1 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:11,639 Speaker 1: Welcome to Strictly Business, Variety's weekly podcast featuring conversations with 2 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:15,440 Speaker 1: industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. I'm 3 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:18,880 Speaker 1: Elie Schaeffer, Variety's London news editor, and this marks my 4 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:22,639 Speaker 1: first full Strictly Business episode, which is very exciting. This 5 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:25,640 Speaker 1: week I sat down with Phil Hutcheon, the CEO of Dice, 6 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:28,800 Speaker 1: a London based ticketing software company that's taking the market 7 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:32,480 Speaker 1: by storm with its artist and fan forward mission. After 8 00:00:32,479 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 1: spending a decade in the music industry, Hutchin founded the 9 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:38,120 Speaker 1: company in twenty fourteen with the aim of making live 10 00:00:38,159 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 1: events more accessible by taking a stance against scalping and 11 00:00:41,479 --> 00:00:45,360 Speaker 1: dynamic pricing. As it celebrates its tenth anniversary, Dice has 12 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:48,240 Speaker 1: expanded to over a dozen US cities and also recently 13 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:51,720 Speaker 1: launched in Canada, but has kept a strong local focus. 14 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:54,160 Speaker 1: As you will hear on the episode, I use Dice 15 00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 1: probably every week here in London, not just for concerts, 16 00:00:57,280 --> 00:00:59,880 Speaker 1: but for club nights, comedy shows and more. Keep on 17 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:02,840 Speaker 1: starting to hear more about how Dice is revolutionizing the 18 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 1: ticketing industry by delivering a fan friendly experience, helping artists 19 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:08,760 Speaker 1: book the right that news and making it easier to 20 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 1: go out than ever. Plus, Phil offers his thoughts on 21 00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:15,080 Speaker 1: the recent Taylor Swift at Oasis ticketing tobacles and why 22 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:16,280 Speaker 1: being part of the middle. 23 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 2: Market is DICE's superpower. 24 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:29,959 Speaker 1: And that's all coming up after this break, and we're 25 00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:32,600 Speaker 1: back with Phil Hutchins, CEO of Dice. 26 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:35,959 Speaker 2: Tell me a bit about how Dice started. Give me 27 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:37,000 Speaker 2: the origin story. 28 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:42,840 Speaker 3: Okay, cool. So, so my background was in product contech 29 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:45,319 Speaker 3: and then I went into the music industry and not 30 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:49,080 Speaker 3: really knowing anyone in the music industry, and it was 31 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:52,680 Speaker 3: during that time when we were looking after artists who 32 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:56,480 Speaker 3: were performing, particularly in North America, and we do deals 33 00:01:56,480 --> 00:02:00,440 Speaker 3: with that shows and we're like, cool, it's let's do it. 34 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:02,640 Speaker 3: And it's like thirty dollars a ticket, and then I 35 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:05,120 Speaker 3: would go and sale and it was like fifty and 36 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 3: I'm like, hang on a minute, why is it fifty 37 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:09,760 Speaker 3: when we just did it for thirty And so they 38 00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:13,080 Speaker 3: were like, oh, that's just the fees, and and then 39 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:15,400 Speaker 3: it'd sell out and then the tickets were going for 40 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:18,760 Speaker 3: hundreds of dollars and then the fans were getting really upset, 41 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 3: and I was just like, how is this like even possible? 42 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 3: So I tried all the different ticketing companies to see 43 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:27,080 Speaker 3: what was going on, but everyone was kind of just 44 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:31,360 Speaker 3: doing the same thing. And so the I figured that 45 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:35,520 Speaker 3: you're bringing like my past experience plus music to like, 46 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:37,200 Speaker 3: well if no one else has got to solve this, 47 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 3: and solving it is like scalping, you know, upfront pricing 48 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 3: your discovery. How do you find things all that kind 49 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 3: of stuff and actually build something for fans, then I 50 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:50,040 Speaker 3: guess that we have to do it. 51 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:53,360 Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, And starting out, what was the team like, 52 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:54,880 Speaker 2: so it was you and then how do you sort 53 00:02:54,919 --> 00:02:57,960 Speaker 2: of build this team and actually get it to to 54 00:02:58,000 --> 00:02:59,919 Speaker 2: the point where you could live with it? Yeah? 55 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 3: So we we actually, uh, it was a team, like 56 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 3: it was super small, so you know, Mio was our 57 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:09,560 Speaker 3: CTEO engineer everything like this journal, you know, a lot 58 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:15,440 Speaker 3: of the actual development designers, a couple of designers and 59 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:17,919 Speaker 3: a couple of people who are new from from music. 60 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 3: It was small and we actually, you know, because everyone 61 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:24,800 Speaker 3: said that it's not going to work. Everyone said that 62 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:27,919 Speaker 3: on you know, it's like a futile thing to do. 63 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 3: And also like would people trust like a new product 64 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:34,280 Speaker 3: that came to the market, And so we actually had 65 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:37,960 Speaker 3: a fake brand called Tisie for like a couple of months, 66 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:43,200 Speaker 3: which uh just you know, pulling in favors from you know, 67 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 3: artists and stuff like, hey, can media tickets just to 68 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:48,920 Speaker 3: scene whether or not a fan would go to something 69 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 3: that is new and buy a ticket on it, and 70 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 3: they did. I'm like, okay, that's that's kind of cool. 71 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:56,760 Speaker 3: And then we pulled in more favors from the music 72 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:01,160 Speaker 3: industry to get sort of bigger shows on And yeah, 73 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:03,680 Speaker 3: I think that one thing that I still trying to 74 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:08,720 Speaker 3: remind people today is that online audiences and like physical audiences, 75 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:12,560 Speaker 3: like the number is like it's crazy for your brain 76 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:16,600 Speaker 3: to understand. So for example, if you have like an 77 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:19,400 Speaker 3: online audience or your media company you have like ten 78 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:22,400 Speaker 3: thousand views, you're like, eh, that's okay. But actually, if 79 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:24,480 Speaker 3: you're in a space when you have ten thousand people, 80 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:27,240 Speaker 3: there's actually a lot of people. And so our first 81 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:29,480 Speaker 3: show after a month, we had like ten thousand people 82 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:32,040 Speaker 3: and we sold ten thousand tickets and all high fiving, 83 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:33,839 Speaker 3: and then we got there and it was like a 84 00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:35,479 Speaker 3: team of six and we're like, how are we going 85 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:39,040 Speaker 3: to get all these people in? And so it was Yeah, 86 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:43,720 Speaker 3: So it's kind of I think that a lot of naivety. 87 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 3: None of us had any ticketing experience, to be honest, Like, 88 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:50,479 Speaker 3: before all this, I didn't even care about ticketing, But 89 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:52,240 Speaker 3: then the more that we looked into it, and like 90 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:55,600 Speaker 3: how important is in terms of that relationship for the 91 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 3: between the fan and the artist and getting people in 92 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:00,840 Speaker 3: and making a fun and everything else. Like, yeah, we 93 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:03,560 Speaker 3: just wanted to do a good job for sure. 94 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:05,159 Speaker 2: And did it start in London? 