Cell ticketing and livestreaming platform DICE has constructed a dwell occasions enterprise partly by taking a stance towards scalpers and bots.
Its platform assigns tickets to a selected purchaser’s smartphone, making it troublesome to resell tickets on the secondary ticket market.
That enterprise mannequin has allowed it to realize a foothold in a market dominated by giants like Ticketmaster and CTS Eventim. Final 12 months, DICE reported that greater than 55,000 artists and over 10,000 venues, festivals and promoters have been on observe to make use of its platform throughout 30 cities in 2023.
DICE introduced on Tuesday (Might 28) that’s launching a brand new market on its app this summer time that the corporate says has the potential to extend income from occasions by 30%.
To assist develop that facet of its enterprise, the UK-headquartered tech firm has employed Jack Driessen – previously of Whatnot, Saturdays NYC and Tommy Hilfiger – as its new VP of Commerce.
The primary product to roll out within the market might be DICE Extras, which is able to allow the sale of “enriched experiences and auxiliary items” linked to dwell occasions.
Launching within the UK and UK this July, DICE Extras might be built-in into the ticketing platform, to “simply create, handle, report on, and market their add-ons… on to their target market on DICE,” the corporate mentioned in a press release.
The function might be accessible initially to occasion promoters, with rollout to artists “coming quickly.”
Amongst Extras’ options might be:
- Experiences: Space passes, meet-and-greets, after-parties, VIP upgrades, and the power to skip the road on the occasion
- Lodging and Transport Choices: parking passes, coach or bus providers, and tenting space passes
- Meals and Drink: The power to buy meals and alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks
- Merch: Contains competition, venue or promoter merchandise
DICE says 44 companions helped Beta-test the function, and indie venues and promoter companions noticed income will increase of as much as 30% in consequence.
“By utilising Extras, a Los Angeles promoter noticed competition afterparty gross sales rise 2x year-on-year, a New York Metropolis promoter elevated pre-sold tickets by 25%, and a Miami companion added over $100,000 in incremental income to a sold-out two-day occasion,” DICE mentioned.
“The Extras suite will enable followers to effortlessly uncover and buy every little thing music-related in a single place from tickets to VIP upgrades and distinctive experiences.”
Jack Driessen, DICE
One of many taking part companions was UK-based occasions firm RnB Gradual Jams.
“We have been thrilled to see lots of of followers snapping up the queue leap tickets on prime of their common admission tickets,” RnB Gradual Jams Occasions Supervisor Matthew Bridgeman mentioned.
“The seamless integration has not solely enhanced our fan expertise but additionally boosted our income. We’re trying ahead to persevering with our partnership with DICE and leveraging extra of the app’s commerce options sooner or later.”
“The Extras suite will enable followers to effortlessly uncover and buy every little thing music-related in a single place from tickets to VIP upgrades and distinctive experiences,” Jack Driessen, DICE’s new VP of Commerce, mentioned in a press release.
“It additionally empowers our artist, venue and promoter companions to attach straight with audiences while streamlining their operations and boosting their backside line.”
Driessen got here to DICE from ladies’s vogue retailer Whatnot, the place he served as Common Supervisor, Attire. Previous to that, he served as VP of Ecommerce, Digital Advertising and marketing, Merchandising and Planning, after which as COO, at clothes and life-style model Saturdays NYC. Previous to that, he served as Director of Ecommerce Technique at Tommy Hilfiger.
“DICE has already nailed the ticket-buying expertise, and now we need to construct on that, making it even simpler for followers to get probably the most out of dwell occasions, all on one platform,” Driessen mentioned.
“It’s an thrilling second for DICE, and I’m trying ahead to rising our product capabilities to assist followers get out extra and get nearer to the artists they love.”
“We have been thrilled to see lots of of followers snapping up the queue leap tickets on prime of their common admission tickets. The seamless integration has not solely enhanced our fan expertise but additionally boosted our income.”
Matthew Bridgeman, RnB Gradual Jams
The most recent add-on to DICE’s ticketing product follows the launch of Merch on DICE in 2021, which enabled artists to have interaction in limited-run “product drops” forward of dwell occasions.
It additionally follows the 10-year-old firm’s growth into livestreaming in 2020, amid the pandemic.
In 2021, DICE raised $122 million in a Sequence C funding spherical led by SoftBank Imaginative and prescient Fund 2, with comply with on investments from iPod inventor and iPhone co-inventor Tony Fadell’s Future Form, together with Blisce, French entrepreneur Xavier Niel, Mirabaud, Cassius and Evolution. Fadell joined the DICE board at the moment.
In 2023, the corporate introduced it had raised $65 million in a funding spherical led by MUSIC, the funding firm co-founded by Matt Pincus and LionTree. Different buyers in that spherical included Structural Capital and Ahdritz Holding LLC, the funding car for Willard Ahdritz, founder and chairman of Kobalt Music.Music Enterprise Worldwide
