THE NASHVILLE ENTREPRENEUR CENTER (NEC) today announced induction of 14 companies -- including 4 Tennessee companies -- into its 2021-2022 Project Music & Entertainment (PM&E) program. The PM&E program helps accelerate companies that address industry challenges.

During the 12-month program, participating teams work to accelerate their companies' development, innovation and growth by leveraging the NEC's curriculum, staff and extensive network of C-suite executives, entrepreneurs and other industry connections. The initial model Project Music cohort debuted in 2015 and has evolved stepwise to its present form, since then.

CEO Jane Allen JD

"We are elated to welcome this mature and impressive group of entrepreneurs and their businesses to the inaugural Project Music & Entertainment program," EC CEO Jane Allen in a press release today. Read more on Allen's entrepreneurial background here.

"In addition to broadening the industry sectors for this year's program, we've accepted a cohort with an average revenue 5x that of the previous cohort, and we're thrilled to support their efforts to help bring innovative solutions to our business community," said Allen.

The PM&E landing page notes, among other things, that the program is optimized for "high growth" entertainment companies in business lifecycle phases 2 or 3, and which are aimed at having major impact on one or more entertainment segments, including music, sports, film, publishing, gaming, esports, and others.

The PM&E program will be led by Heather McBee, who is EC VP-Operations and a founding member of Project Music.

AmpliFLY Entertainment (artist branding, marketing) founder Stephen Linn is the cohort's entrepreneur-in-residence for the fifth year, and more than 100 mentors and advisors help support the PM&E program.

The 14 businesses in this cohort (NEC supplied cohort descriptions):

• All Access Advance: Timothy Burkhead, Matt Eldridge, Brandon Jazz, Tamer Elsherbeni, Nashville, TN, Music - The All Access Advance is a SaaS platform managing live events for touring artists, venues, and events in real-time from a single dashboard.
• BeatConnect: Alexandre Turbide, Montreal, QC, Music - BeatConnect connects musicians and producers in an innovative shared environment that allow for synchronous and asynchronous collaboration, regardless of your instruments and tools.
• Collyde: Marcell Hilliard, Los Angeles, CA, Sports - Collyde brings the power of live social media engagement for organizations to own and monetize their audience.
• Ewagers: Noah Fulk, Carbondale, IL, Esports, Gaming - Ewagers is an online wagering platform specifically focused on Esports (video games) offering new unique patent pending wager types!
• FanFix: Simon Pompan, Los Angeles, CA, Influencer, Fan Engagement - FanFix allows influencers to better monetize their platform and gives fans more exclusive, intimate access to premium content via subscription.
• FanKave: Sashi Parthasarathy, Santa Clara, CA, Fan Engagement - Fankave's goal is simple - bring magic to brands by transforming social content into brand-safe, visually rich stories across digital channels
• Label Radar: Ed Brew, Boston, MA, Music - LabelRadar is an award-winning music submission platform that eliminates headache on all sides, putting artists back in the driving seat, whilst saving decision-makers countless hours through a revolutionary reviewing tool.
• Pass It Down: Chris Cummings, Chattanooga, TN, Sports, Museums - Pass It Down is a digital exhibit design platform that helps cultural institutions create engaging visitor experiences. SportsStory helps teams engage their fans with our interactive hall of fame and digital Game Day Platform
• Quicc: Mike Mathia, Wichita, KS, Sports - Quicc makes EVERY moment in a large video library retrievable in seconds allowing creators and creative teams to clip and repurpose their desired content for rapid distribution to a target audience.
• Renaissance.app: Arpan Deol, Nikita Jaspal, Devon Ulrich, Vancouver, BC, Music - Renaissance is a fan engagement app that helps music labels and artists amplify the early traction needed to land on popular playlists and tap into a community of their superfans.
• Sounds Sphere: Keller Medlin, Franklin, TN, Music - Sounds Sphere helps artists and songwriters create great songs faster and with less cost.
• StatStak: Elijah Herrick, Antioch, TN, Sports - StatStak is essentially a centralized bank for sports data. We standardize the collection, distribution, and communication of next-gen sports data.
• TotalVu: Amy Chacon, Marina Del Rey, CA, Sports, Music - TotalVU is a Video Experience Platform for your venues and producers seeking new and expansive ways to delight your audiences. In-venue or remote, your audiences are further engaged with the "best seats in the house" viewing, enhanced by multi-channel, immersive, interactive and personalized experiences. The platform offers you extend reach and presents new revenue opportunities.
• Vyrill: Ajay Bam, San Francisco, CA, Fan Engagement - Vyrill is a 'Google' for fan/user generated video with the most powerful, AI driven 'in-video' search to help brands and retailers increase revenue and find new customers by leveraging authentic fan video such as reviews, shout-outs, unboxing, how-to etc for insights and video commerce.

Originally founded by the NEC and CMA (the Country Music Association) as Project Music -- with a then-traditional accelerator model focused on the Music industry -- the now-PM&E program operates with no share of equity in participating companies.

The program's supporters including Belmont University's Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business, Bonnaroo Works Fund, Big Machine Label Group, First Horizon, Launch Tennessee, Pinnacle Financial Partners, SESAC and Who Knew, according to today's EC press release.

More Venture Nashville coverage of Project Music-cum-PM&E here. (###)

. last edited 1240 4 May 2021 CDT