Songkick and CrowdSurge merge, raise $16M

PRESS RELEASE:

Songkick, the largest concert discovery service in the world, isjoining forceswith 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 Whiteand The xx.

"We are thrilled to combine forces with CrowdSurge and bring together our innovative technologies and expertise," saidIan 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 that prefigure the magic of their live show," saidMatt 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 sensationEllie Gouldingadded 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."