Metro Nashville

NASHVILLE investors, top executives, performers, technologists and entrepreneurs are not alone in celebrating this city's Music legacy.

Neither are they alone in wondering how to protect and expand the wealth and influence this city might yet derive from Music, Entertainment, Sports and other industries that compete for consumer and industrial attention and spending.

This is a globally competitive situation.

That reality is slightly reinforced by the fact that Tennessee House opens next weekend in Austin during South by Southwest.

"Tennessee House" programming will spotlight Nashville's future Oracle HQ, our technologies, brands, sciences, medicine and hospitality, as well as line-dancing to Country hits.

The Launch Tennessee-produced event is, of course, designed to encourage founders, investors and talented Creatives to invest time and talents in Tennessee.

When LaunchTN debuted Tennessee House last year at SXSW, the turnstile counted more than 2,000 visits to the venue, including travelers from Canada, Brazil, Germany and Japan.

VNC had previously reported on that, but yesterday the globality of Music and Entertainment was brought into sharper focus when a representative of Initiative Musik's German Music Export program invited us to write about GERMAN HAUS, which is also an activation project happening alongside SXSW.

Initiative Musik officials made clear in their press release this week the importance the German government, entrepreneurs, Creatives and others assign to creating global connections through participation in such prominent cultural events as SXSW.

GermanHaus, we're told, is "backed by over 20 partners from music, startups, technology, and film. With its mix of expert discussions, cross-Atlantic collaboration, and unforgettable live music, this is one of SXSW 2025's must-cover events."

Other German initiatives include, for example, Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft which offers incubators for Music, Games and Media. Also, the German Creative Economy Summit 2025 convened today.

PROJECT MUSIC

Nashville Entrepreneur Center's (NEC) original Project Music cohort accelerator was suspended a couple years back.

Since then, some Music-Entertainment (M&E) founders have joined NEC's alternative offering, a Music industry peer-network.

NEC staff tells VNC there are nine NEC members currently in the M&E industry peer group. Also, there are several M&E-crossover startups that are participating in NEC's Project Fintech and Project Healthcare accelerator cohorts.

Revisiting with VNC the issue of future prospects for a cohort-based Project Music, NEC CEO Sam Davidson said, "I have a desire to bring back M&E as a full accelerator, but timing on that is TBD."

Sam Davidson

Davidson added, "The current M&E peer group model has allowed us to learn a lot, especially how to provide needed services to entrepreneurs that are 'beyond' our current accelerator model, in terms of revenue, longevity, capital round, etc. At some point, all companies and founders simply need to run and put into practice what they've learned at their earliest stages. As they do, they'll encounter obstacles and opportunities that an accelerator can't address -- but mentors and peers can."

He also noted, "This summer -- date and content TBD -- we will host our first-ever [NEC-wide] alumni event. At that event we'll learn a lot about what our alumni entrepreneurs need."

Ahead of that reunion, both Davidson and NEC VP-Programs Dakota Simpson confirmed that they are pilot-surveying NEC alumni across all programs, asking which resources and services they deem most important.

GLOBAL M&E

In the U.S. and global entrepreneurship ecosystems, M&E models vary considerably, making comparisons difficult at a distance.

We found these organizations among the more interesting:

► ABBEY ROAD REDD Incubator, is a vintage-2016 London offering via Abbey Road Studios ("the birthplace of stereo"), which was once known as EMI Recording Studios (think "Beatles") and is now a unit of Virgin Records Limited (in turn, part of Universal Music Group, UMG). REDD's offerings are apparently also in-synch with the UMG accelerator-engagement network and related corporate initiatives. UMG (AMS:UMG) large shareholders include France's Vivendi (Bollore), Tencent and others. A U.S. offering and listing for UMG could come in 3QCY25.

► MARATHON Artists Labs, in the Tileyard London creative enclave, is a 22-minute bicycle ride from Abbey Road.

► SPIN Labs, an LA-NYC music tech incubator, was formed two years ago in partnership with Nashville- and Los-Angeles-based KRMA, a digital agency.

► TEL-AVIV's new MusicTech Accelerator plans its first Demo Day for May and open applications for its second cohort in June. UMG Publishing Group is among its partners.

Having done a bit of research on these matters, we'll mention two take-aways:

FIRST, continued churning among varied M&E programs seems ceaseless, accelerating and almost certainly inevitable.

Transoceanic examples: Three weeks ago an Athens, Greece-centered consortium of organizations in 10 central and southeastern European nations ended the five-year run of their HEMI Hub for the Exchange of Music Innovation, declaring its work now done. Similarly, not long ago the Paris-based JUMP European Music Market Accelerator ended its run.

A US Left Coast example: Heralded by Rolling Stone in its 2020 debut, Techstars Music in Los Angeles announced its shuttering 18 months ago, with its now-former Managing Director Bob Moczydlowsky having suggested, according to some published interviews, that the program experienced drag as a result of its Music-only positioning, while portfolio financings were challenged in the current environment. Related.

SECOND, the prima facie lack of an M&E accelerator in a given urban or regional market does not mean that a given region isn't bullish on musictech and related innovation.

That said, our research also suggested that although all the ingredients of leadership seem present in Nashville, Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami and Chicago -- i.e., such factors as homegrown and in-migrating performers, tech startups, and universities with strong engineering, technology and entrepreneurship programs -- none of those cities currently has a truly music-tech-focused accelerator.

FOR the record: We have not forgotten that Austin is a Music town. Here's F6s's March 1, 2025 rundown of Austin music-tech; Built-in's Austin Music list; Austin City Limits' '25 offering here; and, ConnectPls's paen to Austin here.

Also noted: the City of Austin has a Music & Entertainment Division, among many other programs. Props.

Travel advisory: During SXSW, the Tennesseans will be at Electric Shuffle Austin and the Germans will be at Speakeasy.

* Resources: Attention Economy, Music, Sports, Entertainment: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | VNC

. last edited 1645 5 March 2025