95 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:05,719 Speaker 1: Yeah? 96 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:06,600 Speaker 3: Okay, yeah? 97 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:10,440 Speaker 2: What was I guess special about London that sort of 98 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:12,960 Speaker 2: fueled this idea? Do you feel like you could have 99 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:15,279 Speaker 2: started it anywhere else or do you think London was 100 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 2: helpful in this That's. 101 00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:19,400 Speaker 3: A really good question because it's I actually think that 102 00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 3: starting in London gave us a huge advantage. It's so 103 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:27,960 Speaker 3: competitive in London, and it really is like you got 104 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:30,960 Speaker 3: to like be so much better than everyone else. And 105 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:38,040 Speaker 3: actually one of our early investors really pushed me not 106 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 3: to expand outside of London until we got like product 107 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:44,240 Speaker 3: market fit. So it was a time when you know, 108 00:05:44,279 --> 00:05:47,720 Speaker 3: because we're you know, a city based platform, that we 109 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:53,440 Speaker 3: saw all these other companies like launching everywhere and raising 110 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:56,679 Speaker 3: tons of money and we were just in London and 111 00:05:57,440 --> 00:06:00,000 Speaker 3: I was like, surely we've got to go and here 112 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:02,720 Speaker 3: was like not to stay here, just make sure that 113 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 3: all of the metrics are right, and we did, and 114 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:07,919 Speaker 3: all those other companies are kind of gone. But I 115 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:11,760 Speaker 3: think that what happened was that as soon as we 116 00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:14,800 Speaker 3: left London, we had like a fully formed product and 117 00:06:14,839 --> 00:06:18,080 Speaker 3: we knew exactly know how to do it. And I 118 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:21,400 Speaker 3: guess that maybe there's like a parallel with Spotify starting 119 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:23,640 Speaker 3: in Sweden, you know, really sort of getting it right 120 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:26,839 Speaker 3: and then going out. But for sure, if we started 121 00:06:26,839 --> 00:06:29,120 Speaker 3: it in America, like we would have been killed like 122 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:34,000 Speaker 3: pretty early on. So yeah, there is also like a 123 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:37,200 Speaker 3: like an industry advantage I think of being in London. 124 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 3: A lot of the agents are here, a lot of 125 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 3: artists love playing in London, so you know, there's a 126 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:44,719 Speaker 3: lot of shows. I should also say, because of my 127 00:06:44,839 --> 00:06:48,160 Speaker 3: naivet tickening and life and everything else, I really thought 128 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:51,440 Speaker 3: that we would have like two hundred shows in London. 129 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:53,680 Speaker 3: That's about it. A little didn't note Like I think 130 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:56,359 Speaker 3: now we've got like a hundred at night. Like it's 131 00:06:56,160 --> 00:06:59,880 Speaker 3: there's so much going on. And one of the things 132 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:04,440 Speaker 3: up being a platform is quite often we get asked, 133 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:07,760 Speaker 3: like you know, you're in conversation with an artist or 134 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:11,520 Speaker 3: a manager and let's oh, ticket sales to going down 135 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:15,120 Speaker 3: or tools. But because we see everything always sly. Every 136 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:17,600 Speaker 3: month is like more and more people going out and 137 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 3: shows selling out and everything else. So it's yeah, it's 138 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:22,200 Speaker 3: it's kind of cool. 139 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:25,560 Speaker 2: I think also London has such a unique sort of 140 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:28,960 Speaker 2: music culture and that there's pub culture, right, and so 141 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:31,120 Speaker 2: I think the biggest thing for me coming from LA 142 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:34,600 Speaker 2: was being able to go to any given pub on 143 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:36,480 Speaker 2: a Tuesday night and there's a band playing in the 144 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:39,240 Speaker 2: back and they're amazing. Yeah, you know, and it feels 145 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:42,680 Speaker 2: it feels much more organic maybe than other cities. There's 146 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:44,480 Speaker 2: much more. It feels like to me, there's much more 147 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 2: of this like underground, and I think like when I 148 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:49,560 Speaker 2: started buying tickets on dice, that's like what I was, 149 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:52,440 Speaker 2: you know, buying tickets to or these like little shows 150 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:55,800 Speaker 2: at these little little pubs that you know, I think 151 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:59,000 Speaker 2: maybe people wouldn't have heard of, but you sort of 152 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:01,280 Speaker 2: stumble upon them. More is just like oh, we want 153 00:08:01,320 --> 00:08:02,480 Speaker 2: to go to this bar, we want to go to 154 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:04,200 Speaker 2: this pub, and like, let's buy a ticket to this. 155 00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:09,480 Speaker 3: Yeah, And that's actually my favorite show is like a tiny, small, 156 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:12,600 Speaker 3: free show, and I like seeing someone starting out and 157 00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:16,560 Speaker 3: it's super exciting. And that's actually one of the things 158 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:20,640 Speaker 3: that we wanted to help with is discovery because there's 159 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:23,720 Speaker 3: so much music and so the you know, in the 160 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:27,480 Speaker 3: olden days, you'd have like listings, you know, in like 161 00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:31,520 Speaker 3: free newspapers in the city, and so with Dice was 162 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:35,040 Speaker 3: like that investment into our discovery and the algorithms. I 163 00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 3: mean it took us three and a half years to 164 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:39,920 Speaker 3: get that working like properly because we only use our 165 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:43,679 Speaker 3: own data. We're very pro privacy and trying to like 166 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:47,160 Speaker 3: bring that in. But you know, getting people excited about 167 00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:50,680 Speaker 3: seeing something new, it's like the biggest thrill, Like you know, 168 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:54,080 Speaker 3: seeing people's comments never heard of this artist, and like yeah, 169 00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:55,000 Speaker 3: it blows their minds. 170 00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:57,680 Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, yeah, I mean I know I get my notification. 171 00:08:57,720 --> 00:08:59,920 Speaker 2: I think it's every Thursday. Can you tell that you 172 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:03,440 Speaker 2: dice all the time, And it's like, you know, bands 173 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:05,440 Speaker 2: that you might might like, and like, I know, me 174 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:08,520 Speaker 2: and my friends we literally use that. We scroll on Dice, 175 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:11,600 Speaker 2: we go check out our favorite venues, yeah, and see 176 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:14,359 Speaker 2: who's playing. And also you know, linking it with Spotify. 177 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:16,760 Speaker 2: I think it's just like so smart because I never 178 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:19,240 Speaker 2: miss a show of one of my favorite artists. 179 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:24,840 Speaker 3: It's interesting that so we use Spotify to get like 180 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:27,679 Speaker 3: a warm sort of introduction, so that if you're new 181 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:29,680 Speaker 3: to Dice, you Spotify, you're like, Okay, what are you 182 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:33,280 Speaker 3: listening to? But it's not as tight a correlation between 183 00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:35,600 Speaker 3: your listening and what you want to go to as 184 00:09:35,640 --> 00:09:38,240 Speaker 3: you might think. You might listen to techno all day, 185 00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:40,000 Speaker 3: but you don't want to go to a club, or 186 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:41,679 Speaker 3: you might be listening to sing the songwriters all day 187 00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:44,200 Speaker 3: or our classical music or whatever else, right, and like 188 00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:47,480 Speaker 3: pulling those things up, and then also like you might 189 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:50,320 Speaker 3: be listening to something, but your favorite band is something 190 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:52,800 Speaker 3: that you listen to ten years ago, and so it's like, 191 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:55,880 Speaker 3: so what we have is look alikes, and so we're 192 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:59,000 Speaker 3: able to kind of pull the data from other fans 193 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:01,320 Speaker 3: and Dice to give you, you know what, more of 194 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:05,920 Speaker 3: like the life recommendations. But it's cool, that's news shows Thursday. 