Best Startup
DICE, the global music discovery service looks back on the impact music has made on our experience with a pandemic.
Today, the UK’s main royalties collector, PRS announced that it saw its revenues fall by a fifth in the last year as tours and gigs were shut down globally. Representing 155,000 composers, song writers, and music publishers, this decline in revenue illustrates the financial difficulties faced by many artists from not being able to tour or perform in any traditional capacity. However, while public performance income dropped by 61.2%, digital platforms and the artists they support saw great success. Spotify saw revenue increase by 5% and DICE has hosted over 5,000 live streams since this time last year, now with fans in 177 countries globally.
DICE, the global music discovery and ticketing platform, has been at the forefront of the industry in their seamless adaptation to the pandemic, offering high quality virtual events and live streams, supporting artists while they cannot tour, and allowing fans to connect and build on their emotionally charged relationships with their favourite artists during Covid-19.
Case Studies
DAME – @dame_uk
Talking about their experience as a smaller band during lockdown, DAME commented on both the concerns this brought with it regarding growing a fanbase, as well as the opportunities live streaming and word of mouth have provided to build new relationships, nurture existing ones, and maintain an income.
“Being able to do live streams during lockdown has meant that we were able to create a personal connection with our fans that we weren’t necessarily able to do at live gigs. As a small band, initially we were worried that lockdown would affect our ability to grow a fanbase and maintain any form of revenue, but live streaming has been an invaluable tool to create connections with fans, and we were able to make more revenue digitally through live streams than we ever could have pre-pandemic”.
Miranda B, Clapham
Talking about their relationship with music throughout lockdown, Miranda commented on how a breakup in lockdown felt particularly isolating, and thus the emotional charge behind her relationship with her favourite artists to listen to throughout this time period increased exponentially.
“Kiana Ledé’s album will remind me of that breakup and how I felt throughout that period of my lockdown forever. Connecting with Kiana and other fans through social media lives was great, but a live streamed event would have really helped me to feel connected in that time period. However, my flatmates pulled me out of my emotional funk with music too, we attended live streams by drag queens in Portugal teaching us how to make sangria between performances using music from ABBA, Doja Cat and more – It was a great experience and those songs are also going to be our lockdown anthems forever now too! We never would have discovered these performers and other artists if we hadn’t relied on digital platforms through lockdown”.
About Personalised Live Streams
DICE live streams connect fans to personalised live streams, ranging from streamed gigs, festivals and DJ sets, in addition to an array of online arts, culture and lifestyle events. Utilising DICE’s popular Discovery algorithm that learns what each fan loves, DICE live streams will recommend upcoming shows specially for them.
Fans can buy tickets in seconds to shows they love. They can also invite and share with friends, to support their favourite artists, venues, and shows.
Artists, venues, promoters and creators can use DICE live streams to connect directly with fans, reach huge new audiences through Discovery, ticket their shows and grow their fanbase globally. When live events come back, they’ll be able to bring those who watched remotely together in real life.
ABOUT DICE:
Founded in London in 2014, DICE has transformed how fans discover and buy tickets to live events and live streams all over the world. From A$AP Rocky to BICEP, Nick Cave to Primavera Sound Festival, from the up-and-coming to the world’s biggest acts, we work with major artists, leading promoters, and renowned venues worldwide. In addition to a respected music offering, DICE offers fans an array of arts, culture, and life style events. The app is highly personalized for each fan with a ‘Discover’ feature that recommends upcoming gigs and events just for them. Mobile-first, the app stops scalpers and protects fans. DICE is live in the U.K., U.S., France, Italy, Spain, India, and Australia – and accessible to fans globally through its live stream offering.
