Five forward-thinking startups in music tech are selected as finalists to pitch at the fifth annual Music Tectonics Conference 2023 in Santa Monica, CA, October 24-26.

Every year, early-stage startups from every corner of the globe apply to the Swimming With Narwhals Pitch Competition for a chance to present their innovative business to a panel of music tech investors. In its fifth year the conference received a record number of applications, with companies using innovative tech solutions to solve music industry problems.

The semi-final jury of music tech investors evaluated pitches on the originality of their ideas, product-market fit, and potential for success in order to select finalists to pitch at the in-person conference. The decisions were so close—a tie in fact—the Music Tectonics team made the decision to open a fifth finalist spot for this year’s fifth annual Music Tectonics Conference.

Meet the 2023 Swimming With Narwhals Pitch Competition Finalists:

Aux (London, UK) - a generative AI model that takes a text prompt (eg. "808 kick") and generates infinite audio samples.

Get Moments (Prague, Czechia) - a platform that lets live event organizers collect and monetize user-generated video from concerts, festivals, and sports matches.

MAYK (Santa Monica, CA) - voice tech with a focus on UGC song creation tools.

Offstage (San Francisco, CA) - a superfan platform that makes fan data accessible and actionable.

RealCount (New York, NY) - an analytics platform for live music’s key performance metric: tickets sold.

The five finalists will demo their products at a “Startup Carousel” (at the Santa Monica Pier Carousel) and will present their final pitches in-person on October 25. Finalists have two opportunities to take home a win, by audience vote and by jury choice. The winners of the Swimming With Narwhals Startup Pitch Competition will receive a feature in a press release about the competition, founder interviews on the Music Tectonics Podcast after the event, and a free badge for the 2024 conference.

Music Tectonics’ Pitch Competition has fostered a community that welcomes out-of-the-box ideas, international companies, and non-traditional founders. “We don’t instruct the judges to consider anything other than the merits of the pitch,” remarks Head of Events Shayli Ankenbruck, “so I see our diverse competitors as a sign that we’re helping level the playing field and having a positive impact on the future diversity of the music tech industry.”

“Our Narwhal finalists represent the highest impact sectors that will define the next ten years of growth in music: easy music creation, generative AI, live music, fan-created content, and super fandom”, adds Music Tectonics director Dmitri Vietze. “We brought in some of the most active music tech investors and they made impeccable choices!”

About the Swimming With Narwhals Competition

Spotlighting creative startups through this competition is one of the ways the Music Tectonics conference focuses on music innovation—wherever it’s shaking up the industry. Music Tectonics’ competition keeps the focus on real-world innovators who are poised to make waves in the music industry. Read more about the competition at the Music Tectonics website.

About Music Tectonics

Music Tectonics was founded to explore the deep seismic shifts that keep the music industry unsettled. At the fifth annual conference in 2023, we’ll delve into the consequences of these shifts and the new fault lines poised to change the industry yet again. Music Tectonics unites music tech innovators across industry boundaries to share insights and get business done. A variety of experiences in unexpected venues offers attendees many opportunities for making meaningful connections, scheduling meetings, and serendipitous encounters. The fifth annual conference returns to Santa Monica, CA, October 24-26, 2023. Join us for three days of programming about the future of music that prepares you to ride the next seismic shifts shaking up the industry.