195 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:09,120 Speaker 3: So that was trying to create like data products within 196 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:12,760 Speaker 3: Dice that make it easy for people to figure out 197 00:10:12,760 --> 00:10:13,319 Speaker 3: what's going on. 198 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:16,959 Speaker 2: Absolutely yeah, I mean, I think that's such an interesting 199 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:18,800 Speaker 2: part of Dice that makes it stand out is like 200 00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:21,800 Speaker 2: the community aspect as well. It's sort of a social 201 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:24,680 Speaker 2: media platform, which we've seen also with Spotify. You know, 202 00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:26,200 Speaker 2: one of my favorite things to do is see what 203 00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:28,680 Speaker 2: my friends are listening to. And on Dice you were 204 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:31,000 Speaker 2: able to connect with your friends and share tickets and 205 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 2: share shows. Tell me a bit about you know why 206 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:37,000 Speaker 2: that was so important to you know DICE's I guess core, Yeah, 207 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:37,600 Speaker 2: because it's. 208 00:10:37,480 --> 00:10:42,360 Speaker 3: Like the first principle is like, you know why we 209 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:46,040 Speaker 3: did Dice is the you know, why is it that 210 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:48,280 Speaker 3: one of the best experiences that you can go to, 211 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:52,040 Speaker 3: maybe something that you remember forever, starts off in such 212 00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:55,400 Speaker 3: a crappy like situation when you're buying a ticket and 213 00:10:55,440 --> 00:10:57,920 Speaker 3: so like fixing that make it like really exciting at 214 00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:01,360 Speaker 3: the beginning. But so we see the world in three stages. 215 00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:04,240 Speaker 3: So the first is the anticipation to the event, which 216 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:06,160 Speaker 3: is not just like an event but I hold anything else. 217 00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:10,679 Speaker 3: Anticipation is like super important. Then it's the participation actually 218 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:12,600 Speaker 3: been at the event, and then like the memory that 219 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:16,080 Speaker 3: you have afterwards. And so for us like all these 220 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:18,240 Speaker 3: things have seen your friends. I mean, fomo is a 221 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:20,079 Speaker 3: pretty big thing on Dice. When you see your friends 222 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:22,319 Speaker 3: go into something, right, and so you're like, I probably 223 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:25,000 Speaker 3: should go. But that's also something that we're going to 224 00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:28,640 Speaker 3: be dialing up a lot in twenty twenty five. I see, 225 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:32,200 Speaker 3: you know, the idea of I think people are moving 226 00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:35,440 Speaker 3: away from like you know, well, I want to have 227 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:38,320 Speaker 3: something different than to sort of large scale sort of 228 00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:40,880 Speaker 3: social media. And actually, you know, you do have a 229 00:11:40,880 --> 00:11:44,559 Speaker 3: lot of commonality when you go see an artist or 230 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:46,600 Speaker 3: a show or a club night or anything else, and 231 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:51,160 Speaker 3: allow people to interact more on dice around that and 232 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:54,839 Speaker 3: really get into more around community. And then with that 233 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:58,440 Speaker 3: with community, allowing artists to participate in that as well 234 00:11:58,559 --> 00:11:59,520 Speaker 3: and getting them to chat. 235 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:02,160 Speaker 2: Yeah. So yeah, tell me a bit about you know, 236 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:04,240 Speaker 2: the artist's aspect of things and how you work with 237 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:07,079 Speaker 2: artists to make the experience unique. 238 00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:07,600 Speaker 1: Yeah. 239 00:12:07,640 --> 00:12:10,079 Speaker 3: So first of all, it's like it's a just taking 240 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:13,080 Speaker 3: that paid away from them where they don't have, you know, 241 00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:16,679 Speaker 3: articles about how they're exploiting fans, so that these guys 242 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:19,680 Speaker 3: it's gone, Yeah, there's no anything there. So like it's 243 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:21,840 Speaker 3: it's like a safe place for them to do it. 244 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:24,640 Speaker 3: I think also, you know, working with the venues and 245 00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:28,400 Speaker 3: the promoters is helping them figure out like how big 246 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:33,240 Speaker 3: the show should be. You know, it's not again, it's 247 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:37,160 Speaker 3: not like a one for one in terms of you 248 00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:39,720 Speaker 3: sell out a show and the natural instinct, okay, we 249 00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:43,000 Speaker 3: need to do a bigger show. Sometimes everyone who wants 250 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:44,679 Speaker 3: to see you is seeing you at that show and 251 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:47,280 Speaker 3: like yeah, So we're able to help them like figure out, 252 00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:49,679 Speaker 3: is there really demand to go bigger or do you 253 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:51,640 Speaker 3: need to like be out of the city for a 254 00:12:51,679 --> 00:12:55,120 Speaker 3: while because a live event is scarce. And also like 255 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:57,679 Speaker 3: there's a thing where you assume that's someone who went 256 00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:00,000 Speaker 3: to something, we'll just want to keep going back again, 257 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:02,200 Speaker 3: but actually they want to go to lots of things, 258 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:08,240 Speaker 3: and so it's trying to help artists to avoid like 259 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:11,040 Speaker 3: those traps but also see the opportunities because on the 260 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:16,920 Speaker 3: other side, sometimes we'll get, for example, some Korean acts 261 00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:18,920 Speaker 3: will just come in and we've never heard of them, 262 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:23,400 Speaker 3: and they'll play like a three thousand capacity venue and 263 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:26,400 Speaker 3: no one has any idea like how big it's going 264 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:28,680 Speaker 3: to be, and then we've got like twenty thousand people 265 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:31,000 Speaker 3: on the wait list. Wow, And so from that we're 266 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:33,680 Speaker 3: able to help them like generate, like you know, do 267 00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:36,719 Speaker 3: more shows or do matinees or whatever else like from that, 268 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:39,520 Speaker 3: but help them also like use that data to go 269 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:40,880 Speaker 3: to other cities as well. 270 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:43,760 Speaker 2: Absolutely, And tell me a bit about the waiting list aspect, 271 00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:46,640 Speaker 2: because that's one of my favorite, I guess aspects of DICE. 272 00:13:46,679 --> 00:13:49,679 Speaker 2: Like I've been able to get tickets to shows that 273 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:52,400 Speaker 2: I've like, I've think pretty much almost every show that 274 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:54,839 Speaker 2: I put myself on the waiting list to like because 275 00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:57,800 Speaker 2: you have that notification and you get you know, it 276 00:13:57,840 --> 00:14:00,079 Speaker 2: reserves those tickets for you. So as long as you're 277 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:02,600 Speaker 2: able to like log on and get the tickets, you're golden. 278 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:03,240 Speaker 3: Yeah. 279 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:05,960 Speaker 2: Yeah, tell me a bit about developing that and you 280 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:08,160 Speaker 2: know why it's important to DICE's mission. 