Features
‘We Have Thousands of Shows Priced At £10 Or Less’: Q’s With Andrew Foggin, Global Head of Music, DICE
To gage the state of play in the UK, Pollstar reached out to several ticketing operators to find out what currently shapes their day-to-day business; to talk about major onsales of the year; and get their wider perspective on the health of the UK’s live biz. Andrew Foggin, Global Head of Music at DICE, responded.
Pollstar: What are the three most important questions the operator of a ticket business in 2024 needs to ask himself/herself from a business standpoint?
At DICE, we’re always asking ‘how do we get fans to go out more?’ It’s never been easier to stay at home, so we need to make it just as easy to go out through a seamless and transparent ticketing experience, and to discover the most relevant events so fans can enjoy more of the nights out they love. As a global business, DICE supports thousands of event organizers, and venues. As their ticketing partner, we have to consider what will make their lives easier, while asking ourselves ‘how do we scale efficiently without compromising the fan experience?’
Any presales/onsales you’d like to highlight as particular success stories this year?
Charli XCX is having another huge moment. You only need to look at her recent viral Boiler Room set: 25,000 people signed up in the hopes of bagging a ticket to the 400-cap event. Following this, and ahead of the launch of her next album, she’s putting on a couple of special ‘PARTYGIRL’ back-to-back DJ sets in London’s HERE at Outernet and New York’s Knockdown Center – both ticketed on DICE. Both events sold out within hours and have a huge, growing Waiting List of fans eager to securely purchase returned tickets if another fan can no longer attend.
We saw a similar situation with the Four Tet + Floating Points show at London’s Roundhouse in February. The event sold out incredibly fast and thousands of people signed up to the Waiting List in the hopes of getting lucky.
How does the overall UK sales volume DICE has processed so far compare to 2023, and, indeed, 2022?
2023 was DICE’s strongest year yet. Millions of fans used DICE every month, including over 1 million in London, and over 1 million in New York. We also saw a 67% increase in global ticket sales across 850 cities.
Have overall price levels increased across the board in the UK?
The world is going through a tough time economically – we’re seeing prices rise across all industries, not just live events. DICE’s mission is to get people out more, because going out makes us feel good, and we’d struggle to achieve that if we hiked up the prices too much. DICE displays the full price upfront so there are no surprises at the end. If our shows have fees (many don’t) we work hard to keep them low. In fact, we have thousands of shows on DICE priced at £10 or less.
Any grassroots initiatives DICE is currently involved in, you’d like to highlight?
Grassroots venues are indispensable to the live entertainment scene. They are a launch pad for emerging artists, a space where music communities come together, and are key drivers of regional economic growth. It’s also where artists start to hone their craft and really build their IRL fan base, and where fans create intimate memories that they will remember forever. DICE has always supported the grassroots scene and we work with hundreds of independent venues across the UK.
At DICE, we’re constantly investing in and developing technology to enhance the fan experience and get more people into venues–a sold out show is better for the entire live ecosystem. Our goal is to help venues sell out more shows and ensure that fans have seamless access to the events they love.
Anything you’d like to add about the upcoming year(s) for DICE UK? Any big upcoming news you can share here?
In September, DICE will celebrate its 10th anniversary. It’s surreal to think how far we’ve come but we’re still very much at the beginning. Our vision for the future is huge. We’ve begun to look at Commerce and the role it will play in the diversification of our portfolio, while continuing to focus on expansion to bring fans a fairer ticketing experience globally.