artists succeed)
- Remixology (A platform to help commission remixes and derivative works)
- Surf Music (Connecting musicians with ‘willing buyers’ for signings and syncs)
- Twelve x Twelve (web3-based investment in music royalties)
- Vogum (A tool to help teachers and creators build music education content)
Those are the finalists, so what happens now? That’s where our SI:X project sponsors come in: Amazon Music, ASCAP Lab, The Raine Group, Red Bull Media House, Reed Smith and Universal Music Group will select a winner in each category.
Those winners will then present at our Music Ally Connect conference in London next January, as well as getting a mentoring programme from the supporting sponsors and Music Ally.
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