Songkick
{{Short description|Concert discovery service by Warner Music Group}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Songkick
| logo = Songkick logotype.svg
| logo_size = 200px
| caption =
| founders = {{unbulleted list|Matt Jones}} {{unbulleted list|Ian Hogarth}}
| homepage = [http://www.songkick.com/ songkick.com]
| industry = Live music
| predecessor =
| num_employees = 30
| parent = Warner Music Group
| type = Private
| foundation = 2007
| brands = Songkick, [http://tourbox.songkick.com/ Tourbox]
| location_city = London
| location_country = United Kingdom
| area_served = Global
}}
Songkick is a concert discovery service owned by Warner Music Group. The service allows users to search for upcoming concert events in their area, and also track individual artists to receive notifications of upcoming shows in their area. It also provides services for artist teams to manage and promote tour dates globally.
The company was first established in 2007 as a Y Combinator-backed startup. In 2015, it merged with CrowdSurge—a company that provided services for running and managing ticket sales on behalf of artists. In 2017, the Songkick concert discovery service and brand was sold to WMG, while the ticketing assets were sold to Live Nation Entertainment in 2018 to settle a lawsuit with the company.
In 2012, Songkick launched Tourbox, a tool for artists or artist teams to manage and distribute their live event dates worldwide, across multiple digital platforms.
History
Songkick was founded in 2007 by Ian Hogarth, Michelle You and Pete Smith{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/business/media/02songkick.html |title=A Go-to Site for Tracking Music Acts |author=Ben Sisario |work=The New York Times |date=1 May 2011}} as part of the 2007 Y Combinator program, a seed accelerator that focuses on technology start-ups. Songkick's initial business model, based on its concert discovery service, was based on referral fees from ticketing companies.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-22552747 |title=Songkick Detour 'Kickstarter for gigs' is launched in London |author=Dave Lee |date=16 May 2013}} The company launched its first mobile application in 2011. In June 2015, Songkick merged with CrowdSurge, an artist ticketing services provider, with the combined company operating under the Songkick name.{{cite news |url=https://techcrunch.com/2015/06/04/concerts-are-twice-as-big-as-recorded-music/ |title=Songkick And CrowdSurge Merge, Raise $16M To Combine Concert Discovery And Ticketing |author=Josh Constine |date=4 June 2015}}
CrowdSurge was founded by Matt Jones in 2008,{{cite news |url=http://www.inc.com/christine-lagorio/crowdsurge-office-photos.html |title=A Music Startup's New Brooklyn Home |author=Christine Lagorio-Chafkin |date=25 June 2014}} and he and Hogarth said they decided to merge the two companies to correct “a massive inefficiency in the market.”{{cite news |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/3053276/how-songkick-20-is-merging-the-needs-of-fans-and-artists |title=How Songkick 2.0 Is Merging The Needs Of Fans And Artists |author=Elizabeth Segran |date=17 November 2015}} Songkick had systems to detect ticket resellers, reduce the incentive for reselling (e.g., by creating general admissions areas, rather than assigned seats) and make it easier for regular fans to buy tickets (e.g., by having multiple releases of tickets, not just one release) that have reduced the percentage of concert tickets that end up in the secondary market to 1.5 percent of the total.{{cite web|url=https://www.vulture.com/2017/05/everyone-wants-concert-tickets-but-no-one-is-getting-them.html|title=The Concert Ticket Industry Is Still Broken|last=Horowitz|first=Steven|date=2 May 2017|website=www.vulture.com|publisher=Vulture|access-date=3 August 2019}} Jones and Hogarth served as co-CEOs of Songkick until Jones took on the role of CEO in January 2016.{{cite news|author=Biz Carson|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/how-having-two-ceos-taught-one-startup-a-valuable-lesson-2015-12|title=How having two CEOs taught one startup a valuable lesson|date=28 December 2015}}{{cite news|author=IQ|url=https://www.iq-mag.net/2016/01/songkick-loses-a-ceo-gains-a-chairman/#.WOT-hVMrIch|title=Songkick Loses a CEO, Gains a Chairman|date=7 January 2016}}
In December 2016, Songkick filed an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment and its Ticketmaster division.{{Cite news|last=Sisario|first=Ben|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/23/business/media/songkick-sues-live-nation-saying-it-abuses-its-market-power.html|title=Songkick Sues Live Nation, Saying It Abuses Its Market Power|date=2015-12-22|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-04-25|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} The lawsuit was later amended to accuse it of stealing trade secrets, by means of former Songkick employees who had joined the company.{{Cite news|last=Sisario|first=Ben|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/14/business/media/songkick-warner-concerts.html|title=Songkick Sells Concert-Recommending Service to Warner|date=2017-07-14|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-04-25|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}
