The federal settlement that abruptly pulled the Department of Justice out of its antitrust case against Live Nation and Ticketmaster is now facing heightened scrutiny, with Judge Arun Subramanian ordering the parties to publicly outline how they plan to move the agreement through Tunney Act review.

In an order entered Monday, Subramanian directed Live Nation, the United States, and any other settling parties to file a joint letter by Friday, March 27 explaining when they expect to submit a proposed consent judgment and what review steps they believe the court must take.

M&G Investments announces a $267 million asset-backed securities financing deal for Seeker Music, providing financial firepower to fuel growth. Music publishing and record company Seeker Music, established in 2020 with backing from M&G Investments’ Life business, has secured a $267 million asset-backed securities financing deal with M&G. The transaction provides Seeker with the financial firepower to fuel its growth plans while diversifying M&G’s portfolio.

Epic Games cuts over 1,000 jobs in its second major round of layoffs in three years. It’s part of an effort to offset spending more than it’s making on Fortnite.

Despite being one of the most popular video games on the market since its 2017 debut, Fortnite is spending more money than it’s making in 2026. According to Bloomberg, Fortnite developer Epic Games is laying off more than 1,000 employees amid a broader downturn in engagement with the game over the past year. It’s the company’s second major round of cuts in three years, having eliminated 830 employees for similar reasons in September 2023.

In 2026, music can reach hundreds of millions of people while sitting almost entirely outside the traditional music business.

Platforms like TikTok and YouTube Shorts can drive superstar-scale audiences for artists whose profiles remain completely under the radar, providing a platform for their music to cut through on the established music-streaming services too.

Katy Arnander, director of programming at SXSW London, teased this year’s conference program Tuesday evening at an event at a hip bar in the uber-cool neighborhood of Shoreditch, East London, where the festival is staged. The bar’s name, Equal Parts, neatly reflected the nature of SXSW London, as outlined by Arnander.

Bandsintown announces a new integration with Apple Music that brings concert listings directly to artist pages on the streaming platform.
Live music and event discovery platform Bandsintown has announced a partnership with Apple Music that integrates the service with concert listings directly into the music streaming platform. With the release of iOS 26.4, tour dates will automatically appear on Apple Music artist pages and in a new Concerts tab within Search, significantly expanding concert discovery on Apple Music.

Top communications firm Shore Fire Media has named Angela Barkan CEO as founder Marilyn Laverty moves to chairman of Shore Fire and senior advisor to parent company Dolphin.

Last week, Live Nation and Ticketmaster unexpectedly reached a settlement with the Justice Department in the antitrust lawsuit that was filed when Joe Biden was still in office. This meant that the controversial companies wouldn't have to face trial for illegally monopolizing the live-entertainment space and driving up ticket prices, and fervent Trump supporter Kid Rock, who testified against Live Nation and Ticketmaster, was pissed. Now, the Wall Street Journal reports that Trump personally pushed for the settlement.

FKA Twigs – aka Tahliah Debrett Barnett – is bringing indie band The Twigs to court, after Laura and Linda Good — the twin sisters who make up the band — sent her multiple cease-and-desist letters from 2024 onwards.

The Good twins claim that Barnett should not be allowed to use her stage name until they receive compensation for its similarities to their own.

AI audio startup ElevenLabs has launched a new platform called Music Marketplace, which lets musicians and creators publish tracks made with the company’s AI music generator and monetize those tracks each time a paid subscriber remixes or licenses them.

Live Nation ANZ has expanded its Next On program by partnering with Michelle Grace Hunder to launch a structured photography initiative, creating paid opportunities for developing photographers while supporting developing artists with no venue hire fees, full ticket and merchandise revenue, and professional promotional support.

The Next On photography initiative is designed to build a pipeline of new creative talent, giving developing photographers hands on experience capturing live music in iconic venues while ensuring high quality, social first content that reflects how audiences engage with live music today.

Just days after iHeartMedia and TikTok partnered to launch a dedicated TikTok Radio station on iHeartRadio, the two companies are now introducing a new album-release format, starting with a campaign for Bruno Mars’ first solo album in nearly a decade.

On February 26, the platforms streamed a live broadcast called Romantic Radio with Bruno Mars: An iHeartRadio Album Preview simultaneously on TikTok and across more than 145 iHeartRadio stations nationwide. The promo reached over 270 stations in the US.

The campaign came a day before The Romantic dropped via Atlantic Records.

Apple Music has partnered with Ticketmaster and Bandsintown to surface upcoming concerts based on your listening, with quick links to buy tickets. Here are the details.

There have been several examples in the last year of new tracks or albums seemingly released by artists that turned to be fake. Songs that they had never recorded – often AI-generated – turning up under their profiles on Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services.

Emily Portman, The Sweet Enoughs and Blaze Foley are three examples of musicians who found themselves spoofed in this way. And Foley’s been dead since 1989. Each new story increased the pressure on DSPs to take action. Now Spotify is.

Global Local has launched UnMute, the UK’s first artist roster dedicated to showcasing disabled artists, including Ali Affleck, Deaf Rave, DJ Flood and Drag Syndrome.

The roster has been in development for more than two years with support from Andrew Lansley, Creative Director for UnMute, and input from partners The Musicians’ Union, Attitude is Everything, and Drake Music.

Influencers will be able to link products directly in their content, similar to how TikTok Shop links are embedded.

For a brief window during every high-demand onsale, thousands of highly engaged fans are in the same place, at the same time, paying attention. Queue-it’s new Visitor Engagement feature gives ticketing organisations a way to make that moment count, by improving the waiting experience for fans and capturing zero-party data in the process.

The live music event and discovery platform is bringing concert listings directly to Apple Music users.

Willie Nelsons Outlaw Music Festival will return for an 11th anniversary tour in summer 2026, it was announced Tuesday. But for some fans of these Americana extravaganzas, it may require a bit more traveling to join the fun. The tour will touch down in about a third the number of cities that last year’s outing did, with only a dozen locales on the itinerary, after last year’s expansion to 35 stops.

Primary Wave Music has announced a “definitive” agreement to acquire Kobalt, one of the world’s largest independent music publishing and technology platforms, from Francisco Partners, creating a company valued at approximately $7 billion. The transaction, announced Monday morning, includes an investment from Brookfield; Variety sources estimate the value of the deal at around $1.5 billion.

Shares of Kpop agency ​HYBE (352820.KS), opens new tab fell 14.5% ‌to a four-month low on Monday after ​a weaker-than-expected turnout ​at its boyband BTS' ⁠comeback concert.
Shares ​traded down 14.5% at ​294,000 won as of 0210 GMT, their lowest ​since December ​16, 2025. They will post ‌the ⁠biggest percentage fall since June 15, 2022, if the ​loss ​holds.

he National Independent Talent Organization (NITO), representing U.S. independent managers and agents, has released an official response to the Department of Justice’s settlement with Live Nation.

While acknowledging that the settlement represents progress, the trade group raises significant concerns over what they view as “undefined terms” and “critical gaps” in the settlement that threaten the interests of independent artists and their millions of fans.

Bridge Conference, the B2B gathering connecting leaders across music, entertainment and technology returns to the Adriatic coast in Croatia from 27-29 May for its second edition.

For 2026 Jukebox Ventures curate the music tech strand of the programme and host an accelerator session offering the chance to secure funding up to £1m for new projects. Successful applications for the programme will get 50% discounted tickets for attending the conference.