Live Music Industry News

Following a public on-sale for Oasis’ 2025 reunion tour as chaotic as Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour,” the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into Ticketmaster’s handling of the process. Now, the CMA has released its initial findings and suggested that the ticketing platform may have “breached consumer protection law.”

In a press release, the UK competition regulator said Ticketmaster may have misled consumers with its sale of “platinum tickets” at nearly 2.5 times the price of equivalent tickets. According to the investigation, the ticketing giant didn’t sufficiently disclose that the platinum tickets “did not offer additional benefits” compared to standard offerings.

FKA Twigs has postponed shows in three cities—Chicago, Toronto, and New York—on her current Eusexua tour after her production failed to complete the proper paperwork to secure visas. In a post on TikTok, the singer explained that the European tour dates for her third album, which was released in January, have been a creatively fulfilling experience thus far, but it’s been “challenging” on the production side, which led to the cancellation and postponement of shows in the United States.

It’s the end of the line for Endeavor, at least as the company’s public-facing name. On Monday, Endeavor announced the closing of the deal to go private with private-equity firm Silver Lake. With the move, Endeavor is changing its name to WME Group, reflecting its refocusing on the representation business.

According to Silver Lake, when consolidating all of the value of TKO Group (parent of UFC, WWE and more) into Endeavor, the combined total enterprise value of the company is $25 billion — making it the largest private-equity sponsor public-to-private investment transaction in more than a decade and the largest ever in the media and entertainment sector.

Known for pioneering globally inclusive policies like paid parental leave and flexible work arrangements, Katarina Berg leaves behind a legacy of progressive leadership and deep cultural impact.

Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter tour is proving to be a sluggish seller in multiple cities, with cheap seats sinking below $35 in several arenas across the US. Meanwhile, Live Nation is pointing to ‘tremendous demand’ and a ‘record-breaking run’ — as scalpers look to dump excess inventory.

Despite searing success at the Grammys and a heavily promoted tour, ticket prices for Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour are sinking in multiple key markets. Instead of instant sellouts, most shows have plenty of tickets available across Ticketmaster, StubHub, VividSeats, and other major ticket-selling hubs, with prices starting to slip below $35 in some markets.

Being situated between larger markets makes attracting tours challenging for smaller towns with big city entertainment dreams.
Having an engaged arts organization at the helm, a strong partnership between the city and downtown businesses and a customer-first mission has made a difference in Dayton, Ohio, which is 70 miles from Columbus and nearly 55 miles from Cincinnati.

Nonprofit Dayton Live owns and operates a catalog of historic venues in the city, which has a population of 135,500 (metro population 850,000), including the Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center, The Victoria Theatre, The Arts Garage and the Metropolitan Arts center, which is home to the Loft Theatre. The group also manages the PNC Arts Annex.

As Dead & Company returns to Las Vegas’ Sphere for a second residency, the question on the minds of many fans is, of course, what, is anything, has been updated for 2025? From Thursday’s opening night in the domed venue, here’s one thing that stuck out as very different from last year: When Bob Weir sang the song “Standing on the Moon” and got to the line “I see the gulf of Mexico,” the capacity crowd let out a huge cheer.

A new major study of accessibility in cultural venues has found that fewer than one in 10 disabled audience members feel their needs are met when booking tickets.

The Access Culture report, published by arts audience specialist Indigo Ltd, was compiled based on data gathered from over 20,000 respondents in the UK. The study was carried out in partnership with research sponsors pointOne and the UK’s All In access scheme.

Austin City Limits (ACL) and PBS are teaming up to celebrate 50 years of performances with a special two-hour primetime broadcast featuring some of the program’s most iconic past performers.

Set for April 4, Austin City Limits Celebrates 50 Years will showcase new performances, artist interviews, and behind-the-scenes footage from ACL’s extensive archives.

Performances created expressly for the 50th-anniversary broadcast include Chris Stapleton, The Mavericks, Leon Bridges, Indigo Girls, Brandy Clark, Cam, Ángela Aguilar, Shawn Colvin, Lyle Lovett, Billy Strings featuring Sierra Hull, Rufus Wainwright, and Gary Clark Jr. joined by Eve Monsees. The special is co-hosted by Austin-based actors Jared and Genevieve Padalecki. 

