This week Miami is being taken over by music. From the Winter Music Conference (WMC) to Miami Beach’s Centennial, the Magic City is all about good tunes.
The second annual tech and music conference, MIA Music Summit, brought together entrepreneurs and musicians to talk about the latest tech innovation in the industry. Speakers included executives from Pandora, Atom Factory, and WahWah Networks, among many others.
The common theme throughout the day was how technology is bringing music lovers together. From hardware devices that focus on sharing music to online platforms that enable musicians to connect with fans, the trend in the industry seems to be about creating unique experiences for users.
Here are some of the most interesting quotes from the various discussions during MIA Music Summit:
1. “He used to do Twitter, but now it’s Instagram. Facebook, not much.” EDM DJ David Guetta’s managers, Jean Charles-Carre on David Guetta’s favorite social media platform.
The entertainment industry is all about Instagram. From well-known musicians to upcoming artists, the photo-sharing app is definitely musicians’ favorite.
2. “Music can make us superhuman with new autotune on steroids technology with Re-compose.” Gabriel “Gabe Mac” Mcintyre of the University of Utrecht on the future of music.
Mcintyre taked about how companies are bridging the gap between music and human psychology. From a machine that makes burgers based on your musical taste (you literally taste music), to technology that enables musicians to create sounds that trigger chemicals in your brain similar to drugs. Tech is making how we experience sounds more powerful.
3. “The Internet of Things (IoT) is allowing music to be an experience again. Other elements in home is connected is an opportunity that music plays a huge part of it,” Martin Varsavsky of FON on how connected homes will change how we listen to music.
We went to listening to vinyls in the living room with friends to listening to music in a digital music player through our headphones. As we make our homes smarter and connected to our smartphones, listening to music will change to where we share music with friends using our smartphones.
Photo Credit: Camila Souza
4. “Defensibility: Companies that can show that no one else should be doing what they are doing in the space,” Katerina Schneider of Atom Factory on what she looks for before investing.
In a frank discussion between investors in the music and tech industry, investors shared with the audience what they look for in a startup. The team behind the startup was something all investors agreed to be of great importance.
5. “Music industry is hard” Bora Celik of Jukely on launching a music startup.
Startup life is hard in any industry. But when it comes to the entertainment business, more the space is even noisier because of the “fun” appeal. Startups have to work much harder to create successful companies.
6. “If you’re a music startup and want to pitch to a VC, you need make sure the market size is large enough. Especially if you’re in seed round, it’s all about your team and the size of market,” Steve Martocci of Splice on raising funding.
7. “I wanted to build a platform based on meritocracy. It’s for someone who cares about every fan and wants to build a relationship with them, while being able to make a living of creating music,” Ryan Leslie on launching Disruptive Media.
Leslie is a record producer, singer, songwriter and Cofounder. He talked about connecting musicians with fans through technology. Many artists today prefer to be signed, but more musicians are looking at the possibility of using social media to sell their music.
8. “Music of the people, by the people, for the people!” Nabyl Charania of Rokk3r Labs on how the music industry is yet to be disrupted.
Charania talked about the importance of exponential organizations, and how it will change how people experience music.
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