Ocean Way is going away, at least for a year. Goldenvoice‘s inaugural Ocean Way Festival, which was scheduled to take place on the beach in Santa Monica Sept. 26-27, has been called off, with city officials saying the culprit is erosion along the shore caused by recent hurricane-level forces off the coast

For the first time, Spotify users can stream full video episodes of Genius’ live performance series, Open Mic, while Verified, Genius’ signature artist-led lyric breakdown series, will add a backlog of older episodes alongside new releases. Since launching in 2016, both series have become popular fan destinations for music storytelling and discovery, racking up more than 3.7 billion combined views.

The idea of renaming Nashville’s airport for Dolly Parton was not just an easily forgotten pipe dream that popped up in the days following the superstar’s death in August. The proposal moved a big step closer to reality Friday, as the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority voted 6-0 to officially start the process of changing the airport’s name in her honor.

Despite his acclaimed acting career, Russell Crowe has always really wanted to be a rock star.

That dream appeared to come true on Friday night — at least for 99 minutes — as he premiered his self-directed documentary “What Love Builds,” about his lesser-known music career, at the Venice Film Festival.

Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s long-running fight to force consumer ticket disputes into private arbitration has moved onto two new appellate fronts, with separate cases now before the Second Circuit and Nevada Supreme Court testing different limits on how those agreements can be enforced.

In New York, two secondary-market ticket buyers have asked the Second Circuit to overturn a June ruling that sent their antitrust claims against Live Nation and Ticketmaster into arbitration. Their petition argues that the federal judge who issued the order skipped a threshold question: whether the Federal Arbitration Act even applies to claims stemming from tickets they bought from third-party resellers such as StubHub.

Six additional Pennsylvania district attorneys have joined a consumer protection lawsuit accusing Vivid Seats of deceptive ticket pricing practices, substantially expanding the prosecutorial coalition behind a case first brought by Monroe County last year.

Apple is finally rolling out a feature that Google Pixel users have already been enjoying for years: instant song detection. But it’s not coming to the iPhone; instead, it’s making use of the Apple Watch’s new Audio Intelligence—a controversial always-on AI-based audio detection that users (crucially) must opt into.

The American Antitrust Institute is urging the federal judge reviewing the Justice Department’s settlement with Live Nation and Ticketmaster to investigate whether political considerations influenced the agreement, arguing that the Tunney Act gives courts authority to look beyond the written terms of an antitrust deal when credible questions about an undisclosed “side deal” exist.

According to Agentio, the new view counts over-report engagement by 40%. The platform looked at the viewcounts of more than 75,000 videos from its network of creators which also showed an even starker picture for micro channels. Based on the company’s data, on average, public view counts are overstated by 85% for channels with less than 50K subscribers, but 49% for channels with 300K+ subscribers. The inflated view counts also differ across content categories, with entertainment and culture having a 60% Engaged View rate for example.

Charli xcx is bringing the “Music, Fashion, Film” tour overseas.

The avant-garde pop star has announced six U.K. and Europe dates in February 2027, including in Dublin, Ireland; Glasgow, Scotland; Manchester, England; London, England; Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and Paris, France. “Sue Me” and “Bowling Alley” singer Audrey Hobert will open for all dates.

Meta is beginning to win over Wall Street following Tuesday’s launch of its new AI app, Muse. The tech giant’s push into agentic AI is also a hot topic on X among industry players. Now, early numbers offer better insight into how popular Muse actually is among its target market of U.S. consumers.

According to new data provided by the market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, Muse has been downloaded north of 83,000 times on iOS in the United States. (The app is currently limited to the U.S. for now.)

Canadian electronic musician Deadmau5 has signed with Independent Artist Group for representation in all areas across music, film, television, digital content, gaming and technology and intellectual property. 

Live Nation CFO Joe Berchtold reveals that 30% of Live Nation’s biggest tours are in languages other than English.
Joe Berchtold, Live Nation’s CFO, broke down some eye-popping global statistics for investors this week. Among those, over 60% of the top 75 markets outside the U.S. lack a large, modern, music-ready venue to accommodate the world’s biggest stars. Meanwhile, 30% of the company’s top 50 shows are in languages other than English, compared to only 8% before the pandemic.

Yesterday’s AIM Connected conference in London saw the UK indies body’s CEO Gee Davy call on the government to provide more support for the sector, particularly its role in discovering and breaking new talent.

For the season premiere of “Austin City Limits,” Brandi Carlile is officially the one being feted, as the episode finds her formally inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame. But who’s honoring who is an open question, as the 2026-27 kickoff episode finds Carlile joined by Bonnie Raitt, bringing together two of the greatest voices of their respective generations in a mutual admiration society.

Universal Music Group and ElevenLabs are getting into business.

The label has struck an expansive licensing agreement with the AI audio startup that will see ElevenLabs launch an AI-powered music platform built on UMG’s catalog of artists. The platform will allow fans to remix and mashup artist tracks along with creating “new track interpretations” and “personalized vocal experiences,” according to the companies. The platform is in addition to other AI audio products the two plan to create.

"To come back now and host the VMAs, all these years later, that's a full-circle moment for me," Snoop said in a statement.

MusiCares has named U2 — Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. — as its 2027 Persons of the Year. The 36th annual Persons of the Year benefit gala will be held at a new location, Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Friday, Feb. 5, 2027, two nights before the 2027 Grammys at Crypto.com Arena.

On the heels of his Great Divide Tour’s North American leg – and moments after being tapped to kick off Amazon Music Live’s fifth season – Noah Kahan has dropped his “Orbiter” music video exclusively via Spotify.

There are several companies who have been at the forefront of smart albums and phygital formats – helping artists to sell various types of physical products which allow fans to unlock album content by using QR codes, NFC technology and more. Now there are some good news for music marketers: Billboard has officially announced the eligibility of such formats for their US charts.

Pinterest frequently shares trend reports about what its users search for on the platform – which is valuable for marketers because they capture cultural and lifestyle shifts around the kind of styles, hobbies and activities people are interested in looking forward. For music marketers, the most recent data could be useful inspiration for the type of fan activities or competition prizes their male target audience could be interested in.

Steve Heap is to retire from his role as the Events Industry Forum (EIF) director in November, bringing his career in live music and outdoor events to a close after more than six decades.

Ella Langley leads the group with nine nods, including her first for Entertainer of the Year. Other top nominees include Miranda Lambert with seven nominations; Kacey Musgraves and Ben West with five nominations each; Cody Johnson, Chris Stapleton and Stephen Wilson Jr. with four nominations each; and Dave Clauss, Luke Combs and Lainey Wilson with three each.