Kanye West as a client is not the worst reference for a young company.

In 2018, the American superstar, who is now simply called “Ye”, had tickets for his “Project Wyoming” series of events sold exclusively via the British app Dice.

This should prevent the coveted tickets from being resold at inflated prices.

A coup for the company, which was only founded in 2014 by former label manager Phil Hutcheon.

Benjamin Fisher

Editor in Business.

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"It's a secure, closed system," he explains how the app works in an interview with the FAZ.

A ticket purchased through Dice cannot be sold anywhere else.

"If a buyer doesn't make it to the concert after all, they can simply return the ticket via the app and get their money back if someone from the waiting list created at the same time accesses it." In addition, the final price of a ticket is displayed from the start instead of any fees open just before payment.

"Usually tickets are cheaper with us, but in the worst case it's the same price as on the big platforms," ​​says Hutcheon.

"Our job is to encourage fans to go out more"

More than a million people used the free app in London in April, he says.

There were around 1.2 million in New York.

Dice says it works with more than 40,000 artists and around 3,600 venues or organizers.

Last but not least, the well-known Primavera Festival is one of the partners.

Now Hutcheon also wants to gain a foothold in Germany.

A good 350 available events through cooperation with two core partners (the Berlin promotion agency "Z|ART" and the organizer Goodlive, which is behind festivals such as Melt or Splash) result in a fairly manageable range at the start.

However, the Brit is relaxed: “We are an independent alternative.

Our job is to encourage fans to go out more."

If someone goes to one concert a month, Dice wants them to

"Even big organizers usually quickly understand that Dice only has advantages for them if we just do our job well," he says.

In the USA and Great Britain, Dice has long been selling tickets for shows by the world's largest live entertainment group, Live Nation, or by competitor AEG.

Live Nation also operates one of the major ticketing service providers, Ticketmaster.

The ticketing business in particular brings very high margins in contrast to the cost-intensive own shows.

CTS Eventim is similarly positioned.

The M-Dax group has the ticketing platform of the same name and at the same time a network with various large concert and festival organizers.

In the future, Dice also wants to work with them, says Hutcheon.

“The players in the music industry are often skeptical at first.

The first step is always to be able to sell an initial contingent of tickets from an organizer.” If things go well, the contingent will “ideally keep getting bigger.”

Hutcheon sees the app's algorithm as Dice's trump card.

Around 40 percent of ticket purchases come about through personalized recommendations.

Linking to streaming services such as Spotify or Apple Music also helps to get a first impression of a user’s taste in music.

But your own data is far more important, because maybe someone who streams techno all the time doesn't necessarily want to primarily go to techno shows.