NETGIGS gains ARIA store status, will bundle streaming tickets

Adelaide-based global livestream and e-commerce platform NETGIGS has achieved store status from the Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) – which has allowed it to significantly expand its business strategy.

Like iTunes, the platform can now sell digital singles/albums and supply that data to ARIA to count towards the weekly official charts.

“It also enables us to bundle digital music sales with pay-per-view content to help the artist sell more music and increase their ARIA chart position,” founder and managing director Joe Ward tells TMN.

“This service can be very valuable to artists who are trying to boost their album pre-sales in the critical weeks just before a release.”

Company chairman Philip Vafiadis calls the new feature a game-changer, adding “It’s part of a larger strategic plan. 

“We’re way ahead of other streaming platforms right now and it’s a great start, but there is more to come.”

With a pre-release show on NETGIGS being desirable, the platform is in the process of contacting Australian artists with a planned album release in the next six months.

Early to spot the potential of livestreaming, NETGIGS was working for the last three years setting up as a one-stop shop.

It now includes monetising video content including livestreamed or on demand archived footage, navigates the international songwriter royalties, implements DRM (Digital Rights Management), supports merch sales, ensure artists, managers and promoters get their cuts and supports localised content availability and pricing/taxing in each country around the globe.

NETGIGS is currently licensed to operate in 72 countries around the world including the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

“We also have a custom licensing option available for some shows which enables us to sell tickets in every country around the world apart from China and North Korea,” Ward elaborates.

“The next part of our expansion will be entry to markets in Asia and Latin America, we are currently working on Korea, Japan and Colombia.”

A registered UK office has been set up and global accountancy firm HLB engaged to assist in international corporate compliance, billing, taxation and accounting.

Research in Australia and the US show how livestreaming has escalated following the post-pandemic home shut-ins in March.

The COVID-19 Audience Outlook Monitor, released in May, found that 41% of Australians watched livestreamed performances (rising to 45% of Victorians) while almost double the figures intend to continue to do so after the pandemic.

In the US, MRC Data recorded that consumers who intended to stream a virtual concert within the next fortnight rose to 44% from 34% in late March, and a growing number (from 36% to 47%) indicated that livestream concerts should continue in the post-pandemic period.

Similarly NETGIGS’s “high growth in subscriber numbers following every single show on our platform” moved up expansion and launch plans.

Ward has also brought in a new executive team.

Chairman Philip Vafiadis has a background of building and growing companies and being involved in major global tech companies.

This, Ward says, is “a breathtaking addition to the vision for the company and for the future of the music industry itself.”

Media identity Peter Attard takes on the role of media director, and musician and comms expert Di Spillane is communications officer.

Vafiadis says that consumer behaviour change to livestreaming is significant.

“We’re at the front edge of this change. Not displacing physical live events, but weaving together with them.