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Livestreaming platform Mandolin closes down

By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 24 April 2023

A livestreaming platform that launched during the first round of COVID-caused lockdowns – as livestreamed concerts suddenly became a big talking point – last week announced it was closing down.

Mandolin went live at the start of June 2020 as the music industry was increasingly looking into ways to take livestreaming activity off the free-to-access social networks and onto ticketed platforms, especially once it became clear that the COVID pandemic was going to impact on live events for a much longer period than originally anticipated.

As real-world live shows slowly returned in late 2021, and especially last year, opinion was divided within the music community regarding the long-term potential of livestreamed concerts. For its part, Mandolin started to expand the ways in which it could support the direct-to-fan relationship, and sought to interact with and enhance real-world concerts and tours.

However, early last week the company said in a statement on social media: “We are sad to announce that after three incredible years of connecting artists and fans more authentically through digital experiences, we are officially closing down our product and business operations as of Monday 17 Apr”.

“We’d like to sincerely thank our clients and partners for their belief in our mission and the time spent helping us develop a platform that truly empowered artists to own their fan relationships”, it added.

“Though we can no longer lead the charge, we firmly believe market power will continue to shift toward better supporting artists in this endeavour and we are all so appreciative of the feedback, faith and validation you’ve provided over the years to get us this far”.