Fullscreen Inc. of Playa Vista has acquired fan engagement software company StageBloc for an undisclosed amount.
Chicago’s StageBloc, now renamed Fullscreen Direct, helps musicians build websites and apps to sell items to their fans. The company’s technology also helps musicians analyze their fan bases, plan tour stops, track ticket and merchandise sales and facilitate email marketing campaigns.
StageBloc offers both free and paid premium versions of its software. Paying clients include Metallica, Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, Eric Church and Kid Rock. Fullscreen hasn’t decided how it will charge its talent pool for use of the StageBloc software, but said it is likely to take a cut of revenue earned on the platform.
Fullscreen provides support for and sells advertisements on behalf of a network of video creators, some 75,000 independent musicians and social media stars. The so-called multichannel network got its start in 2011 by working with YouTube celebrities, and has more than 600 million subscribers and 5 billion video views a month. The company is owned by Otter Media, a joint venture between AT&T Inc. and Chernin Group.
StageBloc’s technology will help Fullscreen increase fan engagement as well as ticketing and merchandise sales for musicians partnered with the company.
“The StageBloc tech allows us to build websites and apps for creators. It helps us centralize things,” said Beau Bryant, Fullscreen’s senior vice president of talent and programming. “We get really deep analytics and measurement, in a way that most websites and app providers aren’t providing.”
The company plans eventually to distribute the software more broadly to lesser-known musicians and other social media stars in its network, Bryant said. Part of the reason StageBloc appealed to Fullscreen was the ease by which artists could use the technology without a deep understanding of Web development or marketing, he added.
StageBloc formed in 2009 and it launched its product in 2013. The company’s 18 employees will stay join Fullscreen’s Chicago office.
Technology reporter Garrett Reim can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @garrettreim for the latest in L.A. tech news.
