Songkick, the artist ticketing and concert discovery platform, has announced a $15m (£11.4m/€10.1m) additional round of investment by Access Industries, the fund run by billionaire investor Len Blavatnik.
The company, which is now active in 60 countries and has more than 12 million monthly users, said it plans to use the money to “enhance the connection between artists and fans,” with a focus on increasing ticket sales and preventing scalping.
Songkick’s app and web platform scans a user’s music collection from their music or via a streaming service like Spotify and finds the upcoming gigs from those acts local to the user. Its artist partners include Adele, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Paul McCartney.
The company, which was founded in London in 2007, employs propriety software to identify touts and cancel their transactions.
“We’ve always been focused on aligning with artists and connecting them directly with their fans,” said chief executive Matt Jones. “The biggest myth in live music is that ticket scalping is somehow impossible to prevent, but with the right focus and the right tools, these issues can be solved, and Songkick is at the leading edge of solving them.
“Through our technology we’re reducing scalping, giving real fans a better chance of getting tickets to the shows they’ve waited so long to attend, and generating more revenue for artists along the way.”
Songkick has also confirmed the expansion of its Los Angeles office, and bolstered its leadership ranks with the hiring of new vice-president of product, Lydia Goldberg and new vice-president of design, Lee Martin.
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