The government is fighting Live Nation and Ticketmaster's attempt to prematurely end the blockbuster antitrust case

Billboard cuts include editors at large Robert Levine and Steve Knopper, senior director of live music and touring Dave Brooks and lead analyst Glenn Peoples, an individual with knowledge told TheWrap. Executive editor Frank DiGiacomo was also laid off, prompting him to change his Instagram bio to read “(An, not the) Executive Editor at Billboard.”

At other PMC outlets, Rolling Stone writers Andre Gee and Brittany Spanos and Variety senior entertainment writer Adam B. Vary and associate news editor J. Kim Murphy were all pink-slipped, confirming their exits with social media posts.

Less than three years after setting sail, audio startup Mirelo, which says it lets “anyone generate perfectly synchronized sound effects for videos,” has scored a $41 million raise.
Berlin-based Mirelo reached out with word of its Andreessen Horowitz- and Index Ventures-led seed round. Atlantic.vc (a Mimi Hearing Technologies and SoundCloud stakeholder) and Menlo Park-headquartered TriplePoint Capital also contributed to the sizable tranche.

Likewise supporting Mirelo: A number of angel investors, including but not limited to Google vet Yariv Adan, Fleet founder Alexandre Berriche, Meta AI scientist Léon Bottou, and OpenAI startups exec for EMEA Laura Modiano.

Howard Stern has signed a new contract with SiriusXM, putting an end to months of speculation over whether or not the legendary talk radio host would retire. It’s been a busy few months for Howard Stern fans, as speculation abounded over whether the legendary radio host would be retiring once his contract with SiriusXM came to an end. Now, Stern has announced a new three-year deal with the satellite radio giant, confirmed on his show on Tuesday morning.

2025 Wrapped arrived bigger and bolder than ever. This year’s experience is designed to be ultra personal and shareable, with new features like Wrapped Party, Clubs, Fan Leaderboard, and more. To mark the moment, we brought fans, artists, and creators together at unique destinations and live events around the globe, turning listening into a celebration for all.

From Miami to Manchester, here’s a peek at some of the can’t-miss experiences that brought Wrapped to life.

Dolly Parton is taking her multimedia symphonic experience, “Threads: My Songs in Symphony,” to new U.S. cities for the 2026 season.

The concert series, developed in partnership with Schirmer Theatrical and Sony Music Publishing, combines orchestral arrangements by David Hamilton, immersive visuals by Adam Grannick, and intimate storytelling, exploring Parton’s songs, life, and stories. The 2026 tour will feature 27 performances across 12 cities, highlighting collaborations with some of the nation’s premier orchestras, including March 19-21 with the Nashville Symphony.

A New York music rights company has sued Dionne Warwick, seeking to enforce past contracts that grant it 25-50% of her royalty income. It says it helped Warwick handle legal and admin issues, boosting her label royalty payments “sixtyfold”, but now she wants to terminate her deals with the company

It’s just over two years since Spotify introduced changes to its payouts, including only paying recorded-music royalties for tracks that have been streamed at least 1,000 times in the last 12 months.

Now a report published by Bulgarian indies body Anmip-BG has criticised the change’s impact on artists from the Balkans region. It’s based on a survey of 71 independent labels and producers in south-east Europe.

The key findings: 65% said they have suffered a ‘significant negative impact’ (i.e. revenue loss) due to the changes, while another 20% reported a ‘slight negative impact’. 92% of respondents said they ‘strongly opposed’ the 1,000-stream threshold.

Plans to release Rob Reiner‘s final film “Spinal Tap at Stonehenge: The Final Finale,” which had not yet been dated, are on currently on pause after the director’s death Sunday.

Bleecker Street acquired U.S. distribution rights to the concert performance film directed by Reiner in October. No release date had been set, but the company had initially set plans for an IMAX release in 2026. In light of Reiner’s death, plans to release the film are on hold for now until “the best path forward is decided with those closest to Rob and his family,” sources said.

Universal Music has proposed what it calls a “robust remedy” to the European Commission in a bid to allay concerns raised by the European Union’s competition regulator over its bid to buy Downtown Music. However, indie label trade group IMPALA has again called on the EC to block that deal outright, stating “now is the time for Europe to uphold culture, diversity and competition”. 

Last month, the EC sent Universal a ‘statement of objections’, explaining that - after an in-depth investigation - it had concluded that Universal’s acquisition of Downtown, and its FUGA, CD Baby, Songtrust and Curve businesses, could “hamper rival labels’ ability and incentive to compete”. 

In HYBE’s growing effort to expand its roster beyond established acts across Korea, Japan, the U.S., the K-pop conglomerate announced on Monday, December 15, a new strategic expansion into the African music market through a new global partnership with two leaders in African and diaspora music co-managing South Africa’s Grammy-winning and 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 superstar Tyla.

Joining forces with Tyla’s co-managers Brandon Hixon and Colin Gayle, the initiative is revealed as the first step in HYBE’s long-term pipeline for emerging and established African talent. The entertainment giant behind the likes of BTS, SEVENTEEN and KATSEYE is said to be supplying international infrastructure for artists including touring, marketing, digital strategy, multimedia production, brand partnerships and creative development. Hixon and Gayle will retain day-to-day artistic stewardship alongside Tyla.

