Warner Music Group has acquired Songkick’s core assets

Warner Music Group (WMG) has bought out core assets of leading concert discovery platform Songkick. Set up in London in 2007, the popular app has 6 million-plus concert listings and 15 million monthly users. 

"The move expands WMG’s growing network of direct-­to-­fan destinations and will lead to additional offerings for Songkick users," it said in its announcement of the acquisition.

The price was not disclosed.

The purchase includes the name and the concert-recommendation business, which includes sending out customised notices of local music events. 

Some Songkick employees are moving over to WMG.

But what it’s not buying is Songkick’s ticketing business, which is currently suing Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation for alleged antitrust violations.

These include interfering with Songkick’s business and threatening the artists it works with. The lawsuit was first initiated in 2015.

Earlier this year, it added a further accusation that Ticketmaster used an employee (who worked with CrowdSurge, which was bought out by Songkick in 2015) to hack into its computer system and stealing trade secrets. 

The ticketing business will continue with a new name. But it is continuing its Ticketmaster suit, which keeps WMG out of the legal hoopla.

WMG plans to keep Songkick as a standalone brand but it will be overseen by the artist and label services division, WEA. Whether WMG includes a ticketing division down the track remains to be seen.

Headed by former Warner Music Australia chief Tony Harlow, WEA manages the sales, distribution, streaming account management and playlisting, analytics, insight, artist websites and webstores, VIP experiences, fan clubs, and merchandising.

Harlow said: “Fans all over the world trust Songkick to help them find events featuring the artists they love.

“It’s a passionate, highly engaged music community, always on the lookout for new experiences.

“Bringing together Songkick’s discovery platform and world-class technology with our existing ecommerce expertise and global reach represents a powerful step in strengthening and evolving our direct-to-fan capabilities."

There was an earlier link with WMG. Of the US$60 million that Songkick raised from investors, $25 million came from WMG owner Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries.