Songkick, CrowdSurge Merge, Raising $16 Million For Direct To Fan Ticketing

Helping fans discover and buy tickets to concerts is a problem Songkick, BandsInTown, BandPage and others are each battling to solve; and looking over their shoulders is the Ticketmaster/Live Nation giant. Each has taken a different approach; and today Songkick shifted gears, merging with CrowdSurge. 

_______________________ 

Concert discovery platform Songkick has merged with artist to fan ticketing platform Crowdsurge to create what they are calling "the largest artist-ticketing service in the world." As part of this transaction, the combined company have raised a reported $16 Million in Series C financing from investors WMG owner Access Industries, Index Ventures and Sequoia Capital.

The combined company will do business under the Songkick brand, bringing together services partnered with 500 top artists and used by 10 million monthly fans by tickets to over 10,000 events worldwide a year.  

The new funding will be used to expand the platform allowing more touring artists to sell tickets and live experiences direct to fans.  Along with capturing valuable analytics, D2F sales allow artists to keep a larger slice of ticket revenue and/or save fan ticketing fees.

Established touring artists have already found success with CrowdSurge, including J Cole, Ellie Goulding, Imagine Dragons,Paul McCartney, Tiesto, Blake Shelton, St. Vincent, Jack White and The xx.

We are thrilled to combine forces with CrowdSurge and bring together our innovative technologies and expertise," said Ian Hogarth, co-founder and CEO of Songkick. "One of the biggest challenges facing the concert industry is that on average between 40% and 50% of concert tickets go unsold, simply because fans don't know a show is happening.  Songkick and CrowdSurge have both been tackling this problem independently, and together, we'll make it easier for more fans to go to more shows, while helping to ensure sell-out audiences for artists."