A new Google start-up is aimed at changing the live music industry. DEMAND, the latest product launched out of Google’s Area 120 incubator, will monitor ticket prices, fan support, and market demographics to help promoters and artists explore more options when it comes to live performances.
DEMAND is designed to mine through data poured into Google searches, as well as fan-driven use from its YouTube and Google Play partnerships to form narratives helpful to concert promoters, artists and managers. Overall, the product examines this data for over 19,000 artists across some 200 U.S. metropolitan regions.
“It’s a Moneyball application of data in the live music space,” said DEMAND CEO and co-founder Parag Vaish in a statement. “On search, 70 percent of the market is looking for tickets. It’s a pretty good spot where the industry is not using data. It may have reverberations across the ecosystem of how tickets are priced.”
The product will help industry players tackle a number of specific facets of the business. Its main functions help to determine the best cities and venues for artists, show demand by market to determine single-night booking versus multiple concerts, and examining the ticketing market demand as a way to adjust prices. Additionally, DEMAND can also help artists’ management select the opening acts that will drive the most demand to an area as well as gauging fan reaction to tour announcements.
“The launch of DEMAND gives industry insiders greater insight into how an artist is positioned in the marketplace, provides new advertising and sponsorship data, and is a predictor of the success or failure of a tour,” said Oak View Group CEO Tim Leiweke.
Co-founder Nick Turner expressed that prior to the official launch of the product, he’d already seen positive reaction from the target audience.
“Every time I show this to a manager, they put their head on the table and say, ‘I gotta show this to my artist,'” he said in a statement. Turner added that the capabilities of DEMAND make it a “great equalizer within the industry.”
While DEMAND’s initial focus will be on the concert industry, its founders are not ruling out future endeavors in the areas of gaming, travel and health care.
DEMAND is free for industry professionals and available here.
