Music start-ups from across Northern Europe compete in the Match Point contest at Music & Media Finland 2011 for the €7500 first prize.
The Music & Media Finland 2011 conference in Tampere, Finland will host Match Point – a pitching competition for digital music start-ups on Saturday 22nd October. Seven start-ups will compete for the Northern Dimension Music Innovation Award and a cash prize of €7500.
The Northern Dimension Music Innovation Award finalists, in alphabetical order, are Audiodraft, gogoyogo, LiveMusicStage.com, MusicDNA (BACH Techology), Netiraadio (Muusikamaailma), Ovelin and SongHi. These companies are the cream of innovative music-related start-ups originating in the Northern Dimension catchment. Estonia, Finland, Iceland and Norway are all represented in the final, which is expected to be fiercely competitive.
In the competition, the finalists will give short pitches to an esteemed panel of international judges, chaired by globally respected US digital consultant, Ted Cohen of TAG Strategic. The judges will look at the quality of presentations and the level of innovation on offer, while comparing business models, scalability, market potential and differentiation versus the competitive frame.
The judging panel comprises: venture capitalist Gilles Babinet from France; LyricFind CEO Darryl Ballantyne from Canada; entertainment industry expert and commentator Juliana Koranteng, based in the UK; and Frenchman Jérôme Giachino, CEO of Starzik, the multimedia download giant.
The Northern Dimension catchment covers the Nordic countries, the Baltic states and Russia. The Northern Dimension Music Innovation Award is presented for the first time in 2011 and aims to promote sustainable cultural development and innovation.
The winner of the award and the €7500 prize will be announced at the Industry Awards Gala on the evening of Saturday 22nd October at Tampere Hall, the climax of Music & Media Finland.
In brief – the finalists competing for the €7500 prize
AudioDraft arranges crowdsourced sound design contests that attract thousands of talented sound designers and music producers from all over the world. AudioDraft gives companies access to a community of motivated and highly skilled designers that compete for monetary prizes, acclaim and visibility.
gogoyoko is an online music service that allows artists to sell directly to their fans and lets listeners stream music for free. Revenue comes from music sales, advertising sales and subscriptions. gogoyoko focuses on independent music and on paying artists fairly for the use of their creative material online.
LiveMusicStage.com is a platform for music professionals to arrange and monetize live events online. The service provides everything from streaming to ticket sales and lets people watch and interact with live shows on the web.
MusicDNA is an enhanced, unified media format from BACH Technology that aggregates and continuously updates “everything about a song in one single file”. BACH’s pioneering technology wraps an audio file or an audio stream (e.g. MP3, WMA, AAC or Flac) into a MPEG-7 container and fills it with additional metadata, such as audio analysis, lyrics, tour dates, advertising, Facebook links etc.
Netiraadio is an innovative digital music service that combines online radio with the opportunity to purchase songs in just a few mouse clicks. Netiraadio has been developed by Musikamaailma in collaboration with Music Export Estonia, the Estonian Authors' Society and digital agency, OKIA. It is currently breaking new ground in the Estonian music scene and challenging established radio channels.
Ovelin aims to change how people learn to play music instruments. The service combines the addictive features of computer games with music instrument exercises. Ovelin’s first title, WildChords, is a family-friendly iPad game for learning the guitar that has been selected Best European Learning Game 2011.
SongHi is a virtual social fame game where users develop their own musical identity, create songs and share their creations. The service integrates with popular social networks and has a business model based on advertising campaigns and sales of virtual items e.g. musical instruments.
The judging panel for the Northern Dimension Music Innovation Award
Ted Cohen (USA), founder of digital strategy consultancy TAG Strategic, was instrumental in crafting the licensing agreements upon which the Rhapsody subscription service and the iTunes Music Store were built. Previously head of digital at EMI, his consultancy operations boast clients including Amazon.com, Microsoft, Universal Studios, and DreamWorks Records.
Gilles Babinet (FRA) is chairman of the board at MXP4 and a highly successful venture capitalist and entrepreneur. He has founded success stories, including Absolut and Musiwave, that have been sold in multi-million dollar deals. Gilles currently serves as chairman for Eyeka and Awdio, and has a stable of music and media start-ups funded by the likes of Ventech Ventures, SFR Ventures, DN Capital and Alven Capital.
Darryl Ballantyne (CAN) is a successful Canadian entrepreneur and experienced negotiator. He is founder and CEO of LyricFind and AdProject and was previously in digital business development at EMI.
Jérôme Giachino (FRA) is an expert in apparel, fashion, music and the entertainment industry with a keen sense for identifying opportunities and successful marketing strategies. He is founder and CEO of Starzik, one of Europe’s leading multimedia download companies that manages downloads for major brands, such as Fnac, Free and Ebay.
Juliana Koranteng (UK) is a business journalist, editor, published author and media consultant specializing in the international media and entertainment businesses, including film, TV, music, sport, global marketing, live entertainment, and related copyright issues. Juliana’s work has been featured by Advertising Age, the Economist, The Washington Post, Hollywood Reporter, Reuters and TIME magazine. In addition, she has consulted for organizations, such as CISAC, the international royalty collection organization.
