DICE acquires Boiler Room

01 October 2021 - Press release

DICE, the fast growing music discovery and ticketing platform, has acquired the pioneering underground and electronic music live streaming platform, Boiler Room.

Combining DICE’s curated discovery technology and ticketing capabilities with Boiler Room’s extensive and unique music programming, the two platforms will combine to offer the best live and live stream fan experiences. 

The two platforms will work together to enhance Boiler Room’s offering and drive additional revenue to artists, rights holders, collectives, festivals and clubs, providing the tools and solutions to help partners and creators thrive in the challenging and ever changing music ecosystem. 

Phil Hutcheon, Founder and CEO of DICE, commented: "I’ve been a fan of Boiler Room for years and they’re world leading in bringing incredible experiences to fans. Blaise [Boiler Room CEO] and I have been discussing for over a year how to support artists better 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 in a sustainable, transparent and fair model.”

Blaise Belville, Boiler Room, founder, commented: “DICE has built an incredible platform by being laser-focused on creating the best possible experience for fans and event partners - their app now 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’s belief in ‘powering’ us but allowing Boiler Room to remain our own independent entity, all of this will enable us to move into a new era and be the best version of ourselves.”

Boiler Room’s extraordinary history began over a decade ago, as a webcam taped to a wall, that opened a keyhole into London’s thriving underground. Since 2010, Boiler Room has built a unique archive spanning over 8000 performances by more than 5000 artists across 200 cities - playing an essential role in supporting and amplifying underground music globally.

The partnership will allow Boiler Room to continue driving its core initiatives and continue to pay all artists for broadcasting - championing diverse artists and scenes through broadcasts, tours and festivals, documentaries, original content, apparel collaborations, and more. In the past year alone, these initiatives have led to standout moments including a critically-acclaimed celebration of 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.

Since being founded in 2014, DICE has changed how fans discover and attend events and transformed ticketing. DICE offers fans and the industry a transparent ‘fan-first’ model and mobile-first platform that prevents the secondary resale of tickets and inflated prices. 

With a mission to bring people together to enjoy shows, DICE makes it easy for fans to discover and buy tickets in seconds through its innovative technology. DICE has clear upfront pricing, and features such as refunds on sold-out shows and a popular “Waitlist” feature that provides diehard fans with access to the most popular concerts and ensures that venues are at capacity, garnering support from the industry. The platform introduced high-quality livestreaming to its offering last year to great success, having supported over 6400 artists and selling tickets in 147 countries. 

A new Boiler Room board has been formed with Terry Weerasinghe, Blaise Bellville, Ibtisam Omer and Phil Hutcheon, and over time this will be grown with new member appointments. This merger will see the expansion of both teams across a number of locations.