The Music Cities Awards are presented by Saxony - State of the Arts. This is a global competition designed to acknowledge and reward the most outstanding applications of music for economic, social, environmental and cultural development in cities and places all around the world.
This is a special year for the MCA's because is not only the fourth year of the competition, but also the largest one with more than 200 applications received. On August 3rd we'll be announcing the nominees and on October 18th we'll be awarding the winners at the Music Cities Awards ceremony during the Huntsville Music Cities Convention. Make sure to grab your tickets for the event here.
One of the things that excites us the most about this competition is to discover all of the amazing projects that take part in it. Scrolling through the list of applications is a great way to get inspired by the different ways people and organisations are using music to improve their communities in different corners of the world.
Scroll down to discover this year's applicants for "Best Digital Innovation to Support Musicians or Music in Cities".
Opulous (Global): Opulous is a unique blockchain platform that offers musicians a convenient way to secure quick funding through the sale of fractionalized future revenue while simultaneously providing buyers with returns and rewards for financing their
favorite artists.
AudioSwim (Global): AudioSwim is a platform that has the ability to integrate multiple music industry services into a single ecosystem. Their approach encompasses music distribution, royalty investment, NFT (non-fungible token) integration, data analytics, and education for musicians.
SongBits (Global): SongBits is a Web3 platform that changes the connection between the artist and fans. Combining the familiarity of a simple web experience with the power of blockchain, fans can invest in artists and participate in their success.
Psychology for the Music Industry by M.I. Therapy (Spain/U.S.A): M.I. Therapy is an organization aiming to raise awareness of mental health in the music industry. Through specialized treatment, workshops, conferences and panels as well as education. Joining forces with specialists working in improving life balance for artists and other professionals based all around the world.
HustleSasa Mobile App (Africa): HustleSasa is a mobile app that exists to prepare creators in Africa for the increasingly digital future by empowering them to learn new ways of making money doing what they love, while building strong communities around their work online. The mobile app helps creators start, run and grow their businesses in one place and accept payments from their smartphone.
VEVA Collect (Global): VEVA is made up of producers, songwriters, and engineers who make their living making music. With over 20 years of experience in this area, we are proud to have built the most secure, accurate, and collaborative platform to help musicians manage files, credits, and metadata.
Wynk Studio (India): Wynk Studio is a platform that hosts the digital music distribution for 560 independent musicians and helps them with additional career development services.
FUTURX (Argentina): FUTURX is a Latin American community focused on learning and exchanging ideas about music and web3-based technology.The project was created to address the need for a continuous, peer-to-peer learning space at the intersection of music and technology within the Latin American region.
Blast Music (North Alabama, U.S.A.): Blast Music is a music streaming service built using the MUSICat platform developed by Rabble. It showcases local artists from the North Alabama region which were paid a fixed fee for allowing their work to be featured on the platform.
Digital Mobility Fund by IKS Cultural Consulting (South Africa): IKS Cultural Consulting is a consulting and project management agency based on sound research and analysis. It manages Concerts SA and its Digital Mobility Fund (DMF) for musicians in South Africa. The Digital Mobility Fund is a project to support the streaming of live performances, initiated as an active response to the challenges facing the live music scene due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
West Tennessee Artist Directory by B3 Creative Agency (TN, U.S.A.): The Artist Directory is a platform that supports the live music scene in Jackson. It gives musicians a centralized and accessible platform to showcase their work, expand their reach and connect with the community. The directory serves as a powerful tool for emerging and established local artists to promote themselves and gain recognition in the community.
Stagehand (Canada/U.S.A.): Stagehand is a digital infrastructure that makes it easy for anyone to work with local musicians. Stagehand helps traditional and non-traditional venues find artists, schedule and promote live music, and manage the administration. Stagehand is a tool to help create a more vibrant local culture while providing important impact data.
Radio 254 (Kenya): Through Radio 254 Kenyan musicians and artists have been given a platform online to showcase and market their work. Radio 254 is a radio station in Kenya that plays 100% Kenyan music and content.
Candlelight Concerts by Fever (Global): Fever is the leading global live-entertainment discovery platform. It has a mission to democratize access to culture and entertainment in real life through its platform. Fever's Candlelight Concert Series spans over 150 cities across 22 countries, making Fever the the primary online seller of live classical music worldwide.
BuskPay by busk.co (Global): The Busking Project is the world's largest community of street performers, with over twelve thousand registered buskers in 133 countries. Its platform has a suite of tools and services for street performers, including services such as BuskPay, which is a highly-focused tipping service that uses a QR code sign that buskers can display in the street.
Songshares at Songvest by Larrosa Music Group (Global): SongVest is an American company that operates an online platform for buying and selling music royalties and other royalty assets. It provides a centralized online marketplace where royalty owners can sell their future payments to investors. SongShares allows hundreds and thousands of fans to buy a share of an artist's royalty streams and share part of their revenue.
Wolfie AI by Larrosa Music Group (Global): Wolfie AI is the first strategic consultant specialized in the music industry, having been specifically trained in key areas such as music financing, copyright management, artist promotion or new technologies. It can provide base contracts, valuing music catalogs, generating lyrics and creating social media content.
Surrey Musician and Music Business Directories (B.C., Canada): The Surrey Musician and Music Business Directories is a centralized hub that connects local musicians, businesses, and organizations within Surrey's music community. The data collected through these directories has played a pivotal role in formulating the comprehensive Surrey Music Strategy.
Sound of Soul Recording Studio and Multimedia Institute by CED Society (India): CED Society is a multifaceted, non-profit outreach center supporting disabled and disadvantaged women, located in Dehradun, India. In 2018, CED Society launched the Sound of Soul Recording Studio and Multimedia Institute, a professional recording studio dedicated to empower disabled and disadvantaged women through musical and artistic expression.
The Jacksonville Music Experience (FL, U.S.A.): Jaxmusic.org is a dynamic digital media platform that serves as a communal landing page for music lovers in the region. It also recruits a diverse group of local journalists and musicians to contribute a range of features – from music news and reviews, artist profiles, concert announcements, new-music recommendations and playlists.
The Music Cities Awards Ceremony will take place on October 18th as part of the Huntsville Music Cities Convention. The last Early Bird Price tickets for the event will be available until the end of July. Head here to get yours.
Do you want to keep up to date with everything related to Music Cities Events and Music Cities topics? Then we invite you to also subscribe to our monthly newsletter.