Songkick And CrowdSurge Combine To Create World's Largest Artist-To-Fan Ticketing Platform

NEW YORK, June 4, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Songkick, the largest concert discovery service in the world, is joining forces with CrowdSurge, the largest artist-ticketing service in the world. The combined company will do business under the Songkick brand, bringing together leading services partnered with 500 of the world's biggest artists, used by 10 million monthly fans and ticketing over 10,000 events worldwide each year.  The combination brings together Songkick and CrowdSurge's complementary technologies, empowering an expanding number of touring artists to directly sell concert tickets and live experiences where fans are already consuming music and content.  Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Songkick ensures that fans never miss their favorite artists live by allowing them to track the artists they listen to on Spotify, iTunes and beyond and delivering them personalized alerts when those artists announce nearby concerts.  Songkick has become the world's leading concert discovery service with deep integrations into the world's premiere music destinations, including Pitchfork, Rdio, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube. CrowdSurge is the world's largest artist-to-fan ticketing platform, empowering artists to sell tickets directly to their fans in unique and creative fashion, while benefitting from real-time consumer insights. Established touring artists at varying stages of their careers have found success partnering 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."

"In the last decade, live music has eclipsed recorded music as the biggest source of revenue in the music industry. Artists are now making more than 80% of their revenue from touring, and forging their most powerful connection with fans from the stage each night. Over the same period, artists have become among the most savvy brand managers online, with musicians dominating the list of most followed accounts on social media. CrowdSurge has long connected these dots, empowering artists to engage with and ticket directly to their fans in creative ways tha prefigure the magic of their live show," said Matt Jones, founder and CEO of CrowdSurge.  "We share a common vision with Songkick, one where every show is a sell-out. Joining forces with Songkick  will allow us to realize this future by better connecting artists and fans to improve the ticket-buying experience and make concert-going more convenient and accessible."

Award-winning, global sensation Ellie Goulding added about the two companies, "Ever since my first shows in clubs, I've used CrowdSurge to keep my fans, friends and followers informed about my gigs in creative ways. With today's news, I'm excited to add the 600,000 trackers I have on Songkick to this group!"

As part of this transaction, the combined company announced significant additional financing from investors Access Industries, Index Ventures and Sequoia Capital.

Len Blavatnik, Chairman and founder of Access Industries, said, "With its experienced management team, extensive artist network and fan base, the new Songkick is well positioned as a global powerhouse in the concert industry."

About Songkick

Songkick is the largest concert discovery service in the world with over 10 million monthly unique fans. Songkick makes it easy for fans to track their favorite artists so they never miss them live through personalized alerts for upcoming shows in their town and easy ticket purchase. With its Tourbox publishing tool, Songkick helps artists power their tour dates across the Internet through an unrivalled partner network that includes Bandcamp, The BBC, Hype Machine, MTV, Rdio, Pandora, Pitchfork, SoundCloud, Spotify, and YouTube. Experience Songkick at http://www.songkick.com, on the iPhone and Android.

About CrowdSurge

CrowdSurge brings artists closer to their fans through innovative ticketing technology and marketing solutions. Founded in London in 2008, the company is now the largest artist-to-fan ticketing company in the world, with offices in London, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York and Sao Paulo. CrowdSurge clients include many of the world's biggest and most exciting touring artists, including Kenny Chesney, J Cole, Haim, Enrique Iglesias, Imagine Dragons, Miranda Lambert, John Legend, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Paul McCartney, Blake Shelton, Tiesto, Jack White and The xx.

About Access Industries

Founded in 1986 by Len Blavatnik, an American entrepreneur and philanthropist, Access Industries is a privately held industrial group with strategic investments in the United States, Europe and South America. With corporate offices in New York, London and Moscow, their holdings include a number of market-leading companies in the Natural Resources and Chemicals, Media and Telecommunications and Real Estate sectors.  The company's holdings in the media space range from wireless communications and production services to broadcast media and entertainment licensing ventures and include Warner Music Group, Deezer, Perform, Acision, and R.G.E. Group Ltd, among others.  For more information, visit www.accessindustries.com.     

About Sequoia

The Sequoia team helps a small number of daring founders build legendary companies. We spur them to push the boundaries of what's possible. In partnering with Sequoia, companies benefit from our unmatched community and the lessons we've learned over 40 years working with Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, John Morgridge, Jerry Yang, Elon Musk, Larry Page, Jan Koum, Brian Chesky, Drew Houston, Adi Tatarko and Jack Dorsey, among many others. In aggregate, Sequoia-backed companies account for more than 20% of NASDAQ's total value. We're proud that their success also fuels great causes: since 2000 alone we have returned more than $10 billion to non-profits like the Ford Foundation, Mayo Clinic and MIT.

About Index Ventures

Index Ventures is a multi-stage venture capital firm founded to support the best and most ambitious entrepreneurs, wherever they are. With a global network and headquarters in London and San Francisco, we've teamed up with founders in 39 cities, across 24 countries, who are building the world's next great companies. They include Dropbox, Etsy, Sonos, SoundCloud, Flipboard, King, BlaBlaCar, Squarespace, Lookout, Hortonworks, Pure Storage, Supercell, Funding Circle and many others.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/songkick-and-crowdsurge-combine-to-create-worlds-largest-artist-to-fan-ticketing-platform-300094119.html

SOURCE Songkick

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