GigPig, the UK’s fastest-growing live music marketplace which recently welcomed former The Manc MD Anna Gledson to its team, has announced plans to launch in 10 more cities across the UK as the cost-of-living crisis drives hundreds of venues and thousands of artists to sign up.
Following a seven-figure pre-seed investment in June, GigPig has so far been piloting its platform in Manchester. Over 100 of the city’s best known restaurants, bars, pubs and clubs have signed up, saving an estimated £100,000 on booking fees collectively. This includes national chains such as Mission Mars, Arc Inspirations, NQ64 and Crazy Pedros, as well as local favourites such as The Alan, Freemount Stack and Jimmy’s Manchester.
Also in Manchester, more than 50 DJs, bands, musicians and live music workers are signing up every month, with local artists earning around £250,000 on the platform to date.
In response to demand from thousands of venues and artists grappling with unprecedented increases in operating costs, GigPig is accelerating its plans to democratise and grow the UK’s live music scene. Over the coming weeks, GigPig 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 rapidly attract more than 1,000 venues, 3,000 artists and generate over 1,000 gigs a week in the coming months. This could help deliver £2m in cost savings for hospitality venues and generate over £10m in earnings for artists.
Micheal Forster, co-Founder and CEO, GigPig said: “Every year Manchester’s 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 Manchester’s live music scene back in the hands of local 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 our 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.”
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.”
