People’s Champion Finalist: DICE

Start-up name: DICE
Founder: Phil Hutcheon
Started in: 2014
Based in: London
Business description: Gig tickets with no booking fee 

Shortlisted category:

App Business of the Year

The DICE story:

Born from a frustration with traditional ticketing, DICE aims to avoid the downsides of booking tickets to see your favourite bands by doing away with transaction fees and ticket touts. Music to your ears? 

A joint venture between music industry veteran Phil Hutcheon and digital studio ustwo – and backed by a host of tech and music industry heavyweights, including the founders of Google DeepMind, OpenTable, Secret Escapes, Metropolis and i:emusic – DICE offers music lovers a hassle free mobile solution. All tickets are linked to the device they’re purchased on – meaning no printing and no touts – while unwanted tickets can be returned for a full refund and fans can be kept on a waiting list for sold out shows.

Every show is personally selected by head of music Russ Tannen and former Radio 1 DJ Jen Long, with more than 600 artists having sold tickets through the app to date, including Taylor Swift, Jamie XX and A$AP Rocky.

Currently live in London, Manchester, Bristol, Glasgow and Cardiff, DICE has an aggressive roll-out strategy. With plans to be live in a number of new cities by the end of year, the young start-up has also quadrupled ticket sales in the last quarter alone. 

Why DICE made our 60:

Having sold out Four Tet’s Brixton Academy gig in under three minutes and recently partnering with Red Bull and some of Island Record’s biggest artists, fans and the industry are clearly responding to DICE’s no nonsense approach to ticketing.

Where to find out more about DICE:

Website: https://dice.fm
Twitter: twitter.com/dicefm
Facebook: facebook.com/dicefm