281 00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:13,160 Speaker 3: Yeah, because the so life happens the idea that you 282 00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:16,400 Speaker 3: buy tickets to an event but you can't make it, 283 00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:19,400 Speaker 3: and it's like two things. One is that you know, 284 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:22,160 Speaker 3: the if the show doesn't sell out, we don't activate 285 00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:25,720 Speaker 3: the weightlist, and that's just you know, this is an 286 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:27,960 Speaker 3: aside thing that that's because that the artists and the 287 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:30,880 Speaker 3: promoter and everyone else has spent so much money in 288 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:32,880 Speaker 3: putting on that event. If everyone was able to get 289 00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:36,000 Speaker 3: a refund, then those events just wouldn't happen. They just can't. 290 00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:38,760 Speaker 3: But if it's sold out, and this is the thing 291 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:41,640 Speaker 3: that people are always shocked about. So when we know 292 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:43,800 Speaker 3: that when someone gets a ticket on a waitlist and Dice, 293 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:46,200 Speaker 3: that's it, they're locked into Dice forever because it is 294 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:48,960 Speaker 3: like such a mind blowing experience because something is sold 295 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:52,400 Speaker 3: out and you add yourself and you're like, yeah, sure 296 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:56,400 Speaker 3: that's going to happen. And there's two behavioral points from 297 00:14:56,440 --> 00:14:59,240 Speaker 3: a fan. So what we see is that either fans 298 00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:02,400 Speaker 3: return their ticket it's almost immediately after buying them because 299 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:05,320 Speaker 3: they realize they have a conflict. So they've bought four 300 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:08,800 Speaker 3: tickets to something and they're like, I'll go go to 301 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:11,920 Speaker 3: wedding or whatever it is. Or it's just like a 302 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:14,200 Speaker 3: week or so before the show and they would turn 303 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:17,840 Speaker 3: like one or two of their tickets because someone's dropped out. 304 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:20,840 Speaker 3: And it is annoying, Like when if your friend has 305 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:24,560 Speaker 3: dropped out. 306 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:24,880 Speaker 2: Last week and I didn't buy it on Dice, so 307 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:26,640 Speaker 2: I had to like sell it on Instagram. 308 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:28,640 Speaker 3: It was a whole thing. Yeah, that's right. And to 309 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:30,600 Speaker 3: just be able to just do that and have that 310 00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:34,960 Speaker 3: happy sort of fan path. What we didn't realize is 311 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:41,320 Speaker 3: like how beneficial waiting list is for venues because you 312 00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:45,600 Speaker 3: when we spoke to venues when they have like you know, 313 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:49,200 Speaker 3: the secondary switched on, you have lots of speculators buying 314 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:52,200 Speaker 3: tickets and a lot of that inventory gets on sold, 315 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:55,680 Speaker 3: like those tickets get unsold, and so you we found 316 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:58,920 Speaker 3: out that on average a venue only gets to like 317 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:04,240 Speaker 3: eighty five percent capacity for a sold at show, but 318 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:06,360 Speaker 3: if you got weightless, it's like nine to nine percent. 319 00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:09,320 Speaker 3: And so for us, it's like we we do be 320 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:12,480 Speaker 3: a math where we're like, Okay, there's actually people who 321 00:16:12,560 --> 00:16:14,760 Speaker 3: come to the venue, like look how much money they're 322 00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:17,920 Speaker 3: going to spend at the venue. But it's like trying 323 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:20,600 Speaker 3: to you know, it's kind of we love the fact 324 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:23,480 Speaker 3: that you're creating this amazing thing for a fan and 325 00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:28,000 Speaker 3: it's actually benefiting everyone because you know that money's getting 326 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:30,280 Speaker 3: reinvested into the industry. 327 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:32,520 Speaker 2: Absolutely and obviously it helps a lot with you know, 328 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:35,720 Speaker 2: this phenomenon we've seen just grow more and more recently, 329 00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:39,600 Speaker 2: which is the scalping situation. Yeah yeah, I mean, tell 330 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:42,320 Speaker 2: me a bit about combating that. And you know, I mean, 331 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:43,920 Speaker 2: if correct me if I'm wrong, But I feel like 332 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:46,920 Speaker 2: dice is like you can't really scalp on dice. No. 333 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:51,480 Speaker 3: Yeah, So it's the thing that was super important to 334 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:56,560 Speaker 3: us that the it was to protect fans and artists 335 00:16:56,640 --> 00:17:01,760 Speaker 3: from you know, the institutional like you know resellers who 336 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:04,280 Speaker 3: are just buying stuff not because they're fans, because they 337 00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:06,679 Speaker 3: know it's going to sell out and like jack up 338 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:09,600 Speaker 3: the prices and it leaves the industry and you can 339 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:13,280 Speaker 3: see it like you know on you stop hubs, like 340 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:16,080 Speaker 3: you know, financials. They're they're so proud that they're like 341 00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:17,960 Speaker 3: you got all this inventory and they sell it for 342 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:20,560 Speaker 3: lots of money, and it's like it sucks because they 343 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:23,600 Speaker 3: don't have anything to do with the event. They don't 344 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:26,280 Speaker 3: help invest into it, they don't invest into the artists, 345 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:28,640 Speaker 3: they don't make the fan experience like awesome. And so 346 00:17:28,720 --> 00:17:32,240 Speaker 3: the for us is to let's just keep it within 347 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:37,359 Speaker 3: this ecosystem and help build it out. So for us, 348 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:41,800 Speaker 3: as it's a combination of you know, uy where this 349 00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:45,280 Speaker 3: is difficult, Like for example, there's no ticket to sell, 350 00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:47,280 Speaker 3: so you notice that when you buy a ticket it 351 00:17:47,320 --> 00:17:50,399 Speaker 3: only becomes active like just before the event, right, and 352 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:54,960 Speaker 3: so you feel what are you selling? The second is 353 00:17:55,000 --> 00:18:00,680 Speaker 3: around you know, we've got these little bots which within 354 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:04,160 Speaker 3: DICE that can identify someone who you know doesn't have 355 00:18:04,359 --> 00:18:07,800 Speaker 3: like a typical sort of fan behavior, and so we 356 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:09,679 Speaker 3: make them, you know, if they want to transfer a 357 00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:11,480 Speaker 3: ticket or anything else, they have to get in touch 358 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:15,399 Speaker 3: with a support person that DICE. And that's the human side. 359 00:18:15,800 --> 00:18:19,360 Speaker 3: We have things like you've got to have the persons, 360 00:18:19,359 --> 00:18:22,199 Speaker 3: I know, and it sounds weird, but just from our analysis, 361 00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:24,320 Speaker 3: you've got to have the if you want to send 362 00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:26,720 Speaker 3: someone a ticket, they've got to be in your phone book, 363 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:29,960 Speaker 3: right yeah. And again it's just like would you put 364 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:33,639 Speaker 3: a scalper's like phone number in your phone book? Maybe 365 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:37,600 Speaker 3: probably not, And so it's like just it's like dumb 366 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:41,480 Speaker 3: and smart tech to help, like you stop it. 367 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:43,440 Speaker 2: Yeah, like that dumb and smart deck. 368 00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:46,000 Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah, it's like the like a camera in 369 00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:49,800 Speaker 3: a store that doesn't work or whatever else, right right, yeah. 370 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:52,639 Speaker 2: And obviously you know, dynamic pricing is a big reason 371 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 2: also why you started DICE. Just want to get rid 372 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:57,439 Speaker 2: of those fees. Yeah, tell me a bit about like 373 00:18:57,480 --> 00:19:00,240 Speaker 2: how you're sort of able to do that, and and 374 00:19:00,359 --> 00:19:03,840 Speaker 2: just watching from afar, obviously there's been several sort of 375 00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:06,720 Speaker 2: scandals I guess you could call them. We had Taylor Swift, 376 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:10,720 Speaker 2: you know, oasis like these prices just getting jacked up, 377 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:14,200 Speaker 2: and yeah, tell me how you're able to prevent that. 378 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:16,880 Speaker 3: On days there's a the same to lib quote, which 379 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:20,560 Speaker 3: is ethics changes laws, not the other way around. And 380 00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:23,639 Speaker 3: I think that just because it's in our DNA, it 381 00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:29,840 Speaker 3: just happens, like there's ian I have faith in people, 382 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:32,439 Speaker 3: and I have faith and artists. And there are artists 383 00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:36,440 Speaker 3: who you know, probably only have one tour in them. 384 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:38,840 Speaker 3: You know, they might have been you know, become famous 385 00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:40,959 Speaker 3: online or on TV or something like that, and I've 386 00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:44,400 Speaker 3: got one tour, so they want to maximize their revenue. 