Just how many new technologies can come out of 24 hours of music hacking? At Music Hack Day Boston, the largest music hackathon in the world, sixty game-changing music hacks were conceived and actualized. That’s 60 new innovations that may be the next big thing to change the face of music!
Hosted by the Echo Nest at the NERD Center this past weekend, Music Hack Day Boston attracted over 200 hackers, some who brought their own hack ideas and others who provided the skills that would bring those ideas to life. Most hackers joined creative forces, as the event was focused on collaboration and innovation rather than competition and prizes. But don’t worry – while prizes weren’t the end goal of the hackathon, there were plenty given out to deserving teams!
Hackers arrived on Saturday morning eager to share ideas and get to work. Following opening remarks by Paul Lamere, Director of Developer Platform at Echo Nest, sponsoring organizations gave short presentations on the their technologies and what was available for the hackers to use in their projects. Next came Project Pitches where brave hackers shared ideas and then Tech Deep Dives where sponsors gave in depth details of their technology’s capabilities. Many attendees chose to ditch the Tech Deep Dives in favor of getting a head start on the actual hacking! And hack they did, many working through the night and right up until the 2.5 hour demo session the next day.
The demo session is where everything came together. The creativity, passion, and talent combined to produce some awesome new music hacks. Check out this year’s hacks as well as more pictures here and here. Let us know what your favorite hack was!