LONDON (CelebrityAccess) — Just a week after securing an additional $122 million in Series C funding, music discovery and ticketing service Dice announced the acquisition of the livestreaming platform Boiler Room.
Boiler Room, which launched in 2010 as a ‘webcam taped to a wall’ providing viewers with a grainy glimpse of London’s underground club scene, has grown into an archive spanning over 8000 performances by more than 5000 artists across 200 cities.
According to Dice, the acquisition of Boiler Room will allow the company to accelerate its content generation and pay all artists for broadcasting live performances from tours and festivals, and provide users with documentaries, original content, apparel collaborations and more.
Boiler Room’s initiatives in the past year include the New South Asian Underground featuring Yung Singh & Daytimers, a showcase of Auckland’s premiere QTIPOC collective FILTH, as well as clothing collaborations with Sherelle & Eris Drew, and grants supporting collectives Nyege Nyege and Masisi in the broadcast space.
Following the acquisition, Boiler Room has formed a new board of directors that includes Terry Weerasinghe, Blaise Bellville, Ibtisam Omer and Phil Hutcheon, with plans to appoint new members in the future.
The merger will also result in hiring at both Dice and Boiler room at a number of locations, the companies said.
“DICE has built an incredible platform by being laser-focused on creating the best possible experience for fans and event partners – their app has millions of music fans accessing live music around the world. My experience when talking to Phil was inspiring and he immediately recognised how important Boiler Room is and how much potential we have. I believe deeply that the best way for Boiler Room to evolve is by partnering with a company that values what we are today, and provides the tools we need to grow into the future – we play to our strengths and they to theirs. DICE believes in powering Boiler Room while still allowing us to remain an independent entity – this will enable us to move into a new era and be the best version of ourselves,” said Boiler Room’s founder Blaise Belville.
“I’ve been a fan of Boiler Room for years – they’re world-leading in bringing incredible experiences to fans. Blaise [Boiler Room CEO] and I have been discussing how to support artists better for over a year now, and the more we spoke, the more excited we were to work together. The combination of Boiler Room with the distribution and technology of DICE creates substantial opportunities within a sustainable, transparent and fair model,” added Dice CEO and Founder Phil Hutcheon.
