GiggedIn will expand to more Australian cities in 2019

Australian online live music subscription platform GiggedIn is set to expand to more capital cities next year and ramp up its presence.

Founder and chief executive Edwin Onggo is crowdfunding through VentureCrowd to top up its $1 million capital raise with the final 20%, and for its more passionate members to become part of the company’s growth.

“The idea of the top up is to do more marketing, mostly through social media,” he relates to TMN.

Although GiggedIn launched in 2016, it didn’t really start to market itself until this year.

As a result, revenue and users have been up 600% from this time last year.

In the last two years, it’s sent 22,000 members to 2,300 events in the two cities.

“We’re very pleased with the way it’s been tracking.”

GiggedIn has worked because it’s run by millennials for millennials, a demographic that any exasperated marketing person will say is very hard to reach.

The platform was set up in response to what Onggo himself faced as a live music loving millennial – missing out on too many shows because he hadn’t heard about them in time, and finding that nine out of ten gigs don’t sell out.

For a subscription, they currently have access to 150 shows every month in Sydney and Melbourne.

GiggedIn has a huge data on its members, and through human curating and algorithms, recommends shows to them.

Explains Onggo, “The idea was to always get people off their couches and go to music events.

“The feedback we’re getting is that a high proportion have gone to a gig that they would never have if not for GiggedIn.”

“Our members have described us as a Spotify Discover Weekly, or Netflix, for live events.”

Understanding the audience has also been key.

“Our vision was about the shared experience and to be part of a weekly routine.

“For millennials, the overall experience is being in the moment, being with friends and seeing a live show, and the whole lot right here! Right now, immediate gratification has been really important for us.

“We’ve made it cheaper to go, and simplified the whole process to the point you RSVP and you turn up at the event.”

Primarily through promoters and agents, GiggedIn has worked in NSW with venues as the Enmore Theatre, Metro Theatre, Hordern Pavilion and Oxford Arts Factory and festivals such as Mountain Sounds, Snowtunes and Yours & Owls.

In Melbourne, the venues have included Howler, 170 Russell, Prince Bandroom, Corner Hotel, Northcote Social Club and the Forum Theatre.

Last year it entered into partnerships with Mastercard and online fashion destination The Iconic, and is about to announce a deal with a youth music publisher.