In July 2017, Warner Music Group acquired Songkick, including its concert discovery service and brand, but excluding its ticketing business and associated "pending litigation".{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/7865994/warner-music-acquires-songkick-concert-discovery-app|title=Warner Music Acquires Songkick, the Concert Discovery App|date=2017-07-14|magazine=Billboard|access-date=2020-04-25}} Songkick shuttered its ticketing business in October;{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2017/digital/news/songkick-ticketing-operations-to-shut-down-exclusive-1202588162/|title=Songkick Ticketing Operations to Shut Down (EXCLUSIVE)|last=Aswad|first=Jem|date=2017-10-12|website=Variety|language=en|access-date=2020-04-25}} Jones described Live Nation as having "effectively blocked our U.S. ticketing business".{{cite web|last1=Chapple|first1=Jon|title=Songkick to shutter ticketing division|url=https://www.iq-mag.net/2017/10/songkick-shutter-ticketing-business/#.WeDttxOPJjQ|website=IQ|date=13 October 2017|access-date=13 October 2017}} In January 2018, shortly prior to a pending trial, Live Nation settled the lawsuit for $110 million, and also acquired the remaining intellectual property not sold to WMG for an undisclosed amount.{{Cite news|last=Sisario|first=Ben|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/12/business/media/live-nation-songkick.html|title=Live Nation Settles Suit With Ticketing Start-Up, Buying Its Assets|date=2018-01-12|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-04-25|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.ticketnews.com/2018/01/dissecting-songkick-settlement-live-nation-wait/|title=Dissecting the Songkick Settlement: Why did Live Nation Wait?|date=2018-01-15|website=TicketNews|language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-25}}
In December 2020, Live Nation agreed to pay a $10 million fine for violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, after admitting that an employee from an unspecified competitor to Ticketmaster had used stolen credentials to obtain information on ticket presales, instructed them on how to exploit the competitor's URL generation system to view details on concerts that had not yet been announced, and was promoted by the company after presenting said information.{{Cite web|last=Goodin|first=Dan|date=2021-01-04|title=Ticketmaster admits it hacked rival company before it went out of business|url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/01/ticketmaster-pays-10-million-criminal-fine-for-hacking-a-rival-company/|access-date=2021-01-06|website=Ars Technica|language=en-us}}
API
Songkick launched their new API in 2009 at the inaugural Music Hack Day.{{Cite magazine |last=Smirke |first=Richard |date=2009-07-10 |title=London To Host 'Music Hack Day' |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/london-to-host-music-hack-day-1268168/ |access-date=2024-06-27 |magazine=Billboard |language=en-US}} In the past they encouraged developers to build things on top of it,{{Cite web |last=Songkick |date=2017-03-14 |title=Cool things built with our API |url=https://blog.songkick.com/cool-things-built-with-our-api-10a02a03ea0a |access-date=2024-06-26 |website=Medium |language=en}} however they are no longer approving API requests for educational or hobbyist purposes{{Cite web |title=Concerts and Festivals API {{!}} Songkick |url=https://www.songkick.com/developer/index |access-date=2024-06-26 |website=www.songkick.com |language=en}} and have a standard license fee starting from $500 per month.{{Cite web |title=Submit a request |url=https://support.songkick.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360000526113 |website=Songkick Support}}
Awards and recognition
- 2017: Webby Awards Honoree for Best Music Mobile Site/App{{cite news |url=https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2017/mobile-sites-apps/general-sites-apps/music?honoree |title=Webby Awards Honoree, Best Music Mobile Site/App}}
- 2017: Fast Company - Fifth Most Innovative Company in Music, 2017{{cite news |title=Fast Company Most Innovative Companies 2017 |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2017/sectors/music |access-date=2024-05-30 |work=Fast Company}}
- 2017: Music Week Awards - Nominated for Best Ticketing Company{{cite news |last=Gumble |first=Daniel |date=January 23, 2017 |title=Music Week Awards |url=http://www.musicweek.com/talent/read/2017-music-week-awards-and-the-nominees-are/067226 |access-date=2024-05-30 |work=MusicWeek}}
- 2014: Winner, Best Technology for Marketing an Event / Building Event Attendance{{cite news |title=Event Technology Awards |url=http://www.eventtechnologyawards.co.uk/winners-2014/ |access-date=2024-05-30 }}
- 2012: Webby Awards Honoree for Best Music Mobile Site/App{{cite news |title=Webby Awards Honoree, Best Music Mobile Site/App |url=http://webbyawards.com/winners/2012/mobile-apps/mobile-apps-categories-handheld-devices/music-handheld-devices/songkick/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170406020530/http://webbyawards.com/winners/2012/mobile-apps/mobile-apps-categories-handheld-devices/music-handheld-devices/songkick/ |archive-date=2017-04-06 |work=The Webby Awards}}
- 2011: Music Week Consumer-Facing Digital Music Service of the Year{{cite news |url=http://www.completemusicupdate.com/article/music-week-award-winners-2/ |title=Music Week Consumer-Facing Digital Music Service of the Year |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171013212855/http://www.completemusicupdate.com/article/music-week-award-winners-2/ |archive-date=2017-10-13 }}
- 2010: #3 on Billboard Magazine's 10 Best Digital Music Startups of 2010{{cite news |url=http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2010/08/billboard-names-10-best-digital-music-startups.html |title=Billboard 10 Best Digital Music Startups}}
- 2010: Best Innovation Award at the 2010 BT Digital Music Awards{{cite news |url=http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/10/prweb4611074.html |title=Best Innovation Award}}{{dead link|date=August 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- {{Official website}}
{{Warner Music Group}}
Category:American music websites
Category:Ticket sales companies
Category:Internet properties established in 2007
Category:Android (operating system) software
Category:Companies based in Brooklyn
Category:Y Combinator companies