On the second day of Amsterdam Dance Event 2019, ADE Tech hosted the Companies 2 Watch (C2W) competition inside of the exquisite DeLaMar Theatre in Amsterdam. Acting as ADE Tech’s version of Shark Tank, C2W crowns the most innovative idea or product with the potential to revolutionize the music industry. Audionamix was exhilarated to be selected as one of the top five finalists to pitch in front of the expert panel of judges. We were hopeful that our advancements in audio source separation through the use of AI and machine learning would win over the panel. Among the judges were Dr Werner Vogels, the CTO of Amazon, Suzy Ryoo, the Co-Founder and President of Q&A, and Diego Farius, the Founder and CEO of last year’s C2W winning company, Amuse. The judges were able to interact, ask insightful questions and ultimately vote for a winner based on which company they would like to follow for the next year. In the event of a tie, the audience vote would determine the winner.

Our host, Jan Maarten Hartong from School of House, kicked off the event with ADE’s shortest rave, 3-minutes of adrenaline-pumping music accompanied by great choreography and dancers on stage. We were officially ready to go!

First to present was Jambl, the mobile app that allows users to easily and intuitively create music. Using an XY parameter control, Jambl manipulates pitch and time of looping sounds from various sample kits on a mobile device. Along with a fun and easy to use interface, Jambl also allows users to interact by sharing their beats in a community of Jambl users. Jambl CEO, Gad Baruch Hingis, performed a charismatic and cleverly written rap that explained the basics of the Jambl app. His pitch was engaging and fun, just like the Jambl app!

Next up was Fangage, the fanbase oriented platform which gets rid of third parties and allows artists to have ownership over and direct interaction with their fans. International DJ and artist, Sam Feldt, spoke about his own experience attempting to connect with local fans via Facebook and Instagram and the limitations of those platforms to accurately target and connect with specific audiences as an artist with millions of followers. This conundrum led him to develop Fangage, an easy-to-use platform that offers direct fan engagement, a win for both artists and fans!

Ellie McNeil, Clément Doire, and Doc Vaporz were ready to present Audionamix! Ellie began our presentation by introducing audio source separation and how such an ambitious task can be achieved. To many, the process of unmixing a song into its respective parts from a single audio file was completely unheard of. Next, Clément dove into the science behind our technology and explained how the algorithms are trained via neural networks and machine learning. This gave a sense of how complex the task of reverse engineering audio can be, especially when using networks trained for AI. Then, we gave a preview of our upcoming release of XTRAX STEMS, including the new feature to isolate the bass stem from a song. Ending our presentation was Doc Vaporz with his live remix using samples created via XTRAX STEMS. With the remaining time, we opened up for the Q & A portion. Dr Werner Vogels quizzed Clément on how he trains our databases and on scenarios in which the AI fails. Diego Farius asked Ellie about plans to expand our offering to include an online marketplace.

SendMusic then presented their file-sharing service that streamlines online collaborations and submissions using a simple link to manage files sent for production, A&R, radio play and more.

Lastly, Marble AR provided a look at their AR app which allows users to place AR “Marbles” anywhere in the world and connect them to any content they choose, whether it be merch for a concert, a favorite song for a favorite location, or a historical fact or memory of a specific location. The judges coined Marble AR as Pokemon Go for anything.

Ultimately, the winner would be decided by the three judges’ votes. Our moderator, Jan Maarten Hartong, first tallied the results of the audience vote where Audionamix tied with Fangage!

The moment of truth was upon us, as the judges revealed their votes. Dr Werner Vogels cast his vote for Audionamix, citing that he voted for the company he felt was most important to where the industry is heading. Suzy Ryoo was up next, casting her vote for Jambl! It all came down to Diego Farius of Amuse, who revealed he also voted for Audionamix! Our team was overwhelmed by the astounding outcome that we had been chosen as the Companies 2 Watch Winner! Thank you to Amsterdam Dance Event, Paylogic, our host, the esteemed panel of judges, and to all of our fellow finalists that shared the stage. Over the next year, we will be followed, mentored and supported by Amsterdam Dance Event, along with joining the panel of judges for next year’s Companies 2 Watch!

See you next year at ADE!