DICE have announced this month that they are starting to allow artists and event organisers to sell merchandise on their app.
DICE is a mobile ticketing platform that launched in 2014. The service is solely available on mobile devices and allows the user to search for, browse and purchase tickets to various events. It is available to both android and iOS users, and branched out to the United States in 2017. The service advertises that the tickets they sell are sourced directly from labels, producers and venues, to avoid secondary ticketing. Throughout the years, secondary ticketing has become an increasingly infuriating problem for fans who want to purchase concert or festival tickets.
The service expanded its sales of livestream tickets at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing musicians to sell their tickets for online events.
Merch on DICE is their latest business venture, and their website suggests that its main function is to “Sell limited edition products direct to fans.” They’ve also described the service, which is currently in beta mode, as being “beautifully simple.”
The service was launched as a direct-to-fan shopping experience, created specifically for live events like concerts and shows. Through limited-edition drops, fans who purchase tickets through DICE will have the opportunity to purchase a range of merchandise. The items are made-to-order, meaning that there are no fees for storage, but that does mean that artists are at the mercy of DICE’s unknown printing costs.
For shows that occur at venues in-person, fans can collect their merchandise from the venue itself. For shows that take place online through streaming, the merchandise is sent through the post, with regularly updated shipping notifications.
The service appears to be a quick and efficient way for artists to make money throughout the pandemic, saving them money on fees for website providers. Since the service is invite-only, it is not clear how much the service costs for those who want to make use of it, or how much the merchandise printing costs. Hopefully, in the coming months, we will start to see artists using this service, so other artists can gauge the range of products available for print.