387 00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:46,879 Speaker 3: Fair play to them if they want to use secondary right, 388 00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:50,200 Speaker 3: it's not right for Dice anyway. But for the large 389 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:54,480 Speaker 3: majority of artists who are building like careers, I do 390 00:19:54,560 --> 00:20:01,040 Speaker 3: think that the people are very emotional about music, which 391 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:03,720 Speaker 3: is why these become like really good headlines, like that 392 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:07,000 Speaker 3: artist might have created a song that got you through 393 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:09,919 Speaker 3: a bad time or a good time, or you know, 394 00:20:10,119 --> 00:20:13,320 Speaker 3: something a connection with somebody or whatever it is. And 395 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:15,919 Speaker 3: if you found out that the artist said like deliberately 396 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:18,679 Speaker 3: instead of you jacked up the prices or did these things. 397 00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:20,520 Speaker 3: It's it's like a betrayal. 398 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:21,159 Speaker 2: It hurts. 399 00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:24,880 Speaker 3: Yeah, and so and so I guess that going back 400 00:20:24,920 --> 00:20:27,960 Speaker 3: into like how we help artist, it does. We've never 401 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:31,160 Speaker 3: had an artist like approaches to do anything like that. 402 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:33,800 Speaker 3: And maybe it's just because they just know that Dice 403 00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:34,879 Speaker 3: just isn't that world. 404 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:38,440 Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, don't go anywhere. 405 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:41,080 Speaker 1: We'll be right back with more from Phil Hutchin, the 406 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:50,159 Speaker 1: CEO of Dice. And we're back with more of my 407 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:53,359 Speaker 1: conversation with Phil Hutchin, the CEO of Dice. 408 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:58,080 Speaker 2: I know that you celebrated your tenth anniversary this year. Correct, 409 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:01,240 Speaker 2: tell me a bit. I guess you know how the 410 00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:03,600 Speaker 2: platform has grown in these past ten years, Like what 411 00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:05,600 Speaker 2: are some ways in which you've seen it change? And 412 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:08,040 Speaker 2: then where are you like looking to go next? 413 00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:11,080 Speaker 3: Cool? So, yeah, I think we're all in denial that 414 00:21:11,119 --> 00:21:12,840 Speaker 3: we're out ten years. It kind of feels like we 415 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:16,240 Speaker 3: have started yesterday and we still have so so much 416 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:21,440 Speaker 3: to do. But the other side is like it is awesome, 417 00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:26,160 Speaker 3: like how how big Dice got in the US, for example, 418 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:28,280 Speaker 3: and like in New York it's cool being able to 419 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:31,040 Speaker 3: go around and see I think we've got just over 420 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:33,120 Speaker 3: a million people a month used Dice in New York. 421 00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:36,719 Speaker 3: You've got one point three million in London. But then 422 00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:39,800 Speaker 3: you're like Paris. But like it's this connection like sort 423 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:45,440 Speaker 3: of around and so yeah, we I'm not very nostalgia, 424 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:47,480 Speaker 3: but at the same time, you know, it is cool, 425 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:50,560 Speaker 3: like it has like broken through to the other side. 426 00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:54,760 Speaker 3: Because we said at the start, there weren't many people 427 00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:57,280 Speaker 3: in day one thinking that we would last this long 428 00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:01,560 Speaker 3: or that you know, we can actually you know, take 429 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:05,600 Speaker 3: on the incumbents or whatever else. But what this happens 430 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:08,320 Speaker 3: that has created space, and you know, I think that 431 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:11,880 Speaker 3: there is so much more room to grow. I think 432 00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:15,280 Speaker 3: the localization of music is not going to reverse. So 433 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:20,280 Speaker 3: like for example, you know artists you know from Africa 434 00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:23,760 Speaker 3: or South America and Asia and then India. Like I 435 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:25,840 Speaker 3: think those scenes are only going to get bigger and 436 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:28,040 Speaker 3: bigger and bigger. And so you know, when we think 437 00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:33,000 Speaker 3: about expansion, we're thinking about sort of those territories for sure. 438 00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:33,560 Speaker 3: That's awesome. 439 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:37,160 Speaker 2: How many US cities is Dice active in right now? 440 00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:41,040 Speaker 3: Yeah, so we're in I think fourteen fifteen. I'm just 441 00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:45,200 Speaker 3: kind of like going deeper like into those existing cities 442 00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:48,199 Speaker 3: over the short period and then sort of widening it 443 00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:51,080 Speaker 3: a little bit into the new year. But then also 444 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:55,440 Speaker 3: we launched in Canada and so yeah, that's something that 445 00:22:55,640 --> 00:23:00,400 Speaker 3: is going super well. But yeah, it it's the thing 446 00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:04,840 Speaker 3: where you and the one side you want to go crazy, 447 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:08,199 Speaker 3: but it's also like making sure that it's that we 448 00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:11,920 Speaker 3: can deliver, like the promise to Fats, so Dice doesn't work. 449 00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:14,080 Speaker 3: It would just have one venue in the city, like 450 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:16,440 Speaker 3: we've got to have, right, You've got to have high 451 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:21,520 Speaker 3: concentration because you know, the big difference between Dice and 452 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:25,639 Speaker 3: anybody else is that we create a lot of demand. 453 00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:31,040 Speaker 3: You know, the we our thing to venues and artists 454 00:23:31,080 --> 00:23:33,600 Speaker 3: is like cool, your marketing spend will plummet once you're 455 00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:35,919 Speaker 3: on Dice. But if you only got one venue in 456 00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:37,920 Speaker 3: the city, then we don't really have that because you've 457 00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:40,000 Speaker 3: got that one thing. So that's why when you go 458 00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:42,400 Speaker 3: to a Dice city, there's usually lots of events. 459 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:43,439 Speaker 2: It's got to be like a scene. 