Ryan Seacrest is a TV star, a radio star and an Internet entrepreneur (and a speaker at this year’s Code conference). Now he has a new gig: Concert promoter.
Ryan Seacrest and Conde Nast Parent Invest in a YouTube Concert Tour
What is a YouTube concert? Ask DigiTour, which is going to sell 100,000 tickets this summer.
Peter Kafka covered media and technology, and their intersection, at Vox. Many of his stories can be found in his Kafka on Media newsletter, and he also hosts the Recode Media podcast.
Seacrest, along with Conde Nast parent company Advance Publications, has invested in DigiTour Media, a company that puts on concerts and events starring people who are famous on the Internet. The two investors have collectively put in less than $2 million, according to people familiar with the transaction.
If you’re a grownup, there’s a good chance you haven’t heard of Our Second Life or Nash Grier. But to teens and tweens who hang out on YouTube and now Vine, they’re a very big deal. DigiTour, which started in 2010, says it will sell more than 100,000 tickets in dozens of cities this year. Tickets range from $25 to $100.
This gets even more confusing to old people if you see the sort of stuff that many YouTube and Vine stars do in their clips — some play instruments or sing, but many are basically goofing around.
How does that work onstage?
Just fine, says DigiTour co-founder Meridith Valiando Rojas, who used to be in A&R at Columbia Records. “We try to mimic their YouTube experience. It’s very ADD. Anyone who’s not in their demographic might not get it, and that’s a good thing in my eyes.”
Here’s a sample:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryi1sHneWzA#t=38
Rojas says her company is profitable, but that she’ll use Seacrest’s and Advance’s strategic connections to get her tours — and her talent — in front of more eyeballs.
Seacrest says that one of the reasons he’s investing is that he wants to be able to scout DigiTour’s roster for talent that might work in other parts of his empire. “You can look at online metrics, but this allows you to really tell how audiences react,” he said. “I’m a big believer in seeing how audiences are responding, tangibly.”
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
