Concert discovery app Songkick has been acquired by Warner Music Group – but the buyout excludes the company’s ticketing business, formerly known as Crowdsurge.
The move will have involved Len Blavatnik‘s Access Industries.
Access is both the owner of WMG and a lead shareholder in Songkick, in which it has invested over $30m.
Songkick and Crowdsurge were merged in 2015, but Warner has now decided to leave the latter operation out of its deal – which means it also avoids any involvement in Songkick’s ongoing legal battle with Live Nation.
Songkick, which attracts 15 million fans a month, has worked with artists including Metallica, J. Cole, Mumford and Sons, Pixies, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Paul McCartney, Adele and more.
The Warner deal includes Songkick’s concert discovery app and website as well as the Songkick trademark.
As part of the acquisition, some Songkick employees involved in running the concert discovery app will move across to WMG.
“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.”
Tony Harlow, WEA
The Songkick concert discovery app will now operate as a standalone brand, overseen by WEA, WMG’s artist and label services division, which includes sales, distribution, streaming account management and playlisting, analytics, insight, artist websites and webstores, VIP experiences, fan clubs, and merchandising.
Warner said that the move ‘expands [our] growing network of direct-to-fan destinations and will lead to additional offerings for Songkick users’.
Tony Harlow, President, WEA, 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.”
Matt Jones, CEO and Co-Founder of Songkick, said: “Songkick was founded on the promise of improving the live experience for fans and the artists they love. Over the years, we have helped tens of millions find their next great live experience. And today, I’m excited to pass the baton on the discovery service to the great team at WMG, an ideal organization to carry on this mission and to take it in new, innovative directions.
“And, on behalf of the many artists and fans we’ve served over the last decade, we are committed to continuing our litigation against Live Nation and Ticketmaster independently.”Music Business Worldwide
