ASCAP LAB OFFERS A CHALLENGE

The ASCAP Lab has partnered with NYC Media Lab for its second Immersive Music Studio Challenge. The 12-week seed project for startups and university teams explores ways artists can create music, connect with fans and reimagine how people interact with music and sound.

To give you an idea of what that actually means, last year the ASCAP Lab launched its inaugural seed projects and mentored five teams, including CHILLER (Computer Human Interface for Live Labeling of Emotional Responses), a device that can convert the body’s physical and emotional reactions to music into data, and MADD by Team MiDi, an audio sampling and editing device that features a soft-surface sensor to capture a user's touch for increased expressiveness and customization of sound. Cool, right?

Four finalists have been selected to receive grants to develop and expand on prototype technologies Boomy, MiSynth, OTHERWARDS by The Slashers and SOCIAL by DOTDOT. The ASCAP Lab will mentor each team to provide guidance on how their products can benefit the music-creator community.

The ASCAP Lab and NYC Media Lab will host a Demo Day to demonstrate prototypes, which will be presented virtually on 8/12 as part of ASCAP Experience. To RSVP, click here.

A panel of judges will present awards to the team with the product that has the most potential for positive impact on the creator community and the team that has made the most progress during the program. The awarded teams will present their prototypes at the NYC Media Lab Summit, slated for early October.

Said ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews, “The ASCAP Lab’s Immersive Music Studio Challenge allows us to nurture emerging industry talent and experiment with new ideas, technology and business models that create opportunities for our members and music-user partners.”

NYC Media Lab Director of Partnerships & New Initiatives Erica Matsumoto said, “We're inspired by the incredible talent and creativity of this cohort and the vision of this challenge."