Songkick

Songkick
Private
Industry Live Music
Founded 2007
Founder
  • Pete Smith
  • Michelle You
Headquarters London, United Kingdom
Area served
 Global
Key people
Brands Songkick, Detour, Tourbox
Number of employees
 26[2]
Website songkick.com

Songkick is a website and mobile service that provides personalised news about live music events.[3] It allows users to track their favourite bands and receive email alerts when a tracked band plays a gig nearby. Songkick is one of the original high tech startups in London's Silicon Roundabout area.[4][5]

Services

Songkick allows users to track bands and receive alerts when those bands play concerts near the user's favourite locations. The site lists more than 100,000 upcoming concerts[3] and its database contains more than 1 million artists.[6] It also provides more than 2 million[3] "gigographies" which are listings of historical concerts with user contributed data including reviews, set lists, videos and photographs.[7]

Songkick provides mobile applications for iOS and Android devices,[6] and a Facebook application that allows artists to list upcoming concerts on their Facebook page.[8]

Songkick has more than 10 million monthly unique users and between 2007 and 2014 has generated more than $100m in ticket sales revenue.[2][9] More than 5 million of its users are located in the United States.[2]

API and partnerships

Songkick provide an API which allows access to their data and integration with other services.[10] Services that integrate with Songkick's API include Spotify,[6] Foursquare,[11] Deezer,[6] FanBridge,[12] SoundCloud,[13] Warner Music Group.,[14] Yahoo! Search, YouTube[6] and Vevo.[15]

History

Songkick was founded in 2007 by Ian Hogarth, Michelle You and Pete Smith[3] and is based in the Shoreditch area of London. It was initially funded by the Y Combinator[16] seed fund, receiving $15,000[17] and has since received investment from Index Ventures.[3] By 2008 it had 7 employees[16] and by 2011 had grown to employ 23.[18] In 2012 the company became the first UK investment by Sequoia Capital when it received a £5.9m Series B investment.[19]

In August 2010, Songkick announced content partnerships with both YouTube and Vevo.[20][21]

In January 2011, the company hired Dan Crow from Google as their CTO.[18][22]

In June 2011, Songkick launched an iPhone application.<ref name=="MW">Eamonn Forde (June 8, 2011). "Songkick launches concert discovery app". MusicWeek.</ref> In 2013, Songkick launched Detour, a crowdfunding platform for concerts.[23]

In May 2014, Songkick announced it had more than 10M monthly users, and had generated $100M in ticket sales through referrals.[24]

Detour

Songkick's Detour platform launched as a closed beta in November 2012, with a public launch in May 2013. Detour allows fans to work together to fund a gig in their location. Users pledge to buy tickets for proposed concerts and if enough pledges for a particular band are made, Songkick works with promoters to put the concert on.[25] Development was led by Dan Rogers.[1]

Tourbox

In 2012, Songkick launched a service for musicians called Tourbox. This tool allows musicians and managers to control how their concerts are promoted to Songkick's users and across their distribution network.[11] It automates the process of publicizing tour dates on any of Songkick's partner sites.[26]

Ticket sales

Songkick's business model had been to refer fans to ticket vendors to purchase tickets for upcoming shows. In 2013, Songkick began a trial selling tickets directly to users.[2] Tickets were initially sold direct to UK users and could be bought through Songkick's website and the iOS app.[27]

Awards

In 2009, Songkick was listed as one of the Telegraph's best cultural websites.[28]

In 2010 Hogarth, Songkick's CEO, won the British Council’s UK Young Music Entrepreneur of the Year award.[17] In October 2010, Songkick won the Best Innovation Award at the 2010 BT Digital Music Awards.[29]

In April 2011, Songkick was recognised as one of the Telegraph's top 100 startups in Europe.[30]

