Live Nation Partners With chargeFUZE For Widespread Phone Charging (Exclusive)

Live Nation has announced a multi-year partnership and equity investment with mobile phone charging platform chargeFUZE, whose charging kiosks will be available at 30 Live Nation festivals and 45 venues nationwide this year. 

The rollout is set to fully scale to more than 300 Live Nation venues and festivals in the coming years. Details of the equity investment were not disclosed. 

chargeFUZE co-founder and president Ryan Levy says a wide-ranging partnership with Live Nation made sense as the service was already in demand and used at many of the company’s festivals and venues already. 

“Prior to ever having any larger business implication conversations with Live Nation and their new Ventures team, we were having conversations with department heads for venues and for festivals, almost siloed through organic, cold outreach,” Levy said. “There was an appetite for our utility and the innovation behind it in their portfolio. As that sort of picked up legs, it was a very organic introduction and transition to what was a new forming team on the Live Nation side just about two years ago.” 

chargeFUZE kiosks can be found at universities, shopping centers and other public locations across the country, where anyone with a mobile phone can rent a powerful portable charger to keep the data flowing and the cameras rolling. Users can either return the charger to a chargeFUZE kiosk at the event or elsewhere, or keep the charger for a fee. Charging rates vary, with charging averaging $2 to $4 per half hour, and a full charge on most devices taking around 40 minutes.

Venues and festivals part of the newly announced partnership include the Coca Cola Roxy in Atlanta, Irving Plaza in New York, The Wiltern in Los Angeles, multiple Fillmore and House of Blues properties, as well Ohana Festival in Dana Point, California, Austin City Limits Music Festival, Electric Daisy Carnival Orlando, and many others.

While some artists and events encourage attendees to put the phones away during the actual performance, the appetite for phones at public events appears to be only growing on the consumer side, with fans often taking photos, posting selfies to social media and recording snippets of performances during concerts. Live Nation research shared with Pollstar says 60% of event-goers consider social media activity a major part of attending a live music event.

Forming chargeFUZE in 2018, Levy and partner Brandon Afari, co-founder and CEO of chargeFUZE, borrowed a page from popular rideshare services used for scooters and bikes and applied them to mobile phone chargers.

“We took a similar approach to QR code scans technology and applied that to portable chargers where people can scan a QR code anywhere in the city at any festival and rent a portable charger on the go,” Afari said. “That charger has all built-in functionality for any device and they could drop it off at any station in the city, venue or festival.” A chargeFUZE app can help users find kiosks to rent or return a charger, but an app download is not required to charge a phone. Multiple charging cords are available, and Afari says one of the company’s reasons for rapid adoption is because the kiosks are largely self-sustaining, requiring only regular power outlets for use in most cases.

A typical large venue may have two to four kiosk stations onsite, with 300 total kiosk stations expected once fully integrated into the Live Nation network.

Along with providing a necessary service at live events, chargeFUZE presents sponsorship opportunity as well, with brands offering free charging services as part of an activation at festivals, for instance.

chargeFUZE last August announced a deal to be ASM Global’s “official charging provider,” with the service in use at the company’s managed venues including U.S Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee and others.

chargeFUZE is joins the ranks of Live Nation’s portfolio of equity partnerships, which includes Liquid Death, TURN, Everything Legendary, about-face, and Owen’s Craft Mixers.

“From digital tickets and mobile payments to navigating festivals and capturing and sharing memories on social media, the phone is a critical companion to today’s live music experience,” said Live Nation’s Jessica Isaacs, vice president of brand management. “Our partnership with FUZE ensures fans stay connected throughout concerts and festivals without worrying about their battery life, and we’re excited about the convenience this partnership will bring them.”