Music Tectonics Startup Competition Opens 2025 Applications
The popular Swimming with Narwhals Music Tectonics Startup Competition has opened applications for 2025.
Music Tectonics Startup Competition Opens 2025 Applications
Startups in music and media tech can now apply for the competition. The final pitches will take place at the conference November 4-6, 2025 in Santa Monica, California.
First, a panel of music tech entrepreneurs, investors, and experts will review all applications. The ten semi-finalists will pitch at an online pre-conference event. This event will be judged by Bruce Hamilton of Everybody Ventures; Scott Sugino of Yamaha Music Innovations fund and Sun Jen Yung of Nfluence Partners.
The four finalists selected will move on to demo and pitch in person at the Music Tectonics Conference.
There, a jury of investors will evaluate pitches on originality, likeliness to succeed, and product-market fit. This evaluation will select Jury Choice winners. Meanwhile, attendees vote on an Audience Choice winner.
“Pitching at Music Tectonics was a great experience,” recalls Jessica Powell, Audioshake CEO and 2022 Narwhal winner. “I originally came from a tech background, so pitching Audioshake in a room full of music people was a great opportunity to connect with the industry. Music Tectonics attendees are a great mix of startups, DSPs, and other kinds of music companies we wanted to meet, and after I pitched people came up to start conversations.”
“We had already enjoyed attending the conference once, so RealCount was really excited to participate in the pitch competition in 2023,” remarks Diana Gremore, RealCount CEO and 2023 Audience Choice winner. “The virtual semi-final pitch led to great feedback. At the finals I was proud to share how far we’d come in our roadmap since then.
Swimming with Narwhals Music Tectonics Startup Competition applications are open thru August 8 on the Music Tectonics website.
Early Bird Music Tectonics Conference tickets are available for $349 before August 19.
Swimming with Narwhals Music Tech Startup Competition Timeline
- July 1 Applications open on the Music Tectonics website
- August 8 Applications close at 11:59pm Pacific Time
- August 19 Last day to purchase badges at Early Bird rate of $349
- September 4 Ten semi-finalists announced, selected by a panel of music tech entrepreneurs, investors, and experts
- September 17 Semi-finalists pitch at the Music Tectonics Online Preconference
- September 23 Finalists announced
- November 4 Startup demos at the Music Tectonics Conference & Creator Fair in Santa Monica, CA
- November 5 Finalists pitch in-person at the conference
- November 6 Jury choice and Audience Choice winners announced at the conference
Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, a Berklee College Of Music professor and founder of the Skyline Artists Agency
