Nightlife crisis sees British ticket app snapped up by US rival

Telegraph

2 days ago

A major live music ticketing app has been bought by a US rival after narrowly avoiding administration, laying bare the difficulties faced by the UK's late-night sector.
Dice FM, which sells tickets to concerts, nightclubs and other cultural events, has been acquired by rival platform Fever, just days after filing an official notice that it intended to appoint administrators.
Companies do this when they are at risk of going bust and need protection from their creditors while they restructure their finances. A source close to the situation said Dice FM had taken the step as a precaution.
The deal will mean that Dice, which runs one of the UK's biggest ticketing apps, becomes part of New York-headquartered Fever.
Dice FM sells tickets as QR codes, which can be exchanged or returned through the app. Users can sync their Spotify and Apple Music accounts to the app to receive recommendations and alerts for when acts are touring.
The app grew in popularity as traditional ticketing platforms faced increased scrutiny over their practices. The British company, which was founded in 2014, has raised nearly $200m (£147m) from investors in recent years.
Dice FM says it charges fewer fees and does not allow for tickets to be sold on any secondary market, effectively eliminating scalping, where tickets are bought in bulk and sold on for profit.
Its backers have included the investment firm Softbank, the French billionaire telecoms mogul Xavier Niel and Tony Fadell, the American engineer and businessman who became known as the 'father of the iPod' when he was a senior executive at Apple. Mr Fadell joined the board of Dice FM in 2021.
Details of the deal or how much was paid for Dice FM have not been revealed.
However, the signs that Dice risked administration will add fuel to growing worries over the future of Britain's late-night and cultural industries. Thousands of nightclubs and independent music venues have closed since the pandemic.
This has been blamed on a combination of soaring costs, burdensome red tape and licensing laws, cost of living pressures and a growing trend for people going home early and drinking less.
Ministers have said they want to slash red tape for hospitality firms and help restore Britain's diminishing nightlife. Sir Sadiq Khan has been handed fresh powers to 'call in' blocked planning applications in London, while industry chiefs are being quizzed on ways to boost the sector.
Dice FM's accounts have been overdue for almost a year. It was due to file documents for the year to Dec 31 2023 by June 23 last year, according to Companies House, but never did.
In 2023, the company enacted a round of lay-offs, saying at the time it had 'made the difficult decision to restructure parts of our business to ensure we can focus on our most important initiatives'.
Last year, it was first reported that Dice FM was exploring a potential sale. Softbank was said to be eager to sell its stake at the time.
Fever was founded in New York in 2014 and offers ticketing services in 200 cities across the world. It is the partner of many major music festivals, including Primavera Sound.
Phil Hutcheon, founder and chief executive of Dice, said the deal would allow the company 'to scale even faster' and expand into new cities. The company said there would be no change to how people use the app.