British startup Dice launched its music-ticketing app in September 2014 focusing initially on London. Since then it’s expanded its net of concerts across the country.
Now Dice is launching in the biggest (but also the toughest) ticketing market of all: the US. Its app will now offer tickets to concerts in Los Angeles and San Francisco, with plans to expand beyond them “soon”.
Sam Smith, Khalid, Matthew Dear and Vevo’s upcoming Halloween gig are among its first events. As in the UK, fans will be able to buy tickets on their phones, use those devices to get in to the concerts, but also return tickets for refunds and transfer them if necessary via the app – part of Dice’s efforts to compete with touting.
“We’re focused on a younger demographic that’s fed up with how ticketing is,” said CEO Phil Hutcheon. “They’re disengaging and we need to be careful because live music is in competition with Netflix. With bars. With eating out. And if you keep screwing over fans they won’t come back.”
This is all laudable, but Dice’s challenge in the US isn’t just about attracting fans: it will be about securing a decent supply of tickets in a market where (as another startup, Songkick found) allocations are even more tied-down to major retailers than elsewhere in the world.
Then again, if Dice can operate within that, it will encourage other startups.
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