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Silicon Valley’s annual coming-out season for tech start-ups is about to turn into a stampede.

The race to find the Valley’s hottest new idea has become a new trend among investors. This new race was triggered by the high prices paid for recent internet start-ups such as YouTube — as well as the increasing fierce competition among newcomers to get noticed.

The large number of companies formed around hot trends such as web search, social networking and online video has added spice to the importance of the autumn events, according to entrepreneurs and venture capitalists.

“At this stage of the frothiness, it’s extremely difficult to get attention,” says Munjal Shah, founder of Like.com, an image search engine.

“The capital cost of starting a business today is very low,” says Chris Shipley, producer of Demo, one of the first tech events. “We’re seeing a lot of ideas make it from the spare bedroom to a showcase or the marketplace very quickly.”

Other events that hope to unveil hot companies and products in the coming weeks include the Web 2.0 conference.

The scramble for attention is another symptom of Silicon Valley’s latest start-up boom. The amount of venture capital being invested in the US is at its highest level since 2001 and it has led to a rash of “me-too” companies.

The flood of copycat companies is a sign of the over-heated phase of the investment cycle, according to observers.

Bottom Line: Music labels need to create this positive vibe. They need to have this mentality even though the NEXT BIG THING may not exist yet. Music labels need to arm themselves with a team of hungry warriors searching for those artists’ who are a cut above the rest. Hire producers and songwriters to develop the artist. Work with artists who want to be guided and yearn for success. Music labels cannot abandon their CORE and act like a silicone valley start-up — it will fail miserably. Hire a strong department that focuses on technology and new business opportunities and a music department specializing in building great content. This department would replace the traditional kiddie ‘pretend to know music’ A&R department and would consist of a real think tank including up and coming producers, songwriters, and real music critics with a developed ear with a keen sense of marketing — This would increase the batting average. A music label cannot just sit and wait for an artist to break themselves — you will wait yourself out of business….