Songkick was one of TIME's 50 Best Android Applications for 2013.[31]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Tina Hart (November 8, 2012). "New speakers added to MusicTank ticketing summit". Music Week. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Tim Bradshaw (May 27, 2014). "Songkick makes a noise with 10m subscribers". Financial Times. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Ben Sisaro (May 1, 2011). "A Go-to Site for Tracking Music Acts". The New York Times.
  4. ↑ Libby Norman (April 5, 2011). "Creative hot spots". GQ Magazine. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
  5. ↑ "London's Silicon Roundabout". Wired Magazine. January 29, 2010. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Samuel Gibbs (May 27, 2014). "Songkick hits 10 million users and generates $100m in ticket revenue". The Guardian. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  7. ↑ Helienne Lindvall (February 26, 2010). "Songkick is the big ticket in gig listings". The Guardian (London). Retrieved May 2, 2011.
  8. ↑ Glenn Peoples (March 15, 2011). "Songkick's Facebook App, New Partnerships Make Concert Listings Easier". Billboard. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
  9. ↑ "10 Million Monthly Songkickers Can’t Be Wrong". May 27, 2014.
  10. ↑ Michael Arrington (Mar 18, 2008). "Forget the Movie, Go To A Concert". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Bobbie Johnson (May 30, 2012). "Songkick’s Tourbox is a one-stop shop for live bands". GigaOm. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  12. ↑ "More Than 100 Million Fans Directly Engaging With Musicians Through FanBridge Platform". Music Industry News Network. March 11, 2011. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
  13. ↑ Eamonn Forde (March 11, 2011). "SoundCloud expands partnership deals". Music Week Magazine. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
  14. ↑ "Warner Music Group Artist Sites to Feature Concert Data Provided by Songkick". CNBC. May 2, 2011. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
  15. ↑ Jemima Kiss (October 7, 2010). "Songkick's gig listings get a boost on Yahoo's new search". The Guardian (London). Retrieved May 2, 2011.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Jemima Kiss (April 2, 2008). "Elevator Pitch: Songkick wants to be the home of live music online". The Guardian (London). Retrieved May 2, 2011.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Rishi Chowdhury (June 21, 2010). "Songkick’s Ian Hogarth". Your Hidden Potential. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Jemima Kiss (May 2, 2011). "Songkick shows how a UK startup can have global ambition for live music". The Guardian (London). Retrieved May 2, 2011.
  19. ↑ "Songkick raises £6.3m in funding round led by Sequoia Capital". The Guardian. March 8, 2012. Retrieved September 19, 2013.
  20. ↑ Glenn Peoples (August 10, 2010). "Songkick Lands Partnerships With YouTube, Vevo". Billboard Magazine.
  21. ↑ Eamonn Forde (August 11, 2010). "Songkick partners with YouTube for gig discovery". Music Week Magazine.
  22. ↑ Mike Butcher (March 18, 2011). "Songkick poaches big hitter CTO out of Google". TechCrunch Europe.
  23. ↑ Will Smale (June 17, 2013). "Organise a concert by your favourite band". BBC. Retrieved September 19, 2013.
  24. ↑ Michael Leibel (May 27, 2014). "SongKick hits 10M monthly users, $100M in revenue". VentureBeat. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  25. ↑ Dave Lee (May 16, 2013). "Songkick Detour 'Kickstarter for gigs' is launched in London". BBC. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  26. ↑ Kim-Mai Cutler (May 30, 2012). "Songkick’s Tourbox Makes It Easier For Musicians To Trumpet Their Concerts Across The Web". Techcrunch. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  27. ↑ Paul Sawers (November 21, 2013). "Songkick for iPhone now scans your Spotify playlists and lets you buy tickets in-app". TNW. Retrieved May 31, 2014.
  28. ↑ "Best websites: Culture". The Telegraph (London). November 12, 2009. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
  29. ↑ "Songkick.com Wins Best Innovation Award at the 2010 BT Digital Music Awards". PRWeb. October 6, 2010. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  30. ↑ Milo Yiannopoulos, and David Rosenberg (April 5, 2011). "Start-Up 100: A-Z". The Telegraph (London). Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  31. ↑ Jared Newman (July 1, 2013). "50 Best Android Apps for 2013". Techland. Retrieved July 1, 2013.

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