It all started with Jukely, a service to market concerts, allowing people to search and discover new artists in their area and purchase tickets. Then it evolved into Jukely Unlimited, a concert subscription service that’s changing the way people discover and experience new music, by enabling fans to attend an unlimited number of live shows in their area for just $25 per month. Talk about discovery – Jukely’s subscribers are going to 2-3 shows per month on average, and 65 percent of subscribers claim to be going to see artists they’d never heard of before.
Master impresario and Jukely founder Bora Celik tells us about this game-changer for music lovers of every stripe. And why music lovers everywhere are big fans of Jukely.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
Jukely Unlimited is continuing to fuel its rapid expansion, raising $8 million in a seed extension round from existing investors, led by Spotify investors Northzone and Alex Zubillaga’s 14W, with additional participation from Larry Marcus, Hany Nada, Lyor Cohen, Maiden Lane and GroupMe founders Steve Martocci and Jared Hecht.
Tell us about your service.
Jukely Unlimited is a service that gives members access to unlimited concerts for $25 per month. Shows range from premiere DJs and international EDM stars, to lesser-known indie, blues, folk, punk-rock bands, and other local artists. It’s all about encouraging people to get out and discover new artists they typically wouldn’t pay to see.
With the Unlimited Plus membership, subscribers have the option to either bring a friend along to shows, or use the additional pass for themselves, in order to gain entry into a separate show the same day. This means subscribers can technically go to 60 events in one month, if they took full advantage of the Unlimited Plus service, for a flat fee of $45 a month.
New shows go live daily on the site at 11 a.m., posting about three days before the event takes place.
How is it different?
There are no other services like this on the market. The service has proved to generate additional revenue and is clearly expanding the market for the live music industry by getting music lovers to attend shows they normally wouldn’t go to see.
What market you are targeting and how big is it?
Since launching last October, the concert subscription service has already launched in 10 cities – including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, Chicago, Miami, Toronto, Seattle, Philadelphia and Denver – and subscribers can attend free shows in all of them.
What’s your business model?
Jukely Unlimited started out as Jukely, a service to market shows and for people to search and discover new artists in their area and purchase tickets. It evolved into Jukely Unlimited, offering users a monthly subscription fee to see as many concerts in their area as they want..
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Continuing to educate investors about the first-of-its-kind service and instill confidence in its long-term viability.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Highly successful launches in 10 cities, continued support from venues/promoters/artists/overall industry, positive press nationally and locally in each city we launched the service in, and an ongoing upward trend in subscriptions.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
The popularity of Jukely Unlimited has grown exponentially since we first introduced the service to New York residents in October. We’re coming off tremendously successful launches in 10 cities, so expanding internationally is the next natural step to keep the momentum going. We’re already working with some of the best venues and promoters in Toronto, and anticipate further expansion into Canada in the months to come.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
Proceeds from this funding round will be used to grow the team and expand the Jukely Unlimited service into more cities around the world.