460 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:45,960 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's got to be a scene. Yeah, yeah, for sure. 461 00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:49,480 Speaker 2: And you know, I found that Dice particularly appeals to 462 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:52,760 Speaker 2: young people, Like it's I think it's in the app design, 463 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:55,520 Speaker 2: it's in the social media aspect. I guess how do 464 00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:58,280 Speaker 2: how do you ensure that through the marketing as well 465 00:23:58,359 --> 00:23:59,439 Speaker 2: of that? 466 00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:05,320 Speaker 3: First of all, because we were very data oriented companies 467 00:24:05,359 --> 00:24:08,840 Speaker 3: that the you know, the next generation and going out 468 00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:11,840 Speaker 3: as much as anyone else. So nothing has really changed 469 00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:14,000 Speaker 3: in terms of because you read all these art I 470 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:17,640 Speaker 3: saw it today this morning in the Guardian talking about 471 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:20,439 Speaker 3: people not going out anymore, like so, who are all 472 00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:23,280 Speaker 3: these people going at every night of the week. Why 473 00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:25,280 Speaker 3: is it that there's waiting this for all of these 474 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:28,720 Speaker 3: events because they're all sold out. So yeah, first of all, 475 00:24:28,720 --> 00:24:31,879 Speaker 3: everyone is going out as much as they did, and 476 00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:33,920 Speaker 3: I think maybe it's just an aging that people think 477 00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:36,960 Speaker 3: that they don't. I think they also been ten years old. 478 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:40,520 Speaker 3: At Dice, we're seeing people who maybe started in the 479 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:46,159 Speaker 3: early twenties like still using dice and so the you know, 480 00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:49,679 Speaker 3: we've seen a little bit of an increase on that 481 00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:51,600 Speaker 3: as well, like people sort of you know going out 482 00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:56,000 Speaker 3: and keep going out on Dice. But it is also 483 00:24:56,119 --> 00:25:01,959 Speaker 3: like missle to say that Dice is just for like 484 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,359 Speaker 3: a younger demographic. It's a majority, sure, yeah, but we 485 00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:10,040 Speaker 3: have lots of shows that hasn't an older audience. It 486 00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:12,959 Speaker 3: was funny like, yeah, ten years ago, would anyone damnload 487 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:16,479 Speaker 3: an app to go to an event was like a thing, right, 488 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:21,040 Speaker 3: you know. We did Adele at Wembley Stadium and they're like, oh, 489 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:24,600 Speaker 3: how is the older fans going to use the phone? 490 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:29,159 Speaker 3: I'm like, you're literally texting me on your phone about this, 491 00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:31,840 Speaker 3: Like people use their phones all the time, like it's 492 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:34,160 Speaker 3: so easy to use. So it's kind of just that thing. 493 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:36,920 Speaker 3: So I felt that that thing has gone away now, 494 00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:40,040 Speaker 3: but it's it's making it really easy for everyone. 495 00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:47,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, you spoke to President Biden recently about 496 00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:49,679 Speaker 2: you know, dynamic pricing, the ticket marketplace as all of that. 497 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:53,399 Speaker 2: Tell me a bit about meeting. Meeting mister Biden. You 498 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:55,119 Speaker 2: know what was that Like, what did that mean to 499 00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:56,680 Speaker 2: you to be able to have that conversation? 500 00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:00,880 Speaker 3: It was it was just normal, normal day. 501 00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:03,960 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's fine. 502 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:08,520 Speaker 3: What are you doing on Wednesday? Okay? Yeah, but there 503 00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:10,359 Speaker 3: are some funny stories about trying to get into the 504 00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:13,440 Speaker 3: country because I was actually stopped really yeah, so I 505 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:18,760 Speaker 3: got to the security and they, yeah, they are super friendly, 506 00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:21,120 Speaker 3: but they were like, oh, while you're in a wre 507 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:24,199 Speaker 3: you coming to the US, I have meetings. Where are 508 00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:27,119 Speaker 3: your meetings? It's at the White House. Who are you 509 00:26:27,119 --> 00:26:29,720 Speaker 3: meeting at the White House? I meeting the President and 510 00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:31,840 Speaker 3: they're like, okay, come with me. And it sent me 511 00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:36,520 Speaker 3: to the interrogation because it just like like it comes 512 00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:39,280 Speaker 3: over on like a twelve dollars est divisa, like meeting 513 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:42,640 Speaker 3: the president. So yeah, it was crazy. Yeah, it was funny. 514 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:45,760 Speaker 3: And so it's funny. It's actually funny at the time 515 00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:46,879 Speaker 3: because I'm like, this is going to be a good 516 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:48,120 Speaker 3: story one day for a podcast. 517 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:49,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, and here we are. 518 00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:53,560 Speaker 3: Here we are. But it was coming back on the 519 00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:56,000 Speaker 3: plane because the whole thing was so surreal. It was 520 00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:58,160 Speaker 3: only when it hit me, like why I was there 521 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:01,600 Speaker 3: like the only non American, Like I'm around the table. 522 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:04,880 Speaker 3: I mean we spoke to the present of like forty 523 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:07,000 Speaker 3: minutes after the press conference as well, and it was 524 00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:10,960 Speaker 3: something that is super passionate about, you know, the the 525 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:15,399 Speaker 3: Drunk Fees Act. And I realized that because this has 526 00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:18,080 Speaker 3: always been our DNA, because we've always been into upfront 527 00:27:18,119 --> 00:27:21,639 Speaker 3: pricing because it make it really easy. My job is 528 00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:25,520 Speaker 3: to reassure the others that it's actually a really good 529 00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:30,080 Speaker 3: business model. Like I don't understand why there's all these 530 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:32,800 Speaker 3: I just I still don't understand like why people keep 531 00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:34,639 Speaker 3: adding all these things and everything else, Like it just 532 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:38,439 Speaker 3: feels like you just lose consumer trust and so and 533 00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:41,040 Speaker 3: as it was I mean Airbnb with that, I mean yeah, 534 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:42,679 Speaker 3: and it's kind of like that. You know, you go 535 00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:44,359 Speaker 3: there and you're like, oh cool, it's like two hundred 536 00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:45,840 Speaker 3: dollars a night, and then you get to the end 537 00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:48,520 Speaker 3: it's like it's crazy fees. And I think that the 538 00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:52,639 Speaker 3: more transparent everyone is, the better behavior it is on 539 00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:56,840 Speaker 3: all sites, you know, in the terms of the Airbnb 540 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:01,080 Speaker 3: of like that price is up front, you know, those 541 00:28:01,119 --> 00:28:03,640 Speaker 3: cleaning fees are like, you know, they can't get away 542 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:06,119 Speaker 3: with them, and so it's just good behavior. And I 543 00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:11,320 Speaker 3: think that the conversation was very real. I think, you know, 544 00:28:11,359 --> 00:28:14,200 Speaker 3: as a result of that and many other things that 545 00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:17,640 Speaker 3: that actor has come into play, I feel like companies 546 00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:22,320 Speaker 3: are sort of trending to be in more up from 547 00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:23,959 Speaker 3: about how much something is. 548 00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:28,280 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's amazing. I mean obviously there was an 549 00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:31,680 Speaker 2: election recently, and do you think like that that will 550 00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:35,160 Speaker 2: change it all. Are you still hopeful for the future 551 00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:38,400 Speaker 2: of you know, ticketing in the US or you know, 552 00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:39,680 Speaker 2: do you have any thoughts on that? 553 00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:45,600 Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's just still the same consumers, you know, 554 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:50,560 Speaker 3: whether whoever they vote for. They don't want to get 555 00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:53,480 Speaker 3: ripped off and they don't want to be exploited and 556 00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:56,560 Speaker 3: they don't want to be paying like unnecessary fees, and 557 00:28:56,600 --> 00:29:00,880 Speaker 3: so I think that that train has to I think 558 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:04,240 Speaker 3: social media has a big part to play there. You know, 559 00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:06,840 Speaker 3: if you think about when this happens now fans get 560 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:09,000 Speaker 3: really angry and go back to my story at the beginning, 561 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:11,440 Speaker 3: like why did we set this up? The artist finds 562 00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:14,160 Speaker 3: out straight away, the artist calls the manager, the manager 563 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:16,840 Speaker 3: calls the agent, the agent calls the promoter. So it's 564 00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:19,800 Speaker 3: kind of like it's a thing now. And so I 565 00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:22,400 Speaker 3: think that the more that fans, you know, make a 566 00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:25,520 Speaker 3: big deal out of it, the faster things will change. 