Warner Scoops Songkick Assets

Warner Music Group announced it has purchased the concert-discovery app, website and naming rights from Songkick July 14.

– Songkick
Warner Music Group has big plans for the company.

The deal gives WMG access to Songkick’s 15 million active users and a platform to connect fans directly to shows from their favorite artists.

Songkick will now be overseen by WEA, the company’s artist and label services division.

Warner did not touch Songkick’s ticketing business however, and that will operate under a new name with guidance from Matt Jones, co-founder and former CEO of Songkick.

The ticketing business is currently embroiled in an antitrust suit against Ticketmaster and Live Nation, which Jones has said he will continue to fight independent from WMG.

Last month, Eventbrite announced it was integrating technology to automatically recommend concerts to Spotify users, citing research that “42 percent of people discover new artists and bands through streaming services like Spotify, and half of these fans go on to purchase tickets to see those artists live.”

As it seems increasingly clear that touring and live performances represent the most profitable element of the music industry, WMG decided that Songkick’s ability to connect listeners to live events was worth owning directly.

WEA president Tony Harlow said of the acquisition: “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.”

The move to purchase the app to connect fans to concerts comes after WMG parent company Access Industries had reportedly already invested more than $25 million into Songkick.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed.