Music Council Partners With Entrepreneur Center

(L-R) Janet Miller, Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce; Butch Spyridon, Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau; Nashville Mayor Karl Dean; Tawn Albright, Rockhouse Partners; Joe Galante, former chairman, Sony BMG Nashville; Mary Ann McCready, Flood Bumstead McCready & McCarthy; and Michael Burcham, Entrepreneur Center. Photo: Judith Hill

The Nashville Music Council and Nashville Entrepreneur Center have launched a partnership to provide direct support to local start-ups in music, digital media and entertainment. The partnership includes a formalized agreement to work together to nurture and support business ideas with the potential to impact the digital media and music entertainment sector.

“Cities seeking to grow and prosper in the 21st century have to support innovation and entrepreneurship in key industries,” said Mayor Karl Dean at an April 12 event. “The music industry, in particular, is ripe for new ideas and new business models that will help shape its transition into the digital age. This partnership between the Music Council and the Entrepreneur Center will help ensure that the future leader and leading ideas of the music industry are being cultivated right here in Nashville.”

Led by Vanderbilt faculty member and accomplished business leader Michael Burcham, Nashville’s Entrepreneur Center is an incubator for ideas and business start-ups targeting four distinct areas for local growth: health care, technology, social enterprise and digital media & entertainment. Since its official launch in the summer of 2010 with private and public support, the EC now encompasses more than 8,000 square feet of physical space and a staff of successful industry leaders. The EC is the “front door” for new entrepreneurs, helping them navigate the available options and resources.

The new joint initiative is multi-faceted. It includes events held by the EC for the Music Council where entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to obtain valuable executive-level interaction and feedback on business plan presentations. The EC will also sponsor a formal mentoring program for the Music Council that will pair an industry leader with a start-up(s) venture. Four experienced and successful mentors have been elected to kick off the official mentor program:
>>Co-founder and Managing Partner of Rockhouse Partners Tawn Albright
>>ASCAP President Tim DuBois
>>Former Chairman of Sony Music Nashville Joe Galante
>>Entrepreneur in Residence of Claritas Capital Mark Montgomery

Have a start-up idea?
Requests for meeting and applications can be obtained via the EC website, www.entrepreneurcenter.com, or through email at connect@entrepreneurcenter.com.

“The music and entertainment industry is an entrepreneurial business,” said Mary Ann McCready, partner at Flood, Bumstead, McCready & McCarthy Inc. and co-chair of the Nashville Music Council. “It makes complete sense for the Music Council to support its local entrepreneurs, and the EC is a great vehicle for doing this.”