567 00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:27,800 Speaker 2: For sure. I mean why do you think that, like 568 00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:30,920 Speaker 2: the Taylor, Swifts and Oasis of the world are still 569 00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:31,880 Speaker 2: using ticket. 570 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:34,280 Speaker 3: Aster Yeah, because they earned the rights of the venue. 571 00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:38,280 Speaker 3: Yeah okay, yeah, yeah yeah, and they have to so yeah, okay, okay. 572 00:29:38,560 --> 00:29:41,120 Speaker 2: I mean looking forward, like, how do you hope to 573 00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:43,600 Speaker 2: you know, sort of work with those venues you can 574 00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:45,640 Speaker 2: work with those artists, Like, what what is the path 575 00:29:45,760 --> 00:29:50,160 Speaker 2: forward there to? I guess make things more affordable like everyone. 576 00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:52,880 Speaker 3: That's good because we get asked a lot like would 577 00:29:52,920 --> 00:29:54,960 Speaker 3: you want to do you know, why do you do 578 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:59,200 Speaker 3: in the Taylor Swift shows? But she doesn't really need us, 579 00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:02,200 Speaker 3: like because it's going to sell it anyway, right, you 580 00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:04,560 Speaker 3: know what I mean? So our you know, the superpower 581 00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:07,560 Speaker 3: of Dice is you know, getting is kind of more 582 00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:10,360 Speaker 3: of the mid market so venues between like two hundred 583 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:14,080 Speaker 3: and like twelve thousand, and our thing is to you know, 584 00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:18,760 Speaker 3: going back into that Dell concert, like the fans that 585 00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:21,200 Speaker 3: bought a ticket to that, they kind of use Dice 586 00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:23,800 Speaker 3: once or twice again. But like you're just talking about 587 00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:25,760 Speaker 3: yourself how you used it all the time. Ye Like 588 00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:27,800 Speaker 3: we've got fans and Dice who go to like two 589 00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:28,960 Speaker 3: hundred and fifty shows a year. 590 00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:30,760 Speaker 2: Yeah probably mean. 591 00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:36,040 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah yeah probably you yeah. But there is like 592 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:38,680 Speaker 3: you know, tens of thousands of fans like in London 593 00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:40,920 Speaker 3: who go out at least one hundred times a year 594 00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:44,840 Speaker 3: on Dice. And so for us as the I kind 595 00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:50,200 Speaker 3: of like this world. I like the idea of almost 596 00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:52,280 Speaker 3: like using a lot of the aspects that get people 597 00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:55,320 Speaker 3: to use social medium within Dice to get them to 598 00:30:55,360 --> 00:30:59,120 Speaker 3: go up more too, and that's why we want to 599 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:02,520 Speaker 3: dig more into in this world where you know, think 600 00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:05,200 Speaker 3: I hear like people you know and CEOs talk about 601 00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:07,520 Speaker 3: learning as bi it. You generally think that DICE actually 602 00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:10,520 Speaker 3: helps people like meet other people, and so you know, 603 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:12,840 Speaker 3: you can be very isolating, particularly in the big city. 604 00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:15,720 Speaker 3: So getting people out more is a is a cool 605 00:31:15,720 --> 00:31:16,960 Speaker 3: thing to do. 606 00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:19,320 Speaker 2: I know. There's also a new marketplace that I think 607 00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:23,120 Speaker 2: launch this year where artists can sell experiences and merch 608 00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:26,560 Speaker 2: What makes that different from the traditional route and how 609 00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:29,520 Speaker 2: does that fit into the DICE ETOs. 610 00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:33,800 Speaker 3: So we have a thesis around online and offline that 611 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:38,000 Speaker 3: everything online is ubiquitous and often free, and you get 612 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:41,160 Speaker 3: anything you want, but a live event is scats and 613 00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:44,280 Speaker 3: it only happens once. And so when we're looking at 614 00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:49,760 Speaker 3: products and working with artists, we're talking about things that 615 00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:52,480 Speaker 3: you can only get if you're attending the show. So 616 00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:56,680 Speaker 3: it's like dedicated products, not necessarily just merchandise. So for example, 617 00:31:57,200 --> 00:32:01,000 Speaker 3: we have some artists who will sign a set list, 618 00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:03,760 Speaker 3: take a photo of it, and you can sell that 619 00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:07,240 Speaker 3: through the app. Things that make it. Going back to 620 00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:10,880 Speaker 3: what I was saying earlier around anticipation, participation in memory 621 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:13,640 Speaker 3: like something as a memory for us, it's like, can 622 00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:16,400 Speaker 3: we help artists create like a shirt that is just 623 00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:19,640 Speaker 3: for that one event? And so as a fan five 624 00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:22,480 Speaker 3: years later, you open your drawer and you're like, oh, look, 625 00:32:22,520 --> 00:32:25,840 Speaker 3: that's when you know I've played in London and it's 626 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:28,880 Speaker 3: like yeah, and it kind of brings it back and 627 00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:33,320 Speaker 3: it's cool and it's physical and you know it. And 628 00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:37,320 Speaker 3: so for us, as you know, we've got you hear 629 00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:40,720 Speaker 3: this word super fan banded around quite a lot. But 630 00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:42,800 Speaker 3: do think that somebod who pays money to go see 631 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:46,080 Speaker 3: an artists perform is really like a super fan. And 632 00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:48,360 Speaker 3: so if the artist is able to sell directly to 633 00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:51,480 Speaker 3: that super fan, and that super fan appreciates that that 634 00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:55,959 Speaker 3: merch or product is like unique to that show, then 635 00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:58,240 Speaker 3: it's good for everyone. 636 00:32:58,600 --> 00:32:58,840 Speaker 2: You know. 637 00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:02,080 Speaker 3: That definitely was something that we saw during the pandemic. 638 00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:06,120 Speaker 3: I think pre pandemic, particularly bands used to think that 639 00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:10,320 Speaker 3: it wasn't you know, cool to like work with brands 640 00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:13,360 Speaker 3: or anything else and then also ask fans for money. 641 00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:16,080 Speaker 3: And then during the pandemic, because of all the live 642 00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:19,200 Speaker 3: streaming and everything else and ticulate live streams that whether 643 00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:22,959 Speaker 3: it's unconscious or not that fans realize that artists need 644 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:25,600 Speaker 3: to make money to keep going. And so for us 645 00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:27,760 Speaker 3: with the artists commerce and all the cash going to 646 00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:30,520 Speaker 3: the artists is like you read a lot of stories 647 00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:35,240 Speaker 3: about how streaming is reducing, you know, the income that 648 00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:37,840 Speaker 3: that artists are getting. Well, yeah, here's a way to 649 00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:41,840 Speaker 3: like help artists generate enough money to put out more 650 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:43,000 Speaker 3: great songs for sure. 651 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:46,400 Speaker 2: And it's also become so much harder for artists to tour, 652 00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:49,160 Speaker 2: specifically that like middle market. I think we're seeing a 653 00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:51,760 Speaker 2: lot of artists speaking out saying, hey, I can't go 654 00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:54,920 Speaker 2: on tour this year, like you know, and I think 655 00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:58,000 Speaker 2: that that's something that is obviously very sad and something 656 00:33:58,040 --> 00:34:00,440 Speaker 2: that they need to need to sort of effect. But 657 00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:02,600 Speaker 2: you know, how can Dice help with that? 658 00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:06,280 Speaker 3: Yeah, well that's actually was sort of alluding to Earliot. 