Exactly one year ago we successfully raised funds for Viberate in less than 5 minutes and we’ve achieved so much since then. We’ve strengthened our team with incredibly talented people, we expanded our VIB community across the whole world and made some pretty exciting deals with the major players in the industry. Among the most significant achievements are definitely the partnerships with the biggest ticket providers: Ticketmaster, Eventbrite, Skiddle and the latest partnership with Eventim that will get integrated in the following days. VIB token is one of just a few cryptocurrencies that made it to 14 exchanges and there are several new ones coming in.

Our team is now focusing on developing a new digital music playground for enthusiasts, industry professionals and content creators. At the same time we are making huge progress with upcoming apps that will bring completely new experiences to music fans. The Tonight app for party-goers is currently being beta tested in our capital — Ljubljana, Slovenia, and we have to say we are blown away by the huge number of users that joined our first testing group. Furthermore, we’re just a few months away from turning the world upside down for all crypto supporters. But these are just 2 of the numerous exciting things that will see the light of day in the following months. Soon after that, we will present the first ever app for festival lovers and below is just a glimpse of what’s coming to the table in the future.

Sziget — the best European major festival in numbers

Sziget in Budapest is one of the biggest and most successful festivals in Europe, attracting more than 450,000 visitors each year. It all started way back in 1993 with 65 artists on the lineup, most of them Hungarian. Everything was different back then, the ticket price was just 1 eur, and even the name transformed from Diáksziget to Sziget throughout the years. But things soon started to change drastically. Until 2000, there were already 621 artists performing on the Sziget Stage. The year 2000 was a huge milestone for Sziget, as they broke the record with 324,000 attendees who enjoyed amazing shows of HIM, Guano Apes, Oasis, Lou Reed and many more.

With its breathtaking location, fascinating stages and an amazingly diverse lineup, Sziget is on the bucket list of many. In the 25 years of its existence, the festival hosted more than 1,377 artists from around the world on its stages. Their secret sauce of success might be that there is something for a fan of every single genre: electronic, hip hop, pop, rock, metal and world music.

But for its 25th anniversary, they took the festival to an even higher level. They invited more than 250 artists and included some of the biggest stars right now: Dua Lipa, Shawn Mendes, Mumford & Sons, Kendrick Lamar, Lana Del Rey, Arctic Monkeys. Artists came from Zimbabwe, Mexico and over 32 other countries around the world. Two thirds of the artists were from electronic and rock genres, 19.3% from pop, 9% of world music and 7% of hip hop artists.

The total lineup included 64 local artists, almost half of them rockers. Most of the bands played rock and indie rock, 10% punk and fewer than 2% played metal. While 41 artists from the UK and 23 from the US are from pretty diverse genres, most of the artists that came from the Netherlands are focused on electronic music. Fans of electronic music enjoyed 44 house and EDM sets, 10 uprising techno sets, and several trance, dubstep, drum & bass and chill-out performances. Sziget hosted some pretty impressive world music artists such as Baba Zula from Turkey that gained 101% new followers on Instagram in a week after the festival.

The biggest winner of Sziget 2018

Digital platforms were buzzing during the week of the festival. Millions of photos and videos were posted on social media but some of the artists made an outstanding impact online. UK pop band Bastille gained 2260% new followers on Instagram in just a week, while Dutch EDM producer Don Diablo increased traction on Youtube for 22%.

What happened with MØ the day after her performance

Danish pop artist MØ got 104% more Wikipedia views the day after she performed at Sziget, a week after her Youtube views jumped for 45% and her Instagram went nuts with 211% new followers. Pretty impressive stats, right?