Sponsors and Investors Announced for Project Music’s 2016 Accelerator

Project Music has revealed a comprehensive list of sponsors and investors to support its 2016 Accelerator. The program will feature industry heavyweights joining the investor group to help provide mentorship in addition to $47,000 in funding for each startup chosen to participate.

Title sponsors the Nashville Entrepreneur Center (EC) and the Country Music Association.

Platinum sponsors include YouTube and LaunchTN. Silver Sponsors & Donors include Avenue Bank; BMI; DevDigital; Flood, Bumstead, McCready & McCarthy; Patterson Intellectual Property Law; and Rock Paper Scissors, Inc. Gold sponsors are Anderson Benson Insurance, Belmont University Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business, Linda and Doug Howard, Music Business Association, and Beth Lee and Thom Oliphant.

Partners for 2016 are Flo Thinkery, Baker Donelson, Sherrard & Roe, LBMC and American Music Water.

Investors for the coming year are Broken Bow Label Group, RCA recording artist Chris Young, Galante Entertainment, Landscape Capital, Maverick, Red Light Management, Shopkeeper Management, Sony/ATV, Beth Lee and Thom Oliphant, Universal Music Group, Vector Management, and Warner Music Group.

“The Project Music Accelerator investors for year 2 represent virtually every aspect of the music industry,” notes Heather McBee, Program Director of Project Music. “The group includes artists, managers, labels, publishers and others, showing support for the goal of identifying opportunities to grow and advance the industry, not only in providing funding, but also illustrating support for the program and the startups that will emerge.”

Total applicants grew by nearly 55 percent over 2015, drawing from 19 states in addition to 25 percent of applications coming from outside the U.S., as Argentina, Australia and Azerbaijan.

“Year two of Project Music is leading the charge to define Nashville as THE city for music-minded entrepreneurs to start, launch and grow their businesses,” states Stuart McWhorter, Nashville Entrepreneur Center CEO & President. “The depth of the 2016 Investor and Sponsor groups, coupled with applicants’ diverse hometowns reflect the program’s growth as it becomes known as the premier global destination for music tech entrepreneurship.”

Project Music 2016 Accelerator starts Jan. 31, 2016 at the EC with participants revealed in mid-December.