The Regional & Remote Music Summit is confirmed to return in 2025. Now in its second year, the MusicNSW-hosted event will again focus on key industry figures and artists based in regional and remote locations and the future of the local music industry, as well as address challenges and opportunities.

In the latest pushback from Universal Music Group in Drake’s defamation lawsuit against the company over Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” diss track, UMG has asked a federal judge to stop all discovery in the case, which includes demands for “all contracts” between Lamar and UMG, as well as compensation and incentives — i.e. salary and bonuses — for Interscope CEO John Janick and other executives.

United Talent Agency (UTA) announced that David Kramer has been appointed as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer, effective January 1.

In his new role as CEO, Mr. Kramer will oversee the company’s operations and strategic planning, succeeding longtime CEO Jeremy Zimmer, who announced plans to step down after more than a decade in the position.

The award-winning Indigo has built an impressive reputation for itself in the arts and cultural industry with its ability to help companies understand their audiences better.

“Sicko Mode” artist Travis Scott announced he’s expanding his record-breaking Circus Maximus World Tour with a string of international shows that include his first-ever performance in India.
Produced by Live Nation, the international tour includes dates South Africa, India, South Korea, China, and Japan, starting at FMB Stadium in Johannesburg on October 11th and concluding at the Belluna Dome in Tokyo on November 8th.

Live Nation settles a lawsuit filed by investors claiming the company failed to warn them about its antitrust activity that led to the DOJ’s case. Live Nation has agreed to pay $20 million to settle the dispute, which alleged the company misled investors about its “compliance with antitrust laws.” Investors claimed Live Nation did not warn them about the regulatory scrutiny it faced, which led to the Justice Department’s antitrust investigation and subsequent case.

As expected, Concord, the Nashville-based independent music company, has added Stem Distribution to its portfolio of subsidiaries, the company announced on Monday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but sources close to the situation tell Variety the deal was in the $90 million range, significantly higher than the $50 million prince rumored earlier.

Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena has clarified reports that a family was asked to pay $180 for their eight-month-old child to attend The Offspring and Simple Plan’s upcoming show.

Gene Simmons has postponed 17 shows on his upcoming solo tour until 2026. The affected dates are mostly in California, Florida, Indiana, and Texas.

Lizzo, Lil Nas X and Kim Petras are scheduled to headline the Outloud Music Festival at WeHo Pride in Los Angeles, taking place on May 31 and June 1. Produced by entertainment agency JJLA, the outdoor event will return to West Hollywood Park for its 2025 iteration.

StubHub, a secondary ticketing marketplace for live events, filed a registration statement Friday with the SEC for an initial public offering. The number of shares to be offered in StubHub’s IPO and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined. StubHub has applied to list its Class A common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “STUB.”

Spotify listeners love discovering new artists and songs, but they also love finding out when they can catch their favorites live in concert. That’s why today we’re rolling out Concerts Near You, a personalized playlist that helps you discover upcoming concerts in your area.  Inspired by your listening habits, Concerts Near You is update

What the world needs now, many Burt Bacharach fans can agree, is for that deep catalog of songs to not be consigned to history. Stepping up to present much of that material in a new light is a tour dubbed “What the World Needs Now: The Burt Bacharach Songbook Live,” which kicks off this weekend in southern California with Todd Rundgren in the nine-piece ensemble and handling many of the lead vocals on Bacharach/Hal David classics from the ’60s, ’70s and beyond.

More than 1.6 million people attempted to buy tickets for Lady Gaga’s May concert dates in Singapore, the only Asian stop of her Mayhem Tour.

The 14-time Grammy Award-winner is due to play at Singapore’s National Stadium on May 18, 19, 21, and 24 in what will be her first shows in the country for 13 years where around 200,000 fans are expected in total.

Stationhead has become a thriving platform for artists and their keenest fans. Now it wants to help the latter do more shopping from the former. Its new ‘Stationhead Shop’ feature taps into artists’ existing Shopify stores, with some light gamification around it involving badges and the ability to show off digital merch collections within its app.