659 00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:08,319 Speaker 3: So if any artists are listening to this, like get 660 00:34:08,320 --> 00:34:12,840 Speaker 3: in touch, Like what where we can help is figure 661 00:34:12,840 --> 00:34:15,480 Speaker 3: out where you should play and where you shouldn't play, right, 662 00:34:15,560 --> 00:34:19,680 Speaker 3: And quite often you might go to the agent and 663 00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:22,279 Speaker 3: they're like, Okay, here's fifteen shows and we're not really 664 00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:26,960 Speaker 3: thinking about it. And so I think that artists can 665 00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:29,520 Speaker 3: use data to really like think about things. And it's 666 00:34:29,520 --> 00:34:33,480 Speaker 3: around pricing as well. To be honest, we hear a 667 00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:36,279 Speaker 3: lot about how prices are expensive, but there's a lot 668 00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:39,480 Speaker 3: of shows that are too cheap, you know, Like you've 669 00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:41,560 Speaker 3: got these artist whore spending so much money on the 670 00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:45,520 Speaker 3: production and everything else, and the ticket you know, is 671 00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:48,839 Speaker 3: like twenty pounds. Yeah, and you're like, okay, that's that's 672 00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:50,719 Speaker 3: nice that you're doing that. But if you charge like 673 00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:53,759 Speaker 3: twenty six find's going to be okay about it. You've 674 00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:57,960 Speaker 3: got plenty of massive weight lists, but it's it's helping 675 00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:02,720 Speaker 3: them feel okay about that. And then there's some shows 676 00:35:02,719 --> 00:35:06,120 Speaker 3: that they're charging way too much. So again like you know, 677 00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:08,600 Speaker 3: you need to reduce this. If you really wanted to 678 00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:12,160 Speaker 3: like pack this out, the price should be this instead. 679 00:35:12,239 --> 00:35:14,880 Speaker 3: And so yeah, we can help like you know, figure 680 00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:18,919 Speaker 3: out like what the sweet spot is because you really 681 00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:21,560 Speaker 3: just want to get as many people into the show 682 00:35:21,600 --> 00:35:24,680 Speaker 3: as possible. And then that kind of like benefits everyone 683 00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:28,880 Speaker 3: as opposed to you know, maybe you're pricing incorrectly or 684 00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:31,799 Speaker 3: playing in the wrong city or anything else. And so yeah, 685 00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:35,600 Speaker 3: I do think that we can help those artists who 686 00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:39,840 Speaker 3: kind of struggle across the board to make money to 687 00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:43,640 Speaker 3: be more targeted. Yeah, for sure. Very cool. 688 00:35:44,520 --> 00:35:47,239 Speaker 2: Looking back in the past decade, what would you say 689 00:35:47,320 --> 00:35:50,360 Speaker 2: has been like your proudest moment or like your favorite 690 00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:53,000 Speaker 2: show the past ten years that you've been a part of. 691 00:35:53,239 --> 00:35:55,719 Speaker 3: Yeah. So, I mean it's only because I said not 692 00:35:55,840 --> 00:35:58,200 Speaker 3: very nostalgic. So I think the Cure, like a few 693 00:35:58,239 --> 00:35:59,399 Speaker 3: weeks ago, the Cure. 694 00:35:59,480 --> 00:35:59,680 Speaker 2: Yeah. 695 00:35:59,719 --> 00:36:02,479 Speaker 3: Yeah. So they played one show in twenty twenty four, 696 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:07,239 Speaker 3: no pressure, like and and we did all of the 697 00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:13,719 Speaker 3: tickets in a three thousand capacity venue and uh, you know, 698 00:36:13,719 --> 00:36:16,239 Speaker 3: one hundred thousand people like in the first second trying 699 00:36:16,239 --> 00:36:17,280 Speaker 3: to get tickets. 700 00:36:17,560 --> 00:36:19,799 Speaker 2: Yeah, I lost out on that one. Yeah. 701 00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:22,759 Speaker 3: Yeah, to get wead I see someone got wait list 702 00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:28,520 Speaker 3: like some really yeah yeah, they posted it there. Yeah, 703 00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:31,839 Speaker 3: and it just went like two minutes, it's gone, everything's done. 704 00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:34,000 Speaker 3: And I think that after the experience of like some 705 00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:36,719 Speaker 3: big acts, like you've taken nine hours to get a 706 00:36:36,719 --> 00:36:39,920 Speaker 3: ticket to have that done, and then going on to 707 00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:44,040 Speaker 3: Reddit and seen like fans like being bombed out that 708 00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:45,839 Speaker 3: they didn't get a ticket, but kind of like cool 709 00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:48,759 Speaker 3: that it's sort of yeah, it just worked. And so 710 00:36:48,880 --> 00:36:53,520 Speaker 3: that was, you know, a pretty big moment particularly because 711 00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:56,520 Speaker 3: you know, Robert Smith Cure was talking about ticketing so 712 00:36:56,600 --> 00:36:59,120 Speaker 3: much and everything else, and for that from end to end, 713 00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:02,600 Speaker 3: no scalping, tickets went at the right price, everyone got 714 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:05,200 Speaker 3: in amazing atmosphere. You say it was good. 715 00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:07,040 Speaker 2: I thought Robert was a very happy man. 716 00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:11,799 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, or maybe not because we like being sad. Yeah, 717 00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:12,960 Speaker 3: like that's true. 718 00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:18,359 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, amazing. I mean when you look forward 719 00:37:18,440 --> 00:37:21,279 Speaker 2: to the next ten years of Dice, so what are 720 00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:23,680 Speaker 2: some of those broad goals that you have. How do 721 00:37:23,719 --> 00:37:26,239 Speaker 2: you help to see the company grow while still maintaining 722 00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:28,200 Speaker 2: you know what we talked about with this sort of 723 00:37:28,239 --> 00:37:31,799 Speaker 2: like middle market area and really catering to the fans. 724 00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:34,759 Speaker 3: First of all, is the geographic expansion, like just going 725 00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:39,240 Speaker 3: everywhere and having Dice in all the top cities. Second, 726 00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:44,480 Speaker 3: is the your community aspect, the idea that you know, 727 00:37:44,600 --> 00:37:47,480 Speaker 3: more and more fans getting together. You know, we live 728 00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:52,120 Speaker 3: in such a divisive word world and different opinions, and 729 00:37:52,160 --> 00:37:55,040 Speaker 3: you know this tournament presidency and everything else, but music 730 00:37:55,120 --> 00:37:58,400 Speaker 3: is like a really cool unifier and getting people chatting 731 00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:00,480 Speaker 3: to each other and everything else. I think it's it's good. 732 00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:09,120 Speaker 3: And then the commerce aspect, really helping artists to tour 733 00:38:09,200 --> 00:38:12,400 Speaker 3: effectively being able to go everywhere that they're like because 734 00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:15,760 Speaker 3: I honestly believe this is the best time in history 735 00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:18,520 Speaker 3: to be in music. I think if you think about 736 00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:22,520 Speaker 3: like every everyone thinks that the last year was better 737 00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:26,319 Speaker 3: or the last generation was better. But now you can 738 00:38:26,360 --> 00:38:29,759 Speaker 3: put out a song and that song can go viral, like, 739 00:38:30,080 --> 00:38:34,479 Speaker 3: you know, almost instantly, and also you know, everyone around 740 00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:38,279 Speaker 3: the world can hear that song instantly. And then from 741 00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:43,000 Speaker 3: a touring perspective, it's kind of I really love seeing 742 00:38:43,360 --> 00:38:48,640 Speaker 3: you know, Southeast Asian artists like coming on DICE because 743 00:38:48,640 --> 00:38:51,239 Speaker 3: they just book the shows directly, they just book then 744 00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:53,759 Speaker 3: they just do it and they sell out and they 745 00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:55,520 Speaker 3: do these things and they've got the merchant and they 746 00:38:55,560 --> 00:38:59,880 Speaker 3: do and I do think that's a blueprint for you know, 747 00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:04,319 Speaker 3: for the future where you know, you know, artists can 748 00:39:04,640 --> 00:39:07,160 Speaker 3: feel confident that they can go to any country in 749 00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:08,840 Speaker 3: the world and as long as there's an audience so 750 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:11,160 Speaker 3: that they can do something really great. 751 00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:16,719 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Strictly Business And if you want 752 00:39:16,760 --> 00:39:18,799 Speaker 1: to know more about DICE or see what kind of 753 00:39:18,840 --> 00:39:22,279 Speaker 1: cool shows they're throwing in your city, download the DICE app. 754 00:39:22,719 --> 00:39:24,960 Speaker 1: In the meantime, please leave US, a review at Apple 755 00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:27,759 Speaker 1: podcasts at Amazon Music, and come back next week for 756 00:39:27,840 --> 00:39:28,879 Speaker 1: another episode.