Once upon a time, “ticket insurance” was a small optional add-on. Today, it’s a multi-million-dollar ancillary revenue stream that fans expect at checkout.

Ethical resale is next, and its economic power is even greater.

Resale has quietly become one of the most predictable, sustainable, high-margin revenue streams available to primary ticketing platforms.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has declined to comment on its possible probe into AllTrack and Pro Music Rights (PMR). Meanwhile, PMR says it’s “actively exploring legal action” against the congressman who requested the investigation.
One week ago, that congressman, U.S. Representative Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI), asked the FTC to “examine potential unfair or deceptive acts or practices” on the part of the mentioned performing rights organizations (PROs).

And as we broke down shortly thereafter, the corresponding letter arrived on the heels of a Copyright Office public performance inquiry. The latter was itself set in motion by a bit of congressional scrutiny last year – though the early calls for transparency extended to ASCAP, BMI, and different PROs.

A federal judge in Los Angeles has certified a nationwide class action accusing Live Nation Entertainment and its Ticketmaster unit of using monopoly power to inflate ticket prices and fees — a major step for a consumer case that targets more than a decade of ticket purchases.

In a December 12 order, U.S. District Judge George H. Wu ruled that the plaintiffs met the requirements to move forward as a class under federal rules. Reuters reported the lawsuit seeks damages spanning roughly 15 years and is tied to purchases of more than 400 million tickets.

The class covers U.S. consumers who bought primary tickets and paid associated fees for events at major concert venues through Ticketmaster or an affiliated Live Nation entity dating back to 2010. Live Nation and Ticketmaster have denied wrongdoing.

Concerts discovery service Bandsintown has released its 2025 ‘High Notes’ report, based on data from 8bn events, 100 million fans and 700,000 artists on its platform.

Findings included a 65% surge in trap music, making it this year’s fastest-rising genre — accompanied by a notable 37% rise for shoegaze. Rock charted as number one for fan engagement according to the data.

Bandsintown’s top five rising artists were Sombr, Lola Young, Jennie, Doechii and Ella Langley. Established artists with the most new followers included Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, Eminem and Kendrick Lamar.

The Rolling Stones have called off plans for a 2026 stadium tour of the United Kingdom and Europe, a source close to the band confirms to Variety, following reports that guitarist Keith Richards was unable to “commit” to it.


While never officially announced, the group’s touring pianist Chuck Leavell and a spokesperson recently told press in the U.K. that the band has nearly completed a new album — their second with 35-year-old producer Andrew Watt — and planned on touring the U.K. and Europe. However, Richards, who turns 82 on Thursday, is said to be unable to commit to the rigors of another tour. Live dates in recent years have shown that he has faced challenges due to a long battle with arthritis, which he has called “benign” and said has forced him to change his style of playing.

Eric Wong has been promoted to the lofty role of Executive Vice President of Recorded Music at Warner Music Group.

In his new role, Wong will take point on key marketing campaigns and lead global A&R, collaborating with WMG’s labels, artists, and their teams. He will also retai

Bandsintown's 2025 High Notes recap shows which artists, stages, and cities made this year count! And dive into your own personalized recap.

Morgan Wallen has been named RIAA’s highest certified country artist of all time, as well as the third most-certified artist, all-genre (behind Drake and Taylor Swift for solo titles).

Wallen has amassed 239.5 million certified singles (solo + collaborations) and 26 million album certifications across his catalog. This feat also makes him the No. 2 digital singles-certified solo artist, all-genre. He received his first Gold certification in 2018 for “The Way I Talk” and “Up Down” before notching Gold for “Whiskey Glasses” in 2019, which was 13x Platinum certified today (Dec. 16).

We say this every year, but any list of the year’s best music books is even more of a losing proposition than best albums or songs, primarily because of the time investment — so any such list is doomed to being “some of the best music books.” With that inevitable caveat, although this year lacked a jaw-dropping must-read along the lines of Cher’s “The Memoir” or Elton John’s “Me” — which are arguably the most continually satisfying music memoirs of the last decade — there’s still plenty to dig into.

IMPALA has today responded by calling on the EC to block the deal outright, or to require “divestments of all the businesses whose acquisition would cause concerns (anything less like behavioural remedies or partial divestments, would not eliminate the concerns)”. 

This was the year that AI-generated music went from jokey curiosity to mainstream force. Velvet Sundown, a wholly AI act, generated millions of streams; AI-created tracks topped Spotify’s viral chart and one of the US Billboard country charts; AI “artist” Xania Monet “signed” a record deal. BBC Introducing is usually a platform for flesh-and-blood artists trying to make it big, but an AI-generated song by Papi Lamour was recently played on the West Midlands show. And jumping up the UK Top 20 this month is I Run, a track by dance act Haven, who have been accused of using AI to imitate British vocalist Jorja Smith (Haven claim they simply asked the AI for “soulful vocal samples”, and did not respond to an earlier request to comment).

TikTok announces music guest Ciara and unveils new hosts for the upcoming Creator Awards at the Hollywood Palladium on December 18. TikTok’s first-ever U.S. edition of its awards show kicks off on Thursday, December 18, streaming live from the Hollywood Palladium on TikTok Live and official streaming partner Tubi. The short-form video platform has announced musical headliner Ciara and the event’s red carpet hosts and correspondents, rounding out the previously announced hosts and presenters.