Ticket stubs cover cracks in walls up and down the world’s teenage bedrooms. A souvenir, a memory, a look back to a time where you were in awe of a weekly hero…even if a little ripped off. With every 9am at the computer waiting to buy tickets to see your favourite band comes that two minute realisation that a company is gonna knick a couple of quid from your pocket. Booking fees, the unnecessary charge we pay in order to be able to see the bands the way they want to be seen. But is that to be a thing of the past? DICE think so. The app, available on your iPhone and android smart phones, allows you to book your tickets on the go with no booking fees! We think it’s the future so we spoke to Russ Tannen, one of the top dogs behind the app to ask him what inspired Dice and what’s the catch?
Could you tell us about what DICE is, who is behind it and why it was set up?
Think back to the last time you bought a ticket to a show. Painful? Probably. The what and why of DICE is the answer to this problem. Ticketing is traditionally seen as some kind of necessary evil – but what if buying tickets was easy? What if you didn’t feel ripped off every time? What if you could do it on your phone? What if you could find out about all the best gigs happening in your city at the same time? That’s DICE.
How does it work?
We curate a list of the very best gigs happening in London, Glasgow, Bristol and Manchester and in two taps you can buy tickets. There is no booking fees, the ticket lives in your phone so there is no printing at home, and we’ll drop you a reminder with all the info about the show on the day. You can also add yourself to a waiting list for sold out events, so if we can get our hands on some more or someone can’t make it you’ll be in with a chance of getting a ticket.
Why do you feel now is the time to move on from paper tickets, is DICE the inevitable response to the digital age? Are we better off with DICE in our pockets?
If it’s possible to board a plane and go to another country without a paper ticket, then surely we can enter a venue. We’re in a new age where everyone has a powerful computer in their pocket – DICE is about using this technology to help fans find out about and go to more gigs, easier than ever before.
DICE initially only catered to gigs in London, any plans to branch out further than this in the future?
We’ve launched in Bristol, Manchester and Glasgow, we’re selling exclusively for the Red Bull Music Academy UK Tour which kicks off on 26th March in Glasgow and features incredible artists like Danny Brown, Seth Troxler and A$AP Rocky. You can tell us where you’d like us to go next via the App.
Which DICE supported gigs should we be looking out for in the next couple of months?
I haven’t stopped listening to the Iceage record that came out last year and can’t wait to see them again on 27th April at Village Underground. The line up for The Strokes at Hyde Park is ridiculously on point, and I’m going to head up to Manchester to catch Lapsley live for the first time on 18th April.