Project Music Portfolio Announces 13 Tech Startup Participants

The Nashville Entrepreneur Center and the Country Music Association have announced 13 new tech startups that will participate in the 2018 Project Music Portfolio program. Project Music Portfolio is a year-round entrepreneurship program designed to accelerate the success of growth-oriented, music-minded startups.

These 13 diverse startups will receive on-demand support and music industry immersion, connecting them to industry leaders and experts, as well as superior startup curriculum. Based in various cities, the entrepreneurs will make multiple visits to Music City for programming and networking events. The program kicks off the first week of April, with the teams traveling to Nashville for the first time, where they will connect with the Project Music community to jumpstart the personal connections they will receive throughout the next year.

“It’s exciting for CMA to directly support innovation for our music industry through Project Music,” says CMA Chief Marketing Officer Damon Whiteside. “Our mission is to expand country music globally, and these inventive and forward-thinking individuals are a key to the future of our business.”

“Expanding the cohort in Project Music Portfolio has allowed the EC to support more exciting startups than ever before,” says Stephen Linn, Project Music Advisor. “Taken together, this group really has the potential to innovate with their new technology and ideas and move our industry forward.”

2018 Participants (in alphabetical order):
AndMe.tv: Cori Banyon (Charleston, South Carolina)
AudioDrops: Seth Hillinger (New York City, New York)
Ciari Guitars: Jonathan Spangler (San Diego, California)
Cleerkut, Inc: Cheryl Potts (Washington, D.C.)
Fretish: Sam Tharp (Boston, Massachusetts)
Hookist: Meredith Collins (New York City, New York)
JamFeed: Cameron Gibson (Austin, Texas)
NFCSound: Daniel Waiss (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
OnlyInVR (OIVR): Michael Hodson (Austin, Texas)
Project Decibel: Jenny Paley (Chicago, Illinois)
Rootnote: Jason Burchard (Nashville, Tennessee)
Smashmouse: Robb Dillon (Atlanta, Georgia)
SoulSence: Naveen Sridhar (San Francisco, California)

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Lorie Hollabaugh

Hollabaugh, a staff writer at MusicRow magazine, has over 20 years of music business experience and has written for publications including American Profile, CMA Close Up, Nashville Arts And Entertainment, The Boot and Country Weekly. She has a Broadcast Journalism and Speech Communication degree from Texas Christian University, (go Horned Frogs), and welcomes your feedback or story ideas at lhollabaugh@musicrow.com.

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