Live music marketplace GigPig plans to launch in 10 cities across the UK.
Following a pre-seed investment in June 2022, GigPig has been piloting its new platform in Manchester and Newcastle. Over 200 restaurants, bars, pubs and clubs have signed up, including national chains such as Mission Mars, Arc Inspirations, NQ64 and Crazy Pedros, as well as local establishments such as The Alan, Freemount Stack and Jimmy’s Manchester.
In those two cities, an average of more than 100 DJs, bands, musicians and production crew are signing up every month.
GigPig estimates that it can help venues save up to 90% on the cost of booking live music and provides artists with a free platform to find, play and get paid for gigs.
At a time when venues and artists are facing increases in operating costs, GigPig aims to support the UK’s live music scene. Over the coming weeks, the platform will launch in 10 new cities across the country, including Brighton, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London and Nottingham.
GigPig expects the expansion to attract more than 1,000 venues, 3,000 artists and generate over 1,000 gigs a week in the coming months.
Michael Forster, co-founder and CEO, GigPig, said: “Every year the hospitality sector is forced to pay millions to access the live music market, while artists are forced to give away a large portion of their earnings to third party agents. We built GigPig to put control of the UK’s live music scene back in the hands of venues and artists, allowing any venue to offer live music in just a few clicks and creating new work opportunities for artists. By removing barriers to entry, GigPig will help democratise and grow the UK’s live music scene, providing venues with a cost effective way to increase revenue and giving artists a reliable way to earn a good living gigging.”
We built GigPig to put control of the UK’s live music scene back in the hands of venues and artists
Michael Forster
Mark Austin, head of operations, Arc Inspirations, said: “GigPig has been a revolution for our business, a simple and intuitive system that has allowed us to streamline and make significant cost savings on our ever growing entertainment offerings. Given the cost pressures our sector is facing, GigPig’s platform is helping us navigate the increasing headwinds and providing a much needed boost to our bottom line.”
GigPig’s nationwide launch has also received the backing of trade associations from across the hospitality sector.
Kate Nicholls, chief executive, UKHospitality, said: “Going to see our favourite bands or artists perform is always such a great experience and our vibrant and diverse live music venues play such a central part of that. Hospitality can play a key role in driving economic growth in our cities and innovating has always been a key part of what we do as a sector. It’s fantastic to see businesses like GigPig explore new ways of working and I’m looking forward to seeing the results of its national rollout.”
Nik Antona, national chairman, CAMRA, said: "We're delighted to support GigPig - an easy-to-use and valuable tool to help local pubs book live musicians and DJs. We know that many top musicians have started their careers performing in the nation's pubs, and publicans can use live music to help drive traffic on slower evenings. As the hub of their local community, pubs are natural live music venues, creating a fantastic opportunity for people to get together and enjoy a pint while listening to the music they love."
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