UK nightlife is said to be facing a potential ‘death’, with industry experts warning that if the current rate of nightclub closures continues, all major nightclubs could vanish by 2030.  

However, it is King’s mission to get people dancing and enjoying everything that nightlife has to offer.

Discussing his background and his journey into entrepreneurship, King said: “I’m a software engineer by background, and an amateur DJ.

“I got started building on the web when I was 14, when I would build freelance websites for local businesses in my area. I’d taught myself how to make websites with free tutorials online, and fell in love with the idea of being able to build things that anyone can use on the Internet, reaching up to a global audience. Entrepreneurship has always been in my DNA, and I’m now combining it with my other great passion, which is dance music.”

Get on the Dancefloor

Dancefloor is a new platform aimed at dance music fans to connect them with club nights in their city, and encourage the discovery of new DJs.

King explained: “The inspiration came from really solving my own pain point. I was always discovering new dance artists and DJs from platforms like Spotify and SoundCloud, and I wanted to go out and see them play live. But there was no great centralised place to find out when they were playing in my city, and definitely no way to get notified as soon as those shows were announced.

“The first version of the platform you can think of as a SongKick for nightlife, but we’ve since grown beyond that to also rethinking everything about how fans discover DJs. We’ve added rich profiles that pull together an artist’s content from multiple platforms, with engaging audio and video content, and we’re adding new ways for fans to interact and communicate directly with the artist.”

With dance music close to King’s heart, he wants to bring the enjoyment he has for it to other people. “There’s something just joyous about dance music, and no matter what subgenre you’re into, we’re building Dancefloor to be your number one platform to discover new artists and events. We succeed if you uncover your next favourite DJ, or get out of the house and have a great weekend. That’s it.”

Using technology to enhance nightlife

Dancefloor is harnessing technology to enhance in-person experiences, and encouraging the enjoyment of nightlife.

Discussing how the platform works, King explained: “Let’s say you’re just browsing artists, or you’re looking at an event and want to know more about some of the artists you don’t recognise on the lineup. When you check out an artist profile, we pull together content from across their platforms. If they’ve played a Boiler Room set, you can watch the full show from YouTube. If they produce their own music, you can play their song previews and check out their full music on Spotify or Apple Music.

“We also have user-generated content as well in the form of “Highlights”. These are short video clips that have often been posted previously as Instagram stories, that showcase what it’s like being at the DJ’s show from the crowd perspective. Fans can upload these themselves and they’re a really immersive way to get a sense of a DJ’s vibe.”

What might be seen as a rarity within the industry, Dancefloor is steering away from AI, instead encouraging the power of people. King said: “Dancefloor does not use AI. We believe in the power of people, of curation, and of personal recommendation, and this is critical especially in the arts sector. Therefore, all of our artist recommendations’ data points are driven by real people… whether that be followers, listeners, event attendees, or editorial curators.”

Ensuring this connection between people is important to King and the foundation of dancefloor, “it’s all about community,” King emphasised.

“Fans want to feel part of a community, and the best outcome is to develop ‘superfans’, those who come back again and again to your events and become an advocate. So there is a lot of opportunity to boost communities. Ticketing platforms should be more than a transactional experience that simply generate a QR code.

“This is at the heart of our ethos; connecting fans to the right community for them, and then helping them stay engaged with two-way communication with the brand.”

Looking at the nightlife scene, King has seen a shift in what the traditional idea of nightlife is: “Fans are being more cost-conscious and still want to go out, but they want to go to events they know are a good fit for them. The day of the generic sticky-carpet club is over. We’re particularly seeing a growing focus on smaller, authentic promoter-curated nights.”

By creating a niche platform for dance music fans, rather than attempting to appeal to anyone who wants to go on a night out, means that this like-minded community can be built. This then further encourages these community ties in the dance music scene.

The challenges and highlights

Luckily for King and Dancefloor, the journey so far has been without too many challenges: “Honestly, it’s been pretty smooth sailing so far! Everyone we speak to, from fans trying the app, to artists, and promoters when we discuss our vision for the B2B platform, is very excited. Fans are downloading the app and getting a lot of value, coming back week-after-week.”

Having a smooth sail so far means there have also been some great highlights already which prove why the platform has been a game-changer in the industry. “What we’re hearing from fans is they’re having much more spontaneous discoveries and nights out now. Unmissable events that they might otherwise have completely missed, with our instant notifications they’re now able to get first dibs on tickets. So far we seem to be a pretty good cure for FOMO. They also love the video elements on artist profiles; being able to watch a full YouTube set or upload their Instagram stories from the crowd are hugely popular.”

What’s to come

Still early in its development, Dancefloor has more developments on the way.

King discussed: “We’re building out our B2B platform features for artists and event promoters now, and there are some really exciting innovations we’re bringing to the market. For artists, we’re giving them deep insights into their fanbase, down to the cities they’re growing fastest in, to help them identify where they should plan their next tour. They can post updates directly to their fans, as well as instantly notify them as soon as they’re playing a show in their city.

“For event promoters, we want to really emphasise and build up communities. We’re doing this by matching fans to promoters we think will be the right fit for them, and they can follow them within the app. Promoters can then communicate directly with their community, sharing announcements or getting feedback. They can sell tickets directly within the app with a seamless checkout process.”

And there’s even more connections on the way: “We’re going to be connecting artists to promoters with a matchmaking database that’s brand new to the industry. Promoters will have access to a full database of the trending DJs in their city, complete with booking contact information, so they can make data-driven booking decisions for their next event. Once they’ve sold their first event on Dancefloor, they can even uncover the emerging DJs that are blowing up within their own community. This is going to be huge for unlocking more gigs for artists.”

These features will be rolling out over the next few months, with the aim of the app being available across the whole of the UK and Europe before the end of 2025.

The nightlife industry needs a revamp and to get people back out and enjoying the events on offer, and Dancefloor may well be the solution. “We’ll see you on the dancefloor!” concluded King.

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