FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Nick Carcaterra Susan Blond, Inc. 212.333.7728 ext.126
[email protected] THE VH1 SAVE THE MUSIC FOUNDATION SET TO PARTICIPATE IN THE NYC DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION & SPOTIFY’S MUSIC EDUCATION HACKATHON Event to Take Place June 28th & 29th at AlleyNYC in Manhattan New York, NY (June 26, 2013)—On Friday June 28th and Saturday June 29th, the New York City Department of Education and Spotify will host the first ever Music Education Hackathon, which will bring together NY-area engineers to build software tools that support music education in NYC public schools. As a part of the program, a representative from the VH1 Save The Music Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to restoring instrumental music education programs in US public middle and elementary schools, will serve as a mentor to a group of students, explaining the importance of music education. “We are very excited to take part in such an innovative initiative,” said Paul Cothran, Vice President & Executive Director of the VH1 Save The Music Foundation. “Spotify has been at the forefront of so many different programs throughout the past few years and as a long time partner of NYC public schools it is great two see these two organizations come together.” The VH1 Save The Music Foundation works tirelessly to achieve its goal of ensuring that no child be deprived of a complete education, which includes music. Music study helps to improve students’ scores in all core subjects and makes children more well rounded individuals. At the event, a representative from the Foundation will be serving as the authority for music education and its benefits, helping to guide students in creating software that will further or add to the tremendous benefits playing an instrument provides. The Foundation will be partnering with Innovate NYC Schools and Spotify for this exciting project. “Innovate NYC Schools, the Markets project of the NYCDOE iZone, is delighted to work with Spotify and our Office of Arts Education to continue to bring authentic educator voice to the process of solutions development for our schools”, said Steven Hodas, Executive Director of Innovate NYC Schools. “Spotify is partnering with the NYC Department of Education to unlock the creative power of technology to address crucial music educational challenges,” said Kerry Steib, Director of Social Responsibility, Spotify. “We want to make sure that everyone has
access to the music they love and we feel that the combination of music education and technology can foster new levels of passion and discovery.” The Music Education Hackathon will be the first such event to address challenges faced by New York City’s schools. Hacker teams will have access to New York City teachers as part of the ideation and creation process as they focus on building products that incorporate music and technology into the education space. The judging panel will be a combination of teachers, administrators, technologists, and well-known people in the music and technology industries. For more information on the VH1 Save The Music Foundation please visit www.vh1savethemusic.org and for more information on the Hackathon please visit http://musiceducationhack.splashthat.com/#. About VH1 Save The Music Foundation The VH1 Save The Music Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring instrumental music education programs in America’s public schools, and raising awareness about the importance of music as part of each child’s complete education. To date, VH1 Save The Music has provided more than $49.5 million in new musical instruments to 1,850 public schools in more than 192 school districts around the country, impacting the lives of over 2.1 million children. For more information visit www.vh1savethemusic.org. About Spotify Spotify is an award-winning digital music service that gives you on-demand access to over 20 million tracks. Our dream is to make all the world’s music available instantly to everyone, wherever and whenever they want it. Spotify makes it easier than ever to discover, manage and share music with your friends, while making sure that artists get a fair deal. Spotify is available in 28 markets: USA, UK, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Luxembourg, Italy, Portugal, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Iceland and Mexico, with more than 24 million active users, and over 6 million paying subscribers. Since its launch in Sweden in 2008, Spotify has driven more than half a billion US dollars to rights holders, and aims to drive another half a billion US dollars to rights holders during 2013. Spotify is already the second biggest source of digital music
revenue for labels in Europe (IFPI, 2011) and the biggest and most successful music streaming service of its kind globally. About Innovate NYC Schools Innovate NYC Schools is the Markets project of the New York City Department of Education’s iZone. Innovate NYC Schools connects developers and educators to accelerate the identification, prototyping and evaluation of promising edTech solutions in iZone schools. Innovate NYC Schools recently concluded the first ever district sponsored software challenge -- the Gap App challenge, in which companies were challenged to submit solutions aimed at closing the middle school math achievement gap.
