Veeps, the live-streaming startup majority-owned by Live Nation, has announced it’s moving into the video streaming space with a new service that – among other things – will offer live concerts.
Dubbed Veeps All Access, the service launched on Tuesday (October 3) with streams of concerts from The Postal Service and Death Cab For Cutie.
For now, Veeps All Access is only available in the US, but the company says it’s planning an international expansion “to meet Veeps’ proven global fanbase.”
The service charges USD $11.99 per month, or $120 per year.
On top of live-streamed concerts – which Veeps says will mean at least one live show per day – subscribers will also get access to a library of previously-recorded live streams from numerous major artists, including Alanis Morrissette, Alan Jackson, Aerosmith, Amy Winehouse, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Bruce Springsteen, The Cure, Grateful Dead, Imagine Dragons, Katy Perry, The Killers, Metallica and The Rolling Stones, among others.
Additionally, the service will offer on-demand content and “special artist exclusives,” as well as original programming.
Veeps All Access launches with two new shows, the newly-greenlit Sideshustles and Artist Friendly, a “music interview podcast-turned-filmed talk show,” the first episode of which drops on October 4.
Veeps is well-positioned to run a live concert streaming app. After Live Nation acquired a majority stake in the company in 2021, Veeps set out to equip more than 60 Live Nation venues in the US with livestreaming technology.
The infrastructure gave any artist playing there the ability to livestream their event “with the flip of a switch,” as Veeps put it. It has also given Veeps the opportunity to build up a large library of live-streamed concerts from major artists.
“All Access is the next iteration of Veeps as we head towards a future where every concert will be streamed.”
Joel Madden, Veeps
The company has streamed shows from thousands of well-known names, among them Billie Eilish, Bob Dylan, Brandi Carlile, Foo Fighters and Kings of Leon. The company holds the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest ticketed livestream performance by a solo male artist (Louis Tomlinson’s “Live in London” charity show in December, 2020).
The move does represent a departure for Veeps in terms of its business model, which so far had revolved around per-per-view concert streams.
“It was obvious that we needed to create a model that wasn’t limited to pay-per-view,” Veeps Co-founder and CEO Joel Madden said in a statement.
“An all-in music service like All Access is breaking new ground and we’re committed to setting a standard that is accessible for fans, compensates artists fairly, and continues to deliver the high-quality shows that we’ve become known for. All Access is the next iteration of Veeps as we head towards a future where every concert will be streamed.”
“All Access is giving fans a new way to discover music and artists another marketing platform that will only continue to fuel the demand for live with an even bigger world of concerts at our fingertips.”
Michael Rapino, Live Nation
Launched in 2017 by Joel and Benji Madden of the band Good Charlotte, Veeps was one of the live-streaming startups that benefited from a huge spike in demand when the Covid-19 pandemic shut down live concerts.
Live-streaming platforms became a much-needed source of income for artists who were unable to play live shows in the pandemic, but with the resurgence of live music over the past year or two, many of these companies have had to adjust to a new reality of lowered expectations.
Some haven’t made it. Live-streaming app Sessions, which was launched in April 2020 by former Pandora CEO Tim Westergren, quietly shut down earlier this year.
However, Veeps was able to capitalize on a major advantage – access to Live Nation’s many major venues in the US.
“Live performances have a unique magic, and Veeps has done an incredible job bringing fans that experience in their homes,” Live Nation President and CEO Michael Rapino said in a statement.
“All Access is giving fans a new way to discover music and artists another marketing platform that will only continue to fuel the demand for live with an even bigger world of concerts at our fingertips.”
Live Nation’s latest earnings report, for Q2 2023, showed a continued rebound for live music.
Revenues from its concerts division came in at $4.63 billion, up 28% YoY on a constant currency basis. Ticketing (i.e. Ticketmaster) brought in $709.3 million, up 23% YoY, while sponsorships and advertising brought in $302.9 million, up 13% YoY.
“We don’t think this is just any COVID catch-up,” Rapino said on the company’s earnings call.
“We think that this is going to be the time when live [music] on a global basis is going to have an incredible growth run for years to come. We obviously benefit from that, any time the market gets to this level of growth, because we’ll capture that growth also.”Music Business Worldwide
