In one sentence, what is your product/service?

GigRev provides a private social media platform for artist/bands to run their own digital fan club.

What problem(s) does it solve?

GigRev has taken the social media model but changed the ownership of the ‘Like’.

All social networks are the gatekeepers of data and charge to advertise, often to the very ‘Likes’ the artist drove to those sites in the first place.

Artists benefit by being able to access their fan base without having to boost their post on Facebook each time they want to reach more than the current organic reach, or target advertising to their own Twitter followers.

Likes on GigRev can be converted to app downloads and registered users, and give fans access to exclusive content in exchange for the fan registering their contact details within the app. 

The app can then help monitise the user base and also engages fans with their favourite artists.

When fans share app content on their own social media pages the app shares only a portion of the video (30-60 seconds) and draws other mainstream social network users to the artist branded app. 

What were the biggest challenges involved in building the tech or growing your team?

Building apps takes a lot longer than websites and making apps native as well as cross-platform is difficult.

As a team we have a history in tech and also music so understand the challenges of working with the music industry as well as how to build leading edge technology.

How will the company make money? 

GigRev has several revenue streams, the key ones being subscription-based memberships and direct email marketing.

We work with agencies to place advertising revenue with us that would normally be spent on Facebook and other social networks, and provide a direct-to-fan marketing platform which takes revenue from the main social networks and targets true fans and not just “Likes”.

The ROI on this is often 10 times more effective than Facebook, Twitter and Instagram advertising.  

Who is in your team? 

Kevin Brown, CEO: Former CEO and founder of Affiliate Window Ltd. Kevin will lead the initial sales strategy of the platform to his network of artists and artist managers and then bring in a Head of Sales.

Kostas Melas, CTO: Kostas is lead developer of the web platform and integration of the databases in to the mobile apps. He actively manages the iOS and Android teams which comprise of seven junior and senior developers. 

Stephen Furner, CFO: Steve led the sale of Affiliate Window to Axel Springer. He is a highly experienced company director and has continually served over the last 30 years as a director of various companies within UK listed groups, venture capital backed MBOs and high growth private companies.

Advisory Board: Adam Driscoll, Founder CEO of entertainment company MAMA Group Plc.; Phil Nelson, artist manager, The Levellers; Danny Bowes, singer with Thunder and entrepreneur. 

gigrev 

Where would you like to be in one, three and five years’ time?

We see our platform as a direct-to-fan platform which can move into more than music but provide micro-communities for any sector.

The platform will grow to work with celebrity chefs, fitness and heath gurus, YouTubers and even exhibition organisers.

We expect to have over 1,000 artists live within three years and expand to 5000 within five years.

Other than your own, what are your favourite websites/apps/tools?

Dark social apps are of great interest to us at the moment.

The world is overwhelmed with content from artists/bands and there is a growing demand to not publish everything to everyone. Micro-community apps are areas we watch closely.