Annual music industry convention Midem returns next month, and as label bosses and other people ‘in the business’ convene in Cannes, France, they’ll be joined by a horde of tech startups. Yes, Midem is increasingly a place as much for technology as it is for music. Nowhere more is that apparent than at the Midemlab competition.

Midemlab is all about highlighting ground-breaking technological solutions to music industry problems, from artist-fan engagement to new revenue streams.

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Last year’s winners were radio discovery app MPme, video stream enhancement service Crowdsuft, by Liveone, and Ovelin’s guitar tutor game Wildchords.

This year’s competition will see 30 finalists competing across three categories:

Music Discovery, Recommendation & Creation

Featurin.gs (Switzerland) – cloud music/video collaboration platform

Musigram (USA) – social musical app

MyMusic (Canada) – create, discover, share music magazines

MyTourManager (France) – live music discovery and recommendation

Songful by instruMagic (Israel) – the guitar app for everyone

Soundrop (Norway) – real-time social music platform

T’écoutes quoi ? (France) – meeting people through music

The Party Player (France) – music streaming services for home parties

Tomahawk (USA) – multi-source music platform and players

YaSound (France) – social music service

Marketing & Social Engagement

Audience.fm (France) – music identity and direct-to-fan platform

Beatrobo (Japan) – avatar-based music curation

Emues (Sweden) – audience-driven live music booking system

FanDistro (USA) – fanbase development, socially-aware distribution

Jamplify (USA) – social marketing platform

Kollector (Belgium) – realtime radio broadcast tracking system

mBaSo (UK) – direct2Fan artist engagement platform

Spins.FM (USA) – social radio requests

Sponsr (USA) -music sponsorship marketplace

Vyclone (USA) – social video collaboration app

Direct to Consumer Sales & Content Monetisation

Decksi by Creative D (Canada) – direct-to-fan content platform

Eazieer (France) – online music management for & by artists

Evergig (France)- hybrid concerts’ videos sharing platform

Mixgar (Hungary) – social jukebox

Murfie (USA) – social music marketplace

Piano Galaxy by JoyTunes (Israel) – addictive music education apps

Pulselocker (USA) – disrupting the DJ ecosystem

rightclearing (Switzerland) – music licensing infrastructure

Stageit (USA) – monetise live, interactive video

WeDemand /Queremos! (Brazil) – social platform to crowdfund and promote concerts

I’ll be at Midem for The Next Web, reporting on how the lines between the music industry and the startup world are blurring. If you’d like to be there too, tickets are available now. Special rates are available for young companies, performing artists and students.

Image credit: Thinkstock