Music League and Roxxem Win Music Tectonics' 2025 Swimming With Narwhals Startup Competition

Music Tectonics is here to shout about the winners of its annual Swimming with Narwhals competition for innovative startups in music tech. These winners show how music is everywhere, shifting the status quo of media, tech, and entertainment.

This year, two winners emerged from the competition. Roxxem, an app that uses music to promote new language learning, went home with the Jury award, while social music game platform Music League won the People's Choice award, the favorite of the community. Both companies use music in unexpected ways to bolster connections and enrich people's lives. Both have already gained remarkable traction, with more than a million registered users each.

Winners were selected after a rigorous process, in which investors evaluated one of the largest, most sophisticated cohort of applicants ever, eventually winnowing it down to four finalists. Then, at Music Tectonics' Santa Monica conference, the finalists pitched a jury of industry investors and experts including Andrew Kahn of the Yamaha Music Innovation Fund, Mike Walsh of Structure Capital, and artist Blanco Brown.

The final competition was sponsored by Troy Gould, a law firm known for providing sophisticated corporate, transactional, and litigation counsel to clients in the music and broader entertainment industries. Winners were announced on stage at Yamaha Music Innovations Fund's Startup Day at Music Tectonics, where participants also got the chance to hear a variety of perspectives on operating in the face of AI, including presentations from creator companies, VC firms, and founders.

“This year's winners really demonstrate how the most innovative ideas in music right now acknowledge how music can enhance everyday activities, from learning to speak a language to having fun with friends or colleagues,” explains Music Tectonics founder and director Dmitri Vietze. “Though we had some great finalists this year who are building products for the music industry itself, Music League and Roxxem bring music to more places and moments and show how the industry can grow.” 

Winning means more than recognition; it means exposure to key decisionmakers. “Music Tectonics is truly the place to be for founders, investors, and creators working at the intersection of music and media,” exclaims Shawn Lee, co-founder of Roxxem. “The conference helped us connect with dozens of investor contacts who we are excited to continue building relationships with, and it gave us valuable insight into AI and music licensing that will shape our future product and business model. We left feeling energized, supported, and even more confident about the path ahead for Roxxem.”

“It's awesome to have a couple hundred music industry vets in the room validating our approach,” says Eric West, founder and CEO of Music League. “I'm actively raising now and reaching out to the dozens of people I met at the competition who might be part of that, as well as scores of others. It was nice to have so many investors in the same place at the same time “

Other Narwhal finalists included Plates, a better way to manage marketing releases for labels, and Sesh, a fan community management platform for artists and their teams. Past winners have included several apps and platforms that have gone on to thrive, such as Audioshake, an AI music company that has opened up the industry to the wonders of stem separation. 

This year's Narwhals show that there is no one way to innovate in music tech. “We never know where innovation is going to come from in our competition each year,” notes Shayli Ankenbruck, head of events at Rock Paper Scissors, the music innovation marketing and PR firm that organizes Music Tectonics. “By planting a flag for music innovation without dictating what aspect of the business startups should focus on, we uncover incredible founders who are transforming music and society. I can't wait to see where these two winners take things next. And I can't wait to see what innovators jump into the pool next year!”

Meet 2025's Narwhals

Music League (musicleague.com) is a group-based music game played through a web or mobile app, where friends compete by sharing and voting on songs around themed challenges. Inspired by fantasy sports, the game invites friends to submit songs based on themed prompts—like “Best Road Trip Songs” or “Guilty Pleasures”—vote anonymously on the picks, and climb the leaderboard for ultimate bragging rights.

Roxxem (roxxem.com) brings language learning to life for teachers and learners via licensed music. Designed to help English, Spanish, French, German, and Chinese learners get to the next level in comprehension, Roxxem provides rich, authentic context and learning opportunities that go beyond